JARTS WW RTTY Contest
Call: K4XD
Operator(s): K4XD
Station: K4XD
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Raleigh, NC
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts Mults
-------------------------
80: 19 39 11
40: 71 157 28
20: 227 643 62
15: 71 208 27
10:
-------------------------
Total: 388 1047 128 Total Score = 134,016
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Decided to get on and try a little more SO2R work since I had problems with SO2R
in CQWW RTTY (where I ended up working single band 80 as a result). Had so much
fun I ended up spending an unexpected 10 hours. Lots of activity in this one!
SO2R setup is an EZMaster control box, an Icom 756 Pro II, and a Yaesu FT-857D.
Software is WriteLog. I finally figured out the strange behavior.
If I click on anything that switches control to the opposite radio while one
radio is transmitting, the transmitting radio stays in TX mode. I have to wait
until it stops transmitting, or manually turn off PTT by hitting the foot switch
or some other PTT input. I'm guessing that the A/B setting on the LPT cable
switches to the oppposite radio and the PTT OFF signal goes to the wrong radio.
Seems like prior to the EZMaster I didn't have that restriction -- I was using
completely separate CAT control to each radio, and I suppose that means that
the CAT signals always go to the correct radio since there is no "A/B"
selection in the picture.
On retrospect this is working as you would think; but it makes it harder to
setup the non-TX radio for the next step. I.e., if I'm sending a CQ on one
radio and find a Mult on the other, I'd like to type in the call sign of the
mult on the other radio so it's all set when I'm done with the CQ.
Pretty much everything else in the station worked as expected this time, so no
exciting details of middle of the night hardware crises.
Saturday morning was just too much fun running EU. For this little pistol
station, running RTTY around 50 Q's per minute is typically as good as it gets.
This time I was running EU at 120 Q's/minute, I know, nothing big for the guys
with 4/4 arrays, but it tons of fun here. Had a good 90 minutes of
back-to-back, non-stop action. For the first time, I understood how cutting
out a character or two in the exchange would increase your score. But I was
too busy to edit the exchange, which nonetheless was pretty tight.
And 15M was open to EU both days, better on Saturday. Come on, old Sol!!
The "599 age" exchange is different but it also made me quite wistful... I
suppose anyone who has been to Dayton lately would not be shocked at the
distribution of ages -- but the bell curve centers on 60 (yes, there really
were 114 Q's in both 50-59 and 60-69 ranges):
0-10: 0
10-19: 3
20-29: 8
30-39: 18
40-49: 77
50-59: 114
60-69: 114
70-79: 42
80-89: 2
multi(99): 11
It's a sobering distribution for this hobby we all love so much. It's hard not
to wonder what a contest will sound like in 20 or 30 years... if we needed a
reminder of the importance of bringing new folks into the hobby, here it is.
So getting beyond the sobering thoughts, did I mention this was a really fun
event? I'm not sure whether my improved antenna (Spiderbeam at 50') or the SFI
above 70 should get the credit, but I'm looking forward to the next contest and
more sunspots!
73,
Rowland K4XD
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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