Butterflies, that is the feeling I have in my stomach just before starting
this WAE RTTY contest, but right after I make a few contacts, log a QTC or
two, the uneasiness quickly disappears and I settle in for a lot of fun. I
really have no real reason to feel this way, the logging software never lets
me down and most of all the fellows at the other end of my Q's are always
perfect gentlemen (and ladies). Nobody has ever balked at me asking for a
repeat of a line or two and most everyone will give a big thank you for
taking the traffic or even receiving mine. For sure the biggest appreciation
for taking their QTC's has to come from our JA friends.
I jumped in to the contest early Saturday morning local time and played the
game 'til evening and had a near repeat of my contest activity Sunday. There
was a small opening here to Europe and other DX zones on 15 meters both
days, the openings did not last long, nor did I find them strong. Nothing at
all on 10 meters and as always the big numbers came on 20 meters. This year
I have a new tower and TH7-DX beam. Needless to say I was anxious to see how
it compared to my shorter tower with a TH6-DX beam. We did not have the best
propagation conditions for this test of the new antenna, but I am finding
the signals are stronger by an average of 1 to 2 s-units with a quieter
floor noise on the newer beam. Future plans for this tower is to put a
single element 40 meter homebrew rotating beam at around 55 feet and dump
the old 1/2 wave Sloper off the side of the old tower. The eighty meter
folded dipole may get moved too, but just not sure at this time.
Back to the contest news. Like other contests, RTTY as well as CW, there
seems to be a growing number of fellows that do not acknowledge a call
correction. I have to admit, I still go ahead with logging the Q, but there
is always the 'air of doubt' that maybe the distant Op simply logged my call
in error. I know it does not happen to me alone, I watch one JA station
desperately trying to get a W7 to correct his call with many many repeats,
to which the American station simply seemed to ignore. Please guys, even if
your software does not allow you to correct on the fly, a quick hand typed -
GOT YOU OK TNX - sure would put a lot of Hams minds to rest.
I know Scott - VE1OP on the East coast is a heck of closer to Europe then my
station, but it sure is frustrating at times to watch his numbers grow
exponentially while us fellows in the dark holes of Ontario struggle for the
next Q. Good going Scott on your score, keep up the good work, now if you
wish to skip the next contest or two that would be ok with us fellows up
here in Ontario. Again Scott, great score and a hardy congrat's.
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: ON
Rig: Icom 756Pro3 @ 100 Watts (or less)
S/W: WriteLog/MMTTY + PK-232 + microHAM interface
Ant: 10-15-20 Beam + 40 M Sloper and 80 M Folded Dipole
Summary:
Band QSOs QTCs Mults
------------------------------
80: 53 10 20
40: 63 10 27
20: 310 566 70
15: 75 120 35
10: 0 0 0
------------------------------
Total: 501 706 152 Total Claimed Score = 447,797
73 Eric - VE3GSI
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