2003 ARRL RTTY Roundup
W1ZT
Results 2003: Single Operator All Band High Power (24 hours)
1528 QSO
48 States (First "sweep")
11 Canadian Provinces
67 DXCC countries
Claimed score: 194,056
Station Description:
Single Radio
Icom 756 PRO set up for AFSK with WriteLog and RITTY by K6STI
SB220 - 500w
80m Inverted Vee at 60 ft
40m Rotary Dipole (Force 12 C4) at 65 ft
20m}
15m} 2 Element Yagi (Force 12 C4)
10m}
QSO Breakdown by Band
80m 40m 20m 15m 10m Total
This year: 184 408 332 298 306 1528
Last year: 92 258 352 259 391 1452
QSO Breakdown by Continent
80m 40m 20m 15m 10m Total Last Year (2002)
EU 37 106 91 51 59 344 417
NA 146 294 225 236 239 1140 972
SA 1 1 4 7 7 19 22
AF 0 1 3 1 0 5 8
OC 0 2 3 3 1 9 12
AS 0 4 7 0 0 11 21
General Comments
Thanks to all for the contacts and all band activity by so many. I also
echo the comment that the operating style was generally excellent this year.
While my single radio cannot generate the QSO rates like Don, AA5AU, I
had a couple solid hours in the 80s with peaks well over 100 for short term
runs. This is a direct measure of the two-way operating skill of all the
stations.
The biggest challenge for me in this contest is selection of operating times
and band conditions. I generally rely on 10m openings to Europe to provide
extra contacts to compete with stations more central in the US. With my
"upper corner" US location I needed lots of European activity. That did not
happen this year; but the total US all band participation seemed much
stronger and certainly made up the total QSO gap. I can only wonder what
might have been if the band openings had been better.
Highlights:
1. My antennas were damaged in the snow storm Christmas day while we were
away in TN for the holidays. I could not climb and finish repairs until
Thursday before the contest. My crimp connections (too cold to solder)
survived our storm on Saturday during the contest.
2. A45WD and VK6HD called on 40m with outstanding signals and provided both
new multipliers and a mental boost that eased my weary bones. It made my
day! It was also great to hear the ZL and VK guys sticking to their radios
at very unsocial times for them.
3. WriteLog and RITTY performed extremely well. I copied very weak signals
sandwiched in the QRM pretty consistently. Some trouble with buffer and
decode lockup
but I think it is related to RFI but not sure.
3. The Non US/VE participation was absolutely wonderful. In spite of poor
conditions on Saturday and limited openings on Sunday, the level of interest
and serial numbers I copied showed great interest in the contest.
4. It was a treat to work all the states this year. I stumbled upon N7ON
askin QRL?? on 28075 and my patience waiting for him to call CQ was rewarded
with NV for my last state. I need to keep working on this "patience"
thing!! What a welcome surprise.
Thanks again for all the contacts and activity.
73 and Happy New Year 2003,
George .. W1ZT
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