ARRL RTTY Roundup
Call: N1IXF
Operator(s): N1IXF
Station: N1IXF
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band RTTY Qs Dig Qs
-----------------------
80: 181
40: 545
20: 677
15: 56
10: 0
-----------------------
Total: 1459 0 State/Prov = 56 Countries = 50 Total Score = 154,654
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
That just felt like the most fun I’ve had in a RTTY contest… at least
to-date. I think my reaction is a combination of missing out on this contest
last year, being well rested, and keeping things simple by deciding to enter
SO1R, unassisted, and using the HP category with about 800 watts from the
SB-221.
I came into this year’s RU with high hopes, especially after suffering the
third failure of my 3-element SteppIR during the first hour of the 2018 running
of RU. Murphy didn’t visit my station this year, although his cousin left me
with a noisy florescent worklight which briefly wiped out my ability to hear
weak signals. That light, never a problem in prior contests, was dispatched
immediately.
Strategy in this contest is very different from the others I’ve become used
too. Having 24 hours out of 30 meant I got a decent night’s sleep using my
entire 6 hour “off time” in one block. Then, all Q’s being worth a point
and multipliers only counting once, not for each band, I tried to focus my RF to
the West and only pointed NE when the bands were strongly open to EU. I had
pretty good rates throughout the 24 hours but I was surprised that there
wasn’t more EU activity, e.g., didn’t work a DL until mid-Sunday morning
(local). While activity in EU seemed off, the number of stateside stations was
great. Lots of new calls and a fair number of them weren’t in the check
partial file. Hope I copied the right calls? ;o)
There were several high points: First, at K5ZD’s encouragement, I used
on-line contest score reporting for the first time. Boy is that fun to track as
you go, and as Randy suggested, it is very motivating. AC0C and AI9T pulled
ahead early but that kept me thinking, “What can I do to close the
distance.” I’m sure that helped me do my best to stay focused on rate and
keep my head in the game. I’ll definitely do this in future contests. Second,
set a goal to a least work all states and as much of Canada as I could. With
K1VMT (VT) and KT3R (DE) calling in during the last few hours, I got excited
that my contest WAS (including AK and HI) might just happen. If only I could
snag ND as a call-in or as I stumbled around in S&P, alas it wasn’t to be.
I had the multiplier window open during the entire contest and seeing those
states and provinces checked off also kept my interest going. Third, I usually
enter LP but, with the cycle being what it is, I decided this time to give HP a
try. While I wouldn’t push that SB-221 too hard, I could still be louder than
100W and maybe encourage more callers during my runs. Hard to know if this made
as big a difference as I felt, but it really helped me shorten up my macros and
get through in single exchanges. Finally, as in the OK DX RTTY and just when
the grayline was favorable, VK5GR called in on 40M for a new multiplier…
let’s hope this is a habit in all future contests!
The only low point was when a “mode-cop” decided to camp on me in the low
portion of the 40M RTTY contest segment… kept tuning up on my run frequency,
transmitted CW on top of me, then switched to RTTY to tell me I couldn’t be
there, swear at me, and tell me to “F@%$ OFF”, and of course he/she never
ID’d. Thanks to all who kept working me through that moron’s harassment as
it really helped me do my best to ignore it and “keep on, keepin on.”
Finally, after a contest I’m usually motivated to work on station
improvements… I’m thinking that’s my 2019 New Year’s resolution!
Thanks to all who called in and 73,
Rich N1IXF
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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