The WPX RTTY contest is one of my most favorite contests of the year. Thus, I
was very disappointed when I could not meet my personal goal of 1000Qs and 500
mults (SOSB40HP). The end results was about 950 Qs and 511 mults for a total
of about 2.2M.
I am in the process of reviewing the required improvements to my stations and
so far I have identified quite a few, ranging from dedicated RX antennas so I
can hear better over the North Pole (worked only a dozen or so JAs), 4SQ TX
antennas for fast switching between EU and US, etc.
The one improvement that I am not quite sure how low to prioritize is a full
legal limit amp. Right now I have an old Ten Tec that I run at about 750W to
make sure it doesn't overheat. So, my question is what should I expect from
doubling my power from 750 to 1500W?
In my mind, the answer is somewhat complicated by the fact that 99% of the time
I do not get any requests to repeat, i.e. I deliver a decent signal around the
world. I also don't wait in line for pileups.
On the other hand, my run rates peaked at about 80/hour, which I don't think is
that great, particularly compared to what I see other non-DX stations are doing.
So, recognizing that I have a few other improvements to make, what should I
expect from extra 3db SNR on RTTY?
Rudy N2WQ
_______________________________________________
RTTY mailing list
RTTY@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rtty
|