[3830] RTTY WPX P49X(W0YK) SOAB HP
webform at b41h.net
webform at b41h.net
Sun Feb 14 15:30:14 PST 2010
CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest
Call: P49X
Operator(s): W0YK
Station: P40L/P48Y
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 30
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts
------------------
80: 545 3256
40: 1137 6792
20: 787 2349
15: 974 2911
10: 44 125
------------------
Total: 3487 15433 Prefixes = 893 Total Score = 13,781,669
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
Well, the short report is that after a discouraging start Friday night, the pace
picked up and the final score is 18.5% higher than last year. This makes the
third straight year the score has increased, but never so dramatically. We had
continued increase in RTTY contest participation, growth in prefixes and great
15 meter conditions. Here’s the long report …
The low bands are key in this contest and to that end, I do everything I can to
maximize what I get on 80 and 40. That includes starting on those bands at 00z,
but that’s probably a mistake because I’ve never been able to get much rate
going until about 02z on 80 even though the band is well open to Europe and NA.
I’d be better off doing a couple hours on 20 until 80 can develop higher
rates. In 2009, I had a relatively slow first hour with hardly any QSOs on 80.
This year I was determined to work more on 80, but once again it didn’t
happen early. In fact, I fell behind last year’s overall 80/40 pace and the
gap widened as the first few hours unfolded. The band conditions were el
stinko with weak, watery, mushy, fluttery signals plus plenty of QRM. The QRM
doesn’t bother me much with the K3s, but I worry about others hearing me. I
got more and more discouraged and worked harder. When I took my first break as
the rate dropped toward 70/hour just after 09z, I was exhausted. All I had to
show for the evening’s work was that I had arduously worked my way back to
being just below the same point in 2009. I was down 50 QSOs, and 9 mults.
Based on point-rate, rather than QSO-rate, my prior year’s data showed that
14z would be a good time to resume my 30 hours, using 20 and 15. Both bands
seemed ready and I was eager to find out how the high bands would play after
the disappointing previous evening on 80 and 40. It took a couple minutes,
probably the time of my first spot on 15 and 20, for the rate to jump up to a
sustained 165/hour. The 17z hour was 188 contacts, my highest in WPX RTTY.
(Previous high was 165/clock hour.) The pace was steadily pulling away from
last year’s hourly data which I had posted right in front of me between the
two keyboards. Qs were gaining as well as the prefix total. I kept an eye on
the bandscope and bandmap of the third radio on 10 meters (more about this
later) and never saw anything to entice me to check out. Mostly just regional
spots and no blips above the background noise level on the scope. I was too
busy working stations to do much analysis real-time, but it was obvious that a
big lead over 2009 was built during the day. So, how would 80 and 40 play on
Saturday night? …
Mucho better. The bands sounded good and signals were stronger and crisper.
The 80/40 combined rate was just below 100/hour compared to Friday night which
averaged 110/hour. This may not sound like much, but since the QSO points are
doubled, it is equivalent to 200/hour on 20 and 15, which is hard to reach, let
alone sustain in this contest right now. The Asia/Oceania opening was even
better on 40 and the Europe activity on both bands stayed up longer compared to
previous years. I nominally planned to take my second break between 06-07z but
let QSO rate drive the decision and didn’t pause until after 08z. Mostly,
Saturday night just wasn’t so fatiguing. It also helped that the upward gap
continued to increase relative to 2009 and raised my spirits. At Saturday’s
break, 27:45 hours had elapsed and the score was about 800K over last year’s
final claimed score. QSOs were only 14 less than the 2009 30-hour total and
mults (prefixes) were already 45 higher the final 2009 count. I was definitely
in a better mood on this break!
In the previous three years, the peak daytime hour on 20/15 was 17z, so I
started my last time segment at 1615z. Instantly (thanks again to Packet,
I’m sure), the rate jumped up to 130/hour which was down from Saturday’s
high band rate, but still respectable. It looked like I would just surpass
3500 contacts and 900 mults. BUT … at 1750z, the rate dropped from 130/hour
to zero immediately. The 1750 minute had three QSOs and for the next five
minutes there was not a single response to my two CQ streams. After a quick
tune across both bands, it was apparent that some sort of disturbance was
occurring. There would be an odd signal here and there, quite loud, but just
spotlight propagation and not enough to sustain any rate. With 30 minutes
remaining on my 30-hour SO clock, I decided to give it a rest and find a more
productive half-hour later in the day. I took the headphones off, stretched,
and glanced over at the 10 meter bandscope … that was hopping with signals in
a 15 kHz segment centered on 28085. And the 10-meter bandmap showed a string of
SA stations. Headphones back on and I discover they are all running at a
respectable rate. NA signals are loud. Sounded like one of those 6-meter
openings. I decided to see what kind of rate I could develop. Immediately
jumped to 80/hour SO1R and I knocked off 43 Qs in that last 30 minutes. My
time ran out before the short opening reached the West Coast, but the Eastern
and Mid-West regions from the Gulf up into Canada were plenty loud. A bit of
QSB at times, but every QSO printed perfect. Getting a taste of some real
10-meter action after all these years of the doldrums got my adrenalin
flowing!
