[3830] RTTY Roundup KI5XP Single Op LP

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                    ARRL RTTY Roundup

Call: KI5XP
Operator(s): KI5XP
Station: KI5XP

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Lafayette, La
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  120
   40:  147
   20:  376
   15:  172
   10:   57
------------
Total:  872  State/Prov = 57  Countries = 42  Total Score = 86,328

Club: Cajun Contest Club

Comments:

This was my first ever contest from my home station.  What a difference a
"Superstation" makes over home.  Pat was busy at NAQP, so no use of W5WMU for
me.  That cut out a second radio, highpower and switchable stacked antennas. 
Stations that I never thought I'd have problems talking to, had me repeat my
call several times.  10, 15, 20 and lower 40 meters were no problem, the C4XL
worked great (didnt really turn the antenna all that much, left it either NE or
NW), but once I climbed out of the DX window on 40, I either had the tuner
inline with 5 to 1 SWR or I could switch to the wire.  80 Meters was all through
the tuner and like Peter, zillion to 1 SWR.  My little Icom Pro2 was putting out
200 watts! *NOT*

I definitely liked the difference in radios.  The filtering in my Pro2 is light
years in advance to the 1000D's that Pat uses.  I will probably be packing that
off with me from now on.  The PBT is a must in tight band conditions and the
shift on the 1000D just plain doesnt work.

Several all banders (Thanks Bill WRT for the first one!).   Bands seemed to be
good.  10 was skew path for East Coast.  I'd work 6 after 6 pointing NW, have a
1 call me, turn the antenna and lose them.  Turn it back NW and hear them again.
 I took my time off the first night (overslept as usual), and was up to just
hear 20 opening.  Worked good DX Sun. morning and then it was stateside until 40
just came alive Sun night.  When it opened, it opened great.  ZC4, TF3, several
EU, South Cook(!), and many others.  

Thanks for the RTTY reflector thread on the soundcard driver changes.  I'd been
plagued for quite some time with an "overdrive" note in MMTTY.  Never thought
much about it, but sat down Saturday morning before the contest, tore the box
open and looked at the soundcard.  An OEM Soundblaster.  Previously I've always
used the drivers.com site and relied on other people's "supposedly" correct
drivers.  I searched Creative's site for the model number, found the exact
drivers and replaced them.  Not only did this solve the overdrive problem, but
it added several nice features not present in the drivers I was using.  It also
corrected the fact that the Line-In slider now actually controled the amount of
audio fed into the programs, whereas even if I closed it all the way down, I
still got audio and an "overdrive" error.  So check those drivers!

Thanks again to all the contacts and see yall in the next one.

Charlie
KI5XP


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