[3830] RTTY Roundup KI5XP(@W5WMU) Single Op HP

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                    ARRL RTTY Roundup

Call: KI5XP
Operator(s): KI5XP
Station: W5WMU

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Lafayette, La.
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  285
   40:  608
   20:  651
   15:  180
   10:   42
------------
Total: 1766  State/Prov = 55  Countries = 63  Total Score = 208,388

Club: Cajun Contest Club

Comments:

Another great contest. Believe it or not, this was my first RoundUp putting in a
serious effort and being a single op.  Last year Pat was using the station so I
was at home, thus no SO2R, and 2 years ago was the "Official" National
Championship year of my Tigers (no 3-Pete!), so I missed that one.  Prior to
that was my very first contest ever, and was a M/S event with no one knowing how
to the use the software.  Lots of things learned this go round.

Had a rough time getting started, my q's were wayyyy down for the first hour but
recovered nicely.  I just couldnt get going for a bit, and had a hard head.

10 meters was surprising as always picking up a few q's.  15 was decent, but as
usual 20 and 40 were my long haul bands.  Reading Ed's comments about the q's on
10 vs the run on the other hot bands really makes me think.  I've always tried
to concentrate more on my stronger bands and always seemed to trail on 10 and
80.  This is a different contest! I guess its better to stick with the hot ones
in a rate contest as opposed to worrying about the bands that you'll only pick
up those q's here and there.  I think I still had that CQWW mentality of picking
up the mults on the other bands and thought I needed to work 10 more.

I also have the old hunting dog problem.  I think as soon as I came across PZ5RA
on 40, I spent way too much time trying to pick him up.  As it turned out, I
worked him easily on 15 later in the day.  I've also learned a great deal on my
off times.  I did ok from midnight to 1:00am (local), but lost a lot of time
from 1:00 to 2:00.  It had gotten about a quarter past 1:00 when I realized that
I should have killed it then, but I didnt and stuck it out until 2:00am then
broke.  I came back on at 5:00am thining it would be nice to be on for the ZL/VK
sunrise, but that didnt pan out well at all, only finding a ZL once 20 opened
and not working the VK's until well into the afternoon, and then on 40m on top
of that.  I then broke for the church time crowd.  I can say that this is a myth
and not true.  

My rate graph shows that coming on at 5:00am wasnt bad, but 6:00am wouldnt have
been bad either.  My rate dropped again from 8:00 to 10:00, but it was still
better then that 1:00 to 2:00am.  So next year, I guess I'll learn to look back
at my previous log and figure out a better set of off times.  All of this
combined with ending my hard headed insistance of maintaining a frequency vs.
moving along and continuing to work stations has to change.  

There's always next year!

Things learned:
Time off is important
You never have enough cigarettes
Never let your host bring you chili dogs and bean buritos for food.
Make your own coax connectors
Burnt coax smells bad
Move on
Call CQ till it hurts, then move on
Sardines and Spam is NOT food
Set 2 alarms
10 meters aint worth it although it is open
Stick with what works
Check EVERYTHING out before the contest
Never doubt the old dogs, they DO know more then us young bucks!

Thanks to Pat as always for the use of the camp.  This is a great setup and this
man has put countless hours into making it work great for me.  He brings food
(bean burritos and chili dogs aside) thus sparing me the Sardines and Spam (his
personal favorites).  He gives contesting suggestions (although he has no idea
about RTTY and computers) that ring true regardless of mode.   But best of all
he's a friend, and his conversation keeps you going in those slow hours.  Then
again, that could be the root cause of the rate drop!

73
Charlie
KI5XP


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