ARRL RTTY Roundup
Call: AA4LR
Operator(s): AA4LR
Station: AA4LR
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 14.5
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
80: 95
40: 320
20: 192
15: 82
10: 0
------------
Total: 689 State/Prov = 55 Countries = 40 Total Score = 65,455
Club: South East Contest Club
Comments:
Antennas:
Cushcraft A3S/A743 at 15m (40m-10m)
Shunt-fed 15m tower (80m)
Half-size K9AY loops (80m, 40m)
Equipment:
Elecraft K2/100 w/ KAT100
Ameritron AL-80A running 300-500 watts (200 watts on 80m)
Ancient Toshiba laptop
N1MM software with MMTTY
Homebrew Audio interface
Comments:
That was really unexpected. Last year, I won the GA certificate for HP in this
contest with a really modest score, so I wanted to put in a bigger effort this
year.
I came down with a bad cold on Thursday, and it hadn't let up by Saturday. I
was sick enough to not be able to attend to other business, but not quite sick
enough that I couldn't bundle up and prop myself in front of the radio for a
little contesting. The rest of the weekend was operating a little, rest a
little and repeat.
The K2/100 worked flawlessly, even though I had accidentally pumped a few dozen
watts the wrong way during SKN. (OOps!) The K2 makes a really excellent receiver
for RTTY, especially with the variable-bandwidth filter. The transmitter leaves
a bit to be desired, since it can't withstand the full-duty cycle very well. I
ran the amplifier and left the K2 at about 35 watts out. The amplifier also
kept the shack nice and toasty.
40m was definitely THE band. 20m signals were not terribly strong, and long
enough that running domestic stations was difficult. You had to really work for
stations on 15m, and 10m was non-existent, despite numerous scans of that band.
40m brought good runs at 2200z for nearly an hour and 45 minutes. And again an
hour later until nearly 0230z.
What really amazed me after 0100z were all the european stations who called in
on 40m, many with very strong signals. I was parked up around 7065, so this was
in the phone band in region 1! Thanks to everyone who called in, specially for
the mults!
I managed a pretty good mix of running and S & P. Worked 49 states -- only
missing MT. I thought I would never work a ND station, but had two call in
during the penultimate hour.
Nearly doubled my score from last year. Not bad for a part-time effort.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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