CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest
Call: K0RC
Operator(s): K0RC
Station: K0RC
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: MN - EN35
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts
-----------------
80: 189 578
40: 133 388
20: 412 747
15: 83 172
10: 0 0
-----------------
Total: 817 1885 Prefixes = 350 Total Score = 659,750
Club: Minnesota Wireless Association
Comments:
Second attempt - my first form disappeared from the screen without a trace!
It is the second time this year I have to say this is the most RTTY activity I
have seen in 40+ years! Both Saturday and Sunday mornings 20m was packed from
14.050 to 14.140 MHz making it difficult to find a RUN slot. Oh but what fun it
was in S&P mode, finding a new WPX every couple hundred Hz as I worked my way up
the band!
At the last minute I decided to run 'Medium Power' so I hooked up the Icom
IC-2KL. I ran an extension cord into the next room to spread the load across
two breakers. I ran at 350 Watts without any problem. It was a nice room
heater, but more about that later.
It was a luxury to run more than my usual 100 Watts. The power definitely moves
your signal to the top of the pileup when multiple stations are going after the
DX. My antennas are wires for 80 and 40 with a HyGain TH-11DXX at 70 feet.
Antenna switching is via the 'armstrong' method (a conventional mechanical
switch).
Although I had created an aggressive operating time plan, the reality was
slightly less than 24 hours of on-air time. The two-day contest was broken up
with 8 breaks of one or more hours. I have never been a 'morning person' so
when I got into the shack Saturday morning (1430z), the 20m band was packed and
15m was already open! I did manage to get an earlier start on Sunday (1230z) so
I picked up some contacts on 80m, then 40m, and settled into 20m about 1400z.
I was sniffing around all weekend for some K9SEX, but apparently Ruff was in
the doghouse. I did work his master though. An unexpected surprise was a call
from XT2CG during a RUN on 20m.
I promptly uploaded my logs to eQSL and LoTW. When I checked my statistics, I
had already received over 60 'hits'. This is better than a 7% rate within the
first hour!
The rest of the story:
As I mentioned, the radio, computers, and amplifier warmed up the shack to a
cozy 90+ degrees. That's shorts and tee shirt comfort inside, while it's -15 C
outside. Life in Minn-e-soda during the winter!
Contesters know how the action ramps up during the final hours of a major
contest. It was no exception this time. Contest exchanges were flowing crisp
and quick, everyone had tuned their macros to perfection by that time.
And all of a sudden I hear my wife calling me (even with my headphones on).
"Come here, it's important!" My first thought was "Yippee, she needs help
carrying in that new KW amplifier she bought for me." Well, as I opened the
door of the shack and a wave of cold air slapped me in the face, I met her
coming up the stairs. She was telling me in a concerned voice there must be
something wrong with the furnace! Sure enough, it was 60 degrees (F) in the
house. Of course I was oblivious to that fact in the shack.
It's a long story about this furnace (forced air, natural gas) and its constant
failures. Luckily I have taken furnace maintenance lessons during the frequency
visits by the repairman. This time it was the ceramic (electric) igniter that
had opened up. I had a spare on hand because the last time it went out, it was
twenty below zero outside (F) and I couldn't get anyone out to look at it for
two days!
Okay, that's a little off topic for contesting, but it's the reason for one of
the breaks in my contesting activity, just as things were ramping up near the
end!
73 de Bob - K0RC in MN
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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