CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY
Call: P49X
Operator(s): W6OTC, K6AW, N4RR, W0YK
Station: P40L/P49Y
Class: M/2 HP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts State/Prov DX Zones
-------------------------------------------
80: 214 638 45 39 13
40: 893 2661 52 72 24
20: 1408 4203 56 94 34
15: 2037 6080 57 97 34
10: 1930 5762 55 87 28
-------------------------------------------
Total: 6482 19344 265 389 133 Total Score = 15,223,728
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
10 meters delighted us in the 2010 CQ WW RTTY contest by supporting some QSOs.
This past weekend it dazzled us, providing worldwide propagation just like some
remember from the last solar high. For newer contesters the 10 meter band must
have seemed mystical. The extent to which 10 meters was really back is
demonstrated by how poor the lower bands performed with
the MUF so high. 20 meters seemed virtually blacked out at times during the
day while 10 and 15 were jammed with QSOs. At night, 40 and especially 80 were
big disappointments compared to how they've been in recent years with the last
solar cycle low.
This dramatic shift in bands was undoubtedly accentuated by migration of
activity to the higher bands. In Aruba, 10 and 15 were open before local
sunrise and held up well past local sunset. There were periods of diminished
signal levels, close to blackouts, particularly on Saturday, where signals
faded into the noise floor mid-QSO. These temporal blackouts were forecast
along with the solar activity.
CQ WW RTTY records surely fell as a result of this long-awaited high-band
propagation. Because RTTY contest participation is so much higher than at
prior solar peaks, it is hard to predict just how high contest records can be
pushed. Clearly, though, one limitation is QSO rates which in turn are
contrained by the excessively long messages being sent. Until the majority of
participants evolve to short exchanges as in CW and SSB contesting, maximum QSO
rates will be stuck at just over 100/hour per radio.
P49X operated M2 with K6AW on 15/80, W6OTC on 20 and W0YK on 10/40. N4RR
rotated between the three positions to give everyone a 3-hour break every nine
hours. 10 meters had been so outstanding the days prior to the contest that we
decided to start on 10 and 15, switching to 20 when 10 dropped off. After the
first half-hour, the rate on 10 did drop, or at least it faltered, so we moved
to 20. 15 wasn't moved to 40 until the third hour Friday. On Saturday, the
band changes occurred earlier and on Sunday we left 10 more than three hours
earlier than Friday, finishing the contest on 15 and 20. Sunday afternoon was
blessed by nearly every QSO coming from Europeans who had not yet been in our
log on any band. We encouraged each to go to the other band (10 or 15) and
many did. Because of this and other aspects of the highly skewed high-band
proportion of QSOs, for the first time at P49X, more QSOs were made with Europe
than North America.
The station setup used my SO3R configuration which is three networked
computers, one on each of three radios (Elecraft K3s). For this M2 we
dedicated radios to bands: 10/40, 15/80 and 20. The K3 Band Map feature was
used to enable only those bands on each radio, minimizing the chance to
inadvertently get on the wrong band. We replaced the ICE419 bandpass filters
with individual W3NQN filters which N4RR brought. This required manual
swapping of band pass filters on the 10/40 and 15/80 positions. Band changes
were simply executed by stopping operation at one position and starting on
another. There were few, if any, times when we were band changing between 15
and 80 or 10 and 40.
Forseeing that there could be significant 10 meter operation, Elecraft built
two prototype pre-amps based on their PR6 6-meter preamp which is fully
integrated with the K3. It was engaged on the 10-meter position almost
exclusively and really helped as signals faded in and out of the noise floor.
This station has three small towers on a city lot so we've been fighting
inter-band RFI for years. The antennas are just too close for serious
multi-op, even SO2R, operations at high power. On the low bands, the Beverage
array is 800' from the transmitting towers on another property. This virtually
eliminates the RFI problem on the low bands. But with the 40 and 20 Yagis on
the same mast, 20 meters is rendered nearly useless when 40 is transmitting,
especially doing RTTY on the low end of 40 which puts the harmonic right in the
middle of 20 meter RTTY action. Our main objective in the week prior to the
contest was to solve the high-band RFI problem. We brought a 12AVQ vertical to
put out at the Beverage feedpoint for an RX antenna on the high bands.
Ultimately, it was never used ...
As one step in our RFI troubleshooting, we found that using the C31 on a
separate tower from the 40 enabled us to coexist on those two bands. In
parallel, the 10 and 15 Yagis share the same boom and had similarly intolerable
RFI between those two bands. Again, using the C31 for either 10 or 15 nearly
eliminated that problem. So, one alternative that emerged was
to use the C31, but it had to be shared between 10 and 20. We didn't want to
restrict ourselves to choosing between those two bands however. The solution
came to us indirectly in the form of a newly designed high-power triplexer
build by K2NG for his PJ4 contest station over in Bonaire.
