[3830] RTTY WPX K4XD SOAB(R) HP

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                    CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest

Call: K4XD
Operator(s): K4XD
Station: K4XD

Class: SOAB(R) HP
QTH: Raleigh, NC
Operating Time (hrs): 20.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Pts
-----------------
   80:   61   188
   40:  205   634
   20:  275   541
   15:   59   131
   10:    0     0
-----------------
Total:  600  1494  Prefixes = 308  Total Score = 460,152

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

My first SO2R experience!  Funny part is that I didn't add any hardware, just
reconfigured what I had and I got "baby SO2R" up and running.  I have an Icom
756PII as my main rig, and a Yaesu FT-857D as the backup.  They were both
already interfaced to my PC using Donner Digital Interfaces (not as well known
as most of the interface co's, but they do the trick at a fraction of the
cost).  The Donners also handle sound card interfacing, and I have two sound
cards in the PC.  I had tried rigging up both radios to one card with some Y
cables and adapter plugs, but couldn't get that working.  Went back to having
each radio on a separate card, fiddled with settings, and as usually happens
with computers, "all of a sudden it just worked."  I did need the FT-857D to be
in "Digital" mode, whereas the Icom wants to be in LSB mode for my AFSK RTTY
driven by MMTTY and the sound cards.  Once I got it all going, WriteLog did the
heavy lifting and let me switch radios with ease.

After the contest I played around with trying to get it working with CW, but so
far can't find anything in WriteLog to tell my WinKeyer USB to key radio A vs.
radio B. It just merrily keys both radios, which probably won't make any
friends for me in ham radio contest land.  So the ARRL DX CW may be SO1R.  Too
bad to get this close and then be looking at a big price jump to get SO2R for
CW and SSB.  Maybe I could use what I have for RTTY and get a DX Doubler for CW
and SSB.  Although my friend Aubrey tells me he used FSK with his Icom ProIII in
this test and got much better results with the RTTY filters on receive.  Near as
I can tell that bumps be up to a more than half kilodollar of interfaces and
cables.  I know, a mere drop in ye olde ham radio expense bucket... 

SH5 (thanks for the tip, Barry!) tells me I made 10.48% of my Q's on the second
radio.  Funny, feels like I put 60% of my effort into operating it.  And I think
SO2R RTTY must be the easiest mode for SO2R -- my brain was only taxed with
clicking the right windows and buttons at the right times, and remembering to
turn the tuning dial on the radio I was receiving on, not transmitting...
easier sounding than it is to do!  

I didn't get in until late Friday night so missed the first couple hours of the
test (this business travel is cutting into my contesting time).  I started with
S&P on 40M and was pleased with OA4O as my first Q, a new band-slot for me as
well.  After only 11 kHz of S&P I decided to try and get the second radio
going, and surprisingly it only took half an hour.  It was hooked up to a
simple Marconi L with 4 radials and an Alpha Delta Pathfinder autotuner that I
bought when I got my ticket (and before I realized there were better tuners out
there for the money).  I set this antenna up a couple years ago for SWBC
listening (minus the radials at the start).  It actually performed pretty
decently, much to my surprise.  I didn't feel like going out in the dark and
reconfiguring my antennas to put a "real" antenna on the second radio, so this
was my configuration until Saturday daylight struck. 

I kept the main radio on 40M and used the second on 80M.  Given the rather
minimial antenna, I was a bit surprised to work DL's and I's in the first 15
minutes.  An even bigger surprise was D4C on the second radio at 0546. I sacked
out at 0645 and was back at 1215.  Had a brief run on 40M, some more S&P on 80M
and 40M, and then hit 20M at 1330.  At 1400 I took a break and went out to the
yard to move the second radio coax to my larger K1JEK Cobra Ultralight
multiband dublet, which is still pretty close to the other antennas, but
furthest away in my half-acre backyard.  If I used the Yaesu on 15M it
generated hash that wiped out 20M on the Icom, but I could work OK with the
Icom on 15M and the FT-857D on 20M.  Go figure.  I see stubs in my future...

One nice thing about SO2R (here comes Mr. Obvious), I didn't have to make as
many decisions about which band to operate -- at any given time I could be on
the two best performing bands for that hour.  Hadn't really thought about that
angle.  It is a lot of extra hoopla for 10 - 15% more Q's, but as others have
said, it does keep the mind from idling.  

I see from my log that I didn't really work both radios all the time -- I'm
sure I would have racked up more Q's if I had.  I would start S&P'ing with the
Icom when the runs cooled off, and once I did that I didn't do much with the
second radio.  I suspect a discipline of just keeping one radio CQ'ing would
help.  I still am having trouble sticking to that, even though intellectually
it makes more sense.  The rates are almost always better when I CQ, but it
doesn't "feel" as fast when you're sitting there for minutes with nothing
happening.  

As my contesting skills have evolved (as in "I'm now in the prehistoric era,
having evolved from the birth of the universe"), I am paying more attention to
rate, and actually noticed this time what I'm sure everyone else knows clearly
-- RTTY rates are lower than CW or SSB.  Even with two radios, I was hard
pressed to get above 35/hr rates much of the time.  Only had a few bursts of
80+ and that was not sustained.  Seems like when you're S&P'ing, it takes
longer to "get your turn."  Maybe it's because with CW, it's a little easier to
pick one call out of the mess. With RTTY, it's up to the decoders.  And it
seemed to me that in this contest, especially on 20M and 40M, there was more
garbled RTTY than I've seen in a while.  Maybe the Icom RTTY filters + FSK is
the answer.

I was able to keep at it until 2200, when the social obligation clock struck
again, keeping me away from the dials until 0515.  Missed some prime operating
time there.  I put in about an hour and then had to knock off until the next
morning.  Got a late start at 1249, had a longish run on 40M and then bounced
up to 20M at 1330.  I kept hoping for a big EU run but never was able to
sustain more than 20 Q's in a row before things tapped out.  At 1640 I was
pleasantly surprised to have two ZS stations call me on 15M in a row.  The
other nice surprise was a ZL calling me on 20M at 2025.  Things like that
really give me a boost -- especially when you're wondering if you're getting
out.  

The last hour was one of the strongest, with 47 Q's on 40M to wrap things up. 
Funny how the first and last hours tend to bring everyone out of the woodwork. 
I always like that sudden calm on the bands when the clock strikes the end of
the contest.  Where'd everybody go?!

Minor SO2R oddity -- this makes sense but I hadn't anticipated it -- as soon as
you put a callsign into the second radio box in WriteLog, the serial number
jumps.  If you don't succeed in making that QSO, that serial number is "lost." 
By the end of the contest, I had 600 Q's but was handing out number 781.  I sure
don't remember losing that many Q's, but the number was staring me in the face. 
 Fortunately the score box in WriteLog shows you the real number of Q's
completed, but it was a source of cognitive dissonance -- handing out serial
number 500 felt like a milestone, but then seeing I was really still a hundred
Q's short of 500 felt like a letdown!

Speaking of Q's, thanks everyone for the contacts and a lot of fun. See you
next week in ARRL DX.

73,
Rowland K4XD


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