[3830] ARRL 10 W4LT SO Mixed LP

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                    ARRL 10-Meter Contest

Call: W4LT
Operator(s): W4LT
Station: W4LT

Class: SO Mixed LP
QTH: Florida
Operating Time (hrs): 14

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   CW:   86    24
  SSB:  105    24
-------------------
Total:  191    48  Total Score = 26,592

Club: Florida Contest Group

Comments:

The conditions could only be described as squalid.  

No real propagation first two days.  Learned a lot about Meteor Scatter and
airplane scatter.  About Meteor scatter I learned "work em fast while they are
still there".  About airplane scatter I learned that it is real.  I had my beam
to the northeast and could hear AD4ES really loud on CW every time an airplane
took off going north from Tampa International Airport.  As the plane would
proceed north from the runway, the signal would build then as the plane got
farther north, the signal would fade.  I'm about 4 miles to the northwest of
the airport, so I could see and hear the planes as they flew north.  Really a
cool effect!

Some TE prop on Sunday near the end helped get some south Americans into the
log.  Learned some interesting "features" of the K3/N1MM interface, like,
switching to VFO B puts you in split and dual receive.  I have to make sure I
set my configurations up correctly, as I think its pilot error in my setup
(which was just a copy of my TS850 Settings).

I now believe that the K3's second receiver is the best option on this radio's
order blank.  Calling CQ on SSB while combing the CW portion of the band (and
visa versa) enabled me to work many more stations than I would ordinarily work.
 Its better that using a cluster, because you can actually hear who is there! 
The second receiver makes one much more competitive!

Had fun working all of my local friends and remembering the old North Hills
Brasspounders and Modulators 10 meter ground wave contest in Western
Pennsylvania, one of my favorites from my 3-Land days, which is what this test
was for the first two days.

Did get the Christmas tree up and lit, as well has had a nice dinner with the
XYL!

Last year's score was over 200k.  This year, I struggled to make 26.5K.  Such
is life on 10 Meters!  Perfect balance of SSB vs CW multipliers!  Pushed my CW
sending a bit too in preparation for NAQP CW, so I'm feeling a bit more
comfortable at higher speeds.  All it takes is practice and patience!

At the end, tried a dual receive, with the main receiver on SSB and the second
receiver on CW and found that the VFO select doesn't follow the second receiver
when you switch (It puts you in split)  The work around is to swap VFO's on the
rig front panel then switch VFo's on the software.  Reverse the procedure when
going back to the original setting and all is well.

   
-lu-


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