Roger, N4RR, used this trip to swing through Bonaire to deliver the triplexer
to that station. In return, K2NG agreed to let us "burn-in" the new triplexer
at P49X. Initially, this was a low priority in my mind because I didn't see
the utility of band-sharing the C31 as being worth the additional complexity of
not only the triplexer but also the three StackMatches to allow 10, 15 and 20 to
simultaneously use the C31 with their monoband Yagis. Instead, we used the
triplexer to solve our RFI issue by simply sharing the C31 between 10 and 20 at
the same time. The 10 and 20 meter Yagis were not used. There was some
constraint by not having seperately rotatable antennas on these two bands, but
it turned out not to be a problem. Antennas here are pointed north most of the
contest anyway.
The net result was that the high-power triplexer worked flawlessly. We found
no RFI contributed by it and it worked magically all weekend at full
legal-limit RTTY. In my mind, this is a must-have addition to the station here
so that the C31 can be fully deployed, not only for RFI relief but also as a
second antenna that can be phased or selected with the monobanders for the
three high bands. In fact, it might make sense to replace the 10/15 duo-band
Yagi with another tribander and deploy two triplexers with three StackMatches.
This should finally allow us to do SO2R, MS and M2 from this modest station.
Multi-multi, though, is still hard to imagine!
Thanks to all the other participants who played the game with us! An amazing
number (yet to be counted) worked us on all five bands. And, thanks to station
owners P40L (W6LD) and P49Y (AE6Y) for supporting our "RTTY thing" here in
lovely Aruba.
Ed - W0YK
Glenn - W6OTC
Steve - K6AW
Roger - N4RR
80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total %
NA 135 423 701 833 785 2877 44.4
AS 0 46 96 218 98 458 7.1
EU 72 393 570 931 1005 2971 45.8
SA 4 18 17 28 27 94 1.5
OC 0 8 10 14 7 39 0.6
AF 3 5 13 12 8 41 0.6
QSO/Zn+Dx+St by hour and band
Hour 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm OffTime
D1-0000Z --+-- --+-- 45/37 98/48 58/35 201/120 201/120
D1-0100Z - - 100/27 104/19 - 204/46 405/166
D1-0200Z - 43/35 91/18 12/8 - 146/61 551/227
D1-0300Z - 102/33 81/12 - - 183/45 734/272
D1-0400Z 16/19 86/16 46/6 - - 148/41 882/313
D1-0500Z 4/4 95/16 60/7 - - 159/27 1041/340
D1-0600Z 12/15 65/7 64/12 - - 141/34 1182/374
D1-0700Z 15/14 45/8 56/8 - - 116/30 1298/404
D1-0800Z 6/4 23/3 25/3 --+-- --+-- 54/10 1352/414
D1-0900Z 13/2 26/8 5/3 - - 44/13 1396/427
D1-1000Z 13/2 47/2 4/2 19/14 3/5 86/25 1482/452
D1-1100Z - - 3/3 114/22 77/25 194/50 1676/502
D1-1200Z - - 2/3 102/11 112/18 216/32 1892/534
D1-1300Z - - - 60/5 89/9 149/14 2041/548
D1-1400Z - - 2/0 32/1 87/7 121/8 2162/556
D1-1500Z - - - 79/7 113/9 192/16 2354/572
D1-1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 85/5 110/4 195/9 2549/581
D1-1700Z - - - 68/1 119/5 187/6 2736/587
D1-1800Z - - 5/3 108/5 103/3 216/11 2952/598
D1-1900Z - - 5/0 88/7 109/5 202/12 3154/610
