ARRL RTTY Roundup - 2021
Call: N6WM
Operator(s): N6WM
Station: N6RO
Class: SO(A) RTTY HP
QTH: Radio Oakley, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band RTTY Qs Dig Qs
-----------------------
80: 246
40: 432
20: 815
15: 460
10: 0
-----------------------
Total: 1953 0 State/Prov = 57 Countries = 52 Total Score = 212,877
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
Well that was a serious sporting event. with 2 additional highly capable
stations operating in same category(NW6P<W9KKN op>) and W6YX, both hilltop
stations (I believe but not sure N7MH op? we will soon see) I knew it was gonna
be a throw down. I came in with a couple of goals.. 1 was to beat my highest in
category score (this was not to be due to lack of 10m) and to try a more
effective off time strategy.(this did work out, I think we got it now)
Amongst the RO team, most were spread out in these and other efforts.. so there
was some friendly competitive banter, and stress was a little high. I knew in
order to do well, multipliers would be the key, and should let the amazing
station work for me. the problem is that on day one, I got caught in a
conundrum of mult chasing.. and not keeping rate on the other radio. this led
me into a difficult position as I concluded the first session. at leat 150 qsos
behind, down in points.. and up a couple mults from 1 and down a few from
another. I was also a bit frustrated by folks trying different strategies on
Online scoreboard, so for a period of time I qrt'd off it b/c it was
distracting. best not to obsess with it or have people obsess with what your
doing. I fortunately chose the right time to put my score back up. (end of day
one to show my poor effort, and last few hours of test to show my hard work
clawing back)
any way back to strategy.. In the mid and second sessions, I had to put my
thinking cap on and realize that its not just chasing the mults, but how you do
it, in the second day, I though through beam placement, etc. to position myself
for success, knowing I was at one of the most capable stations in the reason,
and if I could be loud in the right place at the right time, goodness will come
in. (rather than abandoning productive rate and chasing mults for mults sake.)
I made a deliberate shift to this strategy with nothing to lose.. and indeed it
paid off.
I spent the majority of the remaining time running or working other stations. I
did my beam placement to bring in mults at the right time. and as sure as sure
can be, they came.. some right in the nick of time. the convergence of the
above techniques, combined with the improved off time that enabled me to operate
the last hour of the contest, giving me an open to EU from W6 40m band, along
with my hard work boosting my log volume during the day, and an ounce of luck,
enabled me to pull ahead of the pack in the last hour of the test, with some key
EU mults calling in on queue, after trailing the entire time. This must have
been a show to watch on the online scoreboards, and score feeds were
periodically stopped, mine included, suddenly to appear and show current status,
and then jump about. the last hour was quite interesting.
In the end I am quite pleased how things turned out, all the teams are amazing
operators, and I am humbled to actually be considered a competitive peer with
these guys. big shout out to W9KKN@NW6P and the W6YX op. for one helluva
horse race and contest professionalism. in reality all these logs are nearly
the same score, and quite honestly going into day two I thought I was toast..
stategy pivot worked.
Special thanks go to Ken N6RO for allowing me to partake in this event annually,
as the great host he is, and it was great to be Single Op and be on site at the
station for the first time since the last RU.
Operating conditions:
Flex 6600-M X 2 (4 band capable and qrv on 4 bands at all times)
Power genius XL with each transceiver (flawless performance in 2bsiq
conditions)
2 X antenna genius matrix fully controllable modified system by NA6O
5 X 5 X 5 90ft on 10 (not used)
6 X 6 X 6 140ft on 15 (heavily used)
5 X 5 X 5 140 ft on 20 (even more heavily used)
4 X 4 on 140 ft 40 (the life saver system)
Congratulations to all on the RO team for their various efforts, with gratitude
to have you as colleagues in arms running Radio Oakley, and also congrats to all
the NCCC members who rallied to get on the air this weekend.. Did I hear N6TV
qrv on RTTY???
Thanks to all for qso's, it was lots of fun, but wow.. I need a beer now.
(Next SO qrv in CQ 160 as N6WM, NAQPs by the team)
Let there be no mistake.. RTTY contesting lives on!
73 and seeya next time
Chris
N6WM
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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