[3830] NAQP RTTY K7IA Single Op LP

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                    North American QSO Party, RTTY

Call: K7IA
Operator(s): K7IA
Station: K7IA

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: SW New Mexico
Operating Time (hrs): 8:29

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   80:   19    15
   40:  197    44
   20:  150    36
   15:           
   10:           
-------------------
Total:  366    95  Total Score = 34,770

Club: 

Team: 

Comments:

I planned to give this one a serious go (full 10 hours, find clear spots and
run, etc.).  After the 7th QSO, the 100 watt amplifier in the K3 went west for
who-knows-what reason.  Not wanting to lose "dual passband tuning" in RTTY
mode, I gave up some time, trying (unsuccessfully) to find and correct the
cause.  Then I changed rigs after knocking the rust off of the Omni 6 and
recalling how to interface it with microKEYER and computer.

Twenty meters provided a fair share of contacts, but it certainly was too
crowded to find many "run" frequencies by the time I got the backup radio
going.  Thanks to good ops, I could maintain a pretty good rate in S&P mode. 
Overall, though, condx on 20 could have been better--there was fast, deep, and
lengthy QSB that silenced major portions of the midwest and northeast from my
New Mexico QTH.

Of the few times I checked 15 meters, I heard, but didn't try to work, only a
few weak signals scattered across the band.  Prospects for good rates were
slim, even though the added mults would have been welcome.  I never heard a
thing on 10 meters.

Once QRN on 40 meters became reasonable, about an hour after local sunset, I
could hold any run spot I chose and garner some nice rates.  But even after
working "only" 150 Q's or so, the rates tapered off, making me think I had
"worked 'em all."  For the lhe last few dozen I worked hard in S&P mode.

Eighty provided a few Q's despite the noise produced by T-storms here in the
Southwest.  Thankfully, I had worked most of them on higher bands, so all that
was need was a copyable callsign, and N1MM could supply the rest of the
exchange.  But there were a few new callsigns, and I'm grateful to them for
wanting a new mult as much as I did--thanks for hanging in there, guys!

Wonder if this NAQP RTTY was less active than the winter event?  There seemed
to be far more activity then.

See you in NAQP CW in a couple of weeks.  K3 power amp now functioning, but I
don't consider it reliable.  Don't know what I did other than to take
measurements, re-upload firmware, etc.  Then I removed it and looked for
obvious problems, measured resistances to ground, etc.  Nothing abnormal.  So I
reinstalled the module, and now it works.  Don't you just love intermittants?? 
It's always good to have a backup radio!

Bottom line--despite rig problems I enjoyed the contest and the ops very much. 
It was nice to see (print?) so many contester callsigns that I recognize from CW
contests--thanks for packing 20 meters so well!

73,
Dan k8ia


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