UK DX Contest, RTTY
Call: K4GMH
Operator(s): K4GMH
Station: K4GMH
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: VA
Operating Time (hrs): 14
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts Mults
-------------------------
80: 157 40
40: 236 56
20: 381 68
15: 33 21
10: 0 0 0
-------------------------
Total: 807 2132 185 Total Score = 394,420
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Thanks to the UK DX RTTY Contest Committee for putting on the Contest. Thanks,
also, to all who were kind enough to work me.
Surprised at the good activity. The number of participants made the Contest
interesting and kept the me in the chair.
Based on the recent Solar flux numbers, 93 last week, thought 15 meters would
be good this weekend. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. A few European
stations were worked, but none were strong. We have experienced better 15
meter propagation when the Solar flux numbers were around 70.
Twenty was good right from the start of the Contest from this location. Forty
was good although have had earlier (1830z) QSOs with Europe during contests
than this weekend. Eighty was quiet which helped in being able to have more
than expected European QSOs.
Only able to put in ~14 hours as came down with a cold and the symptoms showed
up several hours before the start of the Contest. Had to take several hours
off during the Contest to recoup my strength. The goal was to operate on 80
meters through the European sunrise - didn't make it. Called it quits at
0540z. Again, the activity kept the interest in the Contest and me in front of
the radio longer than I anticipated would be possible at the start of the
Contest.
One other key interest for me in the Contest was to see if some changes to the
station would eliminate the somewhat random PTT dropout. The PTT would
randomly dropout when transitioning from letters to numbers in a macro. First
thought RF was getting into the computer, but the usual ferrite on the lines
didn't make any difference. Since this problem seemed to happen in the
ltrs/figs transition, the next thought was to go back to an earlier version of
Writelog before the PTT dropout started. That didn't help either. Recently,
I've asked for help as I had run out of ideas where to go next.
Don, AA5AU, came up with the answer. Earlier in the week, Don asked for a
description of my SO2R, single computer, set-up. After exchanging e-mails, Don
came up with several S/W and H/W setup changes that would definitely help if not
eliminate entirely the PTT dropout. The suggestions were incorporated and not a
single PTT dropout was experienced throughout the Contest. Thanks Don.
Thanks, again, for all the QSOs. Hope to work you all again in the next one.
73,
Mike, K4GMH
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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