[3830] Makrothen RTTY VA7ST SO/Single Xcvr HP

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                    Makrothen RTTY Contest

Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST

Class: SO/Single Xcvr HP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 13

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:   46
   40:   77
   20:  212
   15:     
   10:     
------------
Total:  335  Total Score = 1,798,316

Club: 

Comments:

2009 -- SFI= 69 |  A=2 | K=1 Pretty mellow conditions
2008 -- SFI= 69 |  A=2 | K=1 Good at start, bad later
  (with fast solar wind Saturday: SFI= 71 | A=25 | K=2 and 5 at one point)

* Not as many JAs as I had hoped for.
* 80M didn't have nearly as much action as I expected, given great conditions.
* 40M didn't open to EU very well.
* 20M was very rough to EU on Sunday morning, but at least a few got through.
* 15M and 10M were totally dead here.

As always, I looked forward to this one all week but when it got started I
realized it was going to be a long weekend of trying hard with rather poor
results.

Pretty slow start on 20M Friday evening -- a few JAs and UA0s in the log, but
not much and left 20M around 0125z.

Operated about 3.5 hours of the final overnight period (0800-1600z). Got up for
the last hour when I figured EU would be open, but tier-two signals never got
much beyond the scratchy stage (OK, that doesn't quite describe it, but you
know what I mean). 

That 20M opening on Sunday morning was building nicely but wasn't fully in
place by the time the contest ended. Had much better success S&P but not too
many workable stations making it over the pole. Called CQ in several places
with limited results. Primarily the stations responding were too weak to copy,
and in bunches too thick to pry apart. Definitely no golden log for me this
time, as I had to make a best guess on a couple of the guys buried in QRM and
line noise who just couldn't pull through. The high-power guys got through no
problem, but most of them must have been running instead of poking around for
CQers. 

Laziness cost me a personal best for Makrothen -- had I been on an hour
earlier, I'm pretty sure I would have hit the 2.06 million point mark, which
was my goal.

Best DX was VK7AD for 20,000 points or so on 40M. Best hour was 2145z to 2245z
on 20M with just 45 in the log, but many of them JAs at 8,000 points apiece.

The amp sure loves the SteppIR 3-element + 40M dipole. And the rotator loves
bidirectional mode. Wish Asia had more activity these days to make that mode
more useful. Still, it's now possible to check the Asian path in 3 seconds vs.
spinning the yagi all the way around to 300 from U.S. 105 degrees.

Points per Q comparisons:

Year   Qs      Points   Hr     80M    40M    20M    15M     All  Pwr
----  ---   ---------   --   -----  -----  -----  -----   -----  ---
2009  335   1,798,316   13   4,690  4,748  5,741      0   5,368   HP
2008  250   1,156,332   10   5,251  4,732  4,071      0   4,625   HP
2007  374   2,051,462   13   4,534  5,026  5,745      0   5,485   HP
2006  220     876,480   11   3,015  3,860  4,174  3,820   3,984   LP
2005  184     809,920   10   3,139  4,168  4,703      0   4,402   LP
2004  272   1,522,626   19   3,361  4,540  6,033  5,506   5,598   LP

Now off to a turkey dinner at the inlaws for CDN Thanksgiving. WX has been
great up here in B.C. this week. After Makrothen ended I got out in the
sunshine and mowed the lawns for the final time this year and bagged a carpet
of chesnut leaves. Put the tractor away for the winter, prepped the snowblower
and am ready for the snow any time now.

Bring on CQWW SSB and the rest of the tests.

73 and thanks for the contacts everyone.

-- Bud VA7ST


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