North American QSO Party, RTTY - July
Call: AA4LR
Operator(s): AA4LR
Station: AA4LR
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 9.3
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
80: 37 19
40: 158 44
20: 224 45
15: 56 22
10: 2 2
-------------------
Total: 477 132 Total Score = 62,964
Club: South East Contest Club
Team:
Comments:
Antennas:
Cushcraft A3S/A743 at 15m high (40m-10m)
Shunt-fed tower 15m high (80m)
Equipment:
Elecraft K3/100 w KAT3 running 100 watts
Acer laptop
N1MM and MMTTY
Comments:
Yes! A new personal best for NAQP RTTY for me!
Good to be back in Gwinnett county. This is my first full-time contest effort
since moving back into the area from Floyd county.
Wasn't sure I was going to be able to do this, as my wife was admitted to the
hospital early Monday morning with a punctured bowel. I brought her home Friday
evening, and she rested comfortably under the supervision of my youngest
daughter during the contest. That's part of the reason I didn't end up on a
team.
Bands sounded kind of odd at the start of the contest. Nothing on 10m. 15m was
open, but fairly short, which was even more odd since 10m was so dead. High
bands were noisy, and signals weren't strong. Some of the stations MMTTY
decoded I could barely hear.
Managed to run on 20m for an hour and a half! It is so nice to have a beam!
Hoped I wasn't missing any mults on 10 or 15m, but the callers wouldn't stop.
20m didn't see like it ever wanted to quit. 40m didn't seem to want to start.
W7RN called ME on 10m. He wasn't strong. When Radio Nevada isn't strong, band
conditions aren't great.
Took a big time off 2215-2340, which probably cost me some points. When I got
back on, 40m still wasn't going yet. Couldn't really run on 40m until after
0130.
I found myself missing my antennas from Floyd county on 40m -- the 80/40m
dipole and the 160/80/40m trap vertical up in the woods with 24 radials. Both
those antennas could really play on this band. Only managed some short runs on
40m. But, I felt loud -- I wasn't getting beat out -- I just couldn't get much
going, so mostly S & P on 40m.
80m was pretty crappy. I'm not sure the shunt-fed tower is radiating much. May
be a problem with the matching network. I've added that to my station project
list.
Such fun! I'll see you in CW next.
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Web: http://boringhamradiopart.blogspot.com
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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