D1-2000Z - - 33/7 92/4 38/8 163/19 3317/629
D1-2100Z - - 76/2 93/3 3/4 172/9 3489/638
D1-2200Z - - 40/1 91/0 50/3 181/4 3670/642
D1-2300Z - - 10/1 59/1 63/4 132/6 3802/648
D2-0000Z --+-- 5/6 84/7 49/3 1/0 139/16 3941/664
D2-0100Z 2/2 44/5 67/7 20/3 - 133/17 4074/681
D2-0200Z 26/13 43/1 54/0 - - 123/14 4197/695
D2-0300Z 9/1 69/1 33/0 - - 111/2 4308/697
D2-0400Z 49/12 55/2 9/0 - - 113/14 4421/711
D2-0500Z 27/5 45/2 34/2 - - 106/9 4527/720
D2-0600Z 3/1 57/2 55/3 - - 115/6 4642/726
D2-0700Z 3/0 17/0 29/0 - - 49/0 4691/726
D2-0800Z --+-- 18/1 9/0 --+-- --+-- 27/1 4718/727
D2-0900Z 11/2 8/0 7/1 - - 26/3 4744/730
D2-1000Z 5/1 - 24/3 21/1 1/0 51/5 4795/735
D2-1100Z - - 7/0 60/2 87/2 154/4 4949/739
D2-1200Z - - 24/0 13/1 84/0 121/1 5070/740
D2-1300Z - - 8/0 34/5 79/3 121/8 5191/748
D2-1400Z - - 6/0 13/1 19/8 38/9 5229/757
D2-1500Z - - 2/0 26/0 56/3 84/3 5313/760
D2-1600Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 36/0 61/3 97/3 5410/763
D2-1700Z - - 5/0 55/1 85/0 145/1 5555/764
D2-1800Z - - 7/0 53/3 97/2 157/5 5712/769
D2-1900Z - - 7/0 73/1 107/2 187/3 5899/772
D2-2000Z - - 7/1 83/3 95/2 185/6 6084/778
D2-2100Z - - 53/1 68/2 11/0 132/3 6216/781
D2-2200Z - - 66/2 67/1 7/1 140/4 6356/785
D2-2300Z - - 58/2 62/0 6/0 126/2 6482/787
Total: 214/97 893/1481408/1842037/1881930/170
80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total
3D2 1 1
4J 1 1
4X 1 1 2
6W 1 1 1 3
6Y 1 1 1 1 1 5
9A 3 6 7 7 23
9H 1 1
9K 1 1
9M2 1 2 3
9V 1 1 1 3
A6 1 1 2 4
BV 1 1
BY 1 1 2
CE 1 2 4 7
CM 3 14 11 10 1 39
CN 1 2 2 1 1 7
CT 1 2 4 4 5 16
CT3 1 2 3 4 1 11
CU 1 1
CX 1 1 1 3
DL 14 65 93 212 203 587
DU 2 2
E7 2 1 3 1 7
EA 4 14 30 26 42 116
EA6 1 2 1 4
EA8 1 1 6 4 4 16
EA9 1 1
EI 3 6 6 6 21
ER 3 1 6 6 16
ES 1 1 1 3 5 11
EU 4 10 7 4 25
EX 1 1 2
EY 2 2 4
F 2 22 20 21 42 107
FG 1 1 2
FO 1 1
G 1 21 34 52 48 156
GI 3 5 7 15
GM 1 3 5 9 8 26
GU 1 1 1 3
GW 1 1 4 5 11
HA 3 3 3 14 23 46
HB 6 7 10 17 40
HC 1 1 2
HI 1 1 2 1 5
HK 2 2 2 1 1 8
HL 1 5 1 7
HS 1 1 1 3
HZ 1 3 4
I 7 23 56 76 109 271
IS 1 2 1 2 6
IT9 1 2 3 5 5 16
J3 1 1 1 3
JA 36 49 171 75 331
JT 2 2
JW 1 1 2
K 114 371 623 757 715 2580
KH0 1 1
KH2 1 2 1 4
KH6 2 2 4
KL 3 1 2 1 7
KP2 1 1 2
KP4 1 2 4 1 8
LA 1 5 9 12 13 40
LU 1 4 3 6 9 23
LX 1 3 3 2 4 13
LY 1 1 4 7 5 18
LZ 1 3 4 8 10 26
OD 1 1
OE 4 7 7 18
OH 6 11 12 22 25 76
OJ0 1 1 1 1 4
OK 1 17 20 32 25 95
OM 6 7 15 14 42
ON 7 11 16 15 49
OX 1 1 1 3
OY 1 1
OZ 2 4 6 7 10 29
P4 2 1 1 4
PA 4 19 31 40 54 148
PY 1 8 5 11 8 33
PZ 1 1 1 1 4
S5 2 10 13 12 16 53
SM 1 13 13 27 18 72
SP 7 23 27 52 48 157
ST 1 1
SV 4 6 7 11 28
SV9 1 1 2 2 6
T7 1 1
TA1 1 1 1 3
TF 3 2 1 6
TG 3 3
TK 1 1 2
TR 1 1
UA 3 34 50 87 72 246
UA2 1 1 3 5
UA9 6 27 21 12 66
UK 1 1 2
UN 1 6 5 1 13
UR 5 32 38 71 69 215
VE 11 24 50 54 55 194
VK 5 5 4 14
VP9 1 1 1 1 1 5
VU 1 3 1 5
XE 2 3 1 6 9 21
YB 2 2 2 6
YL 5 3 6 7 21
YO 2 9 5 10 17 43
YU 3 6 5 5 19
YV 2 1 3 2 8
Z3 1 1 3 3 8
ZC4 1 1
ZL 2 1 3 6
ZP 1 1 2
ZS 1 1
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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