In the end, I fell 13 Qs and 7 prefixes short of my 3500/900 bogey set late
Saturday as the data continued their upward trend. The first few 3830 postings
show that others also had a good weekend, so I’m eager to see how the overall
contest ends up. It was great having VE3EJ, N2NL and (believe it or not!) N5RZ
call in on RTTY. ‘EJ even moved to 20 for me and I’m guessing Gator used
the CW-RTTY feature of his K3 to work me. If so, his technique was outstanding
as it was hardly noticeable. I doubt if he has any further clues, though, as to
why we do this mode!
SO3R. I wanted to try some different things this year and so I set up SO3R
knowing that if such nonsense would work at all, it would be less dangerous in
the RTTY mode. Extending my normal Multi-2 hardware configuration for SO2R
RTTY was straight-forward. For this initial experiment, I simplified things by
dedicating the third radio to 10 meters. Instead of a K3, I used an Icom Pro2
so that the bandscope was available to monitor activity at a glance. I always
had a third notebook PC networked in with the two main SO2R computers (one
dedicated to each K3 along with its own UI—LCD, keyboard, trackball), as a
backup. So, it was a snap to interface it to the Pro2. I further simplified
things by only using the MMTTY decoder, dispensing with the parallel hardware
decoder (DXP38) on this third radio. The audio was handled by using low tones
(1275/1445 Hz) in the two main radios and high tones (2125/2295) in the Pro2.
For the headphones, I simply mixed the Pro2 audio with the right K3 using the
“MFJ-640 hamProAudio™ 2 Radio Selector/Mixer†box. It was located just
between the two main LCDs above the K3s so it was convenient with the DX
Doubler SO2R control box. For the right ear, then, the MFJ box provides a
switch for Radio 1/Radio 2/Mix/Stereo with a Balance control. Using the low
tones/high tones technique made it easy to keep the two radios separate in my
right ear. The hardware and software setup is easy. Using SO3R, even for
RTTY, is not so easy to learn. It feels like starting all over again with SO2R
except that there is more distraction. Sorta like adding a third object after
you’ve learned to juggle two. I did manage some pre-contest QSOs, and during
the contest, P43A moved from 20 to 15 to 10 and became my first 5-band call sign
in this contest. The only change I made to the messages (macros) on the three
computers was to add a second QRV message so that I could instantly announce my
other two QRV frequencies. I could just integrate that into one message, but it
would take longer to send the two frequencies and typically I only want to send
one. Plus, two different QRV frequencies at once will confuse a lot of people.
I toyed with trying to run on 20/15/10 during that last half-hour, but I was too
excited about having a 10-meter opening to slow it down by interleaving the
other radios. I was also pretty tired at that point and might have hurt
myself!
Thanks again to all the participants, the vast majority of whom are only
interested in this contest to play radio and work some RTTY. And, of course,
to John (W6LD/P40L) and Andy (AE6Y/P49Y) who continue to share this fun station
with me. Look for John and me in ARRL DX CW next weekend, probably as P40L in
the MS category. Now, I’ve got to extract all the RTTY parts of the system
and get setup for CW. Log reports for this weekend’s WPX RTTY are attached
below.
Ed – P49X (W0YK)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
QSO/Pref by hour and band
Hour 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm OffTime
D1-0000Z 13/8 65/55 --+-- --+-- --+-- 78/63 78/63
D1-0100Z 20/13 88/51 - - - 108/64 186/127
D1-0200Z 20/9 82/50 - - - 102/59 288/186
D1-0300Z 44/13 77/42 - - - 121/55 409/241
D1-0400Z 50/18 73/37 - - - 123/55 532/296
D1-0500Z 29/7 81/33 - - - 110/40 642/336
D1-0600Z 31/10 74/34 - - - 105/44 747/380
D1-0700Z 36/12 60/27 - - - 96/39 843/419
D1-0800Z 8/1 59/26 --+-- --+-- --+-- 67/27 910/446
D1-0900Z 5/1 12/10 - - - 17/11 927/457 46
D1-1000Z - - - - - 0/0 927/457 60
D1-1100Z - - - - - 0/0 927/457 60
D1-1200Z - - - - - 0/0 927/457 60
D1-1300Z - - 16/3 26/7 - 42/10 969/467 41
D1-1400Z - - 57/16 105/26 - 162/42 1131/509
D1-1500Z - - 51/14 97/21 - 148/35 1279/544
D1-1600Z --+-- --+-- 64/13 111/21 --+-- 175/34 1454/578
D1-1700Z - - 85/17 103/24 - 188/41 1642/619
D1-1800Z - - 77/16 97/13 - 174/29 1816/648
D1-1900Z - - 80/13 91/15 1/0 172/28 1988/676
D1-2000Z - - 76/11 88/16 - 164/27 2152/703
D1-2100Z - - 69/6 48/8 - 117/14 2269/717
D1-2200Z - - 59/11 52/15 - 111/26 2380/743
D1-2300Z - 42/11 43/5 9/2 - 94/18 2474/761
D2-0000Z --+-- 71/12 11/0 --+-- --+-- 82/12 2556/773
D2-0100Z 37/4 57/8 - - - 94/12 2650/785
D2-0200Z 47/3 51/5 - - - 98/8 2748/793
D2-0300Z 38/6 60/9 - - - 98/15 2846/808
D2-0400Z 41/2 42/7 - - - 83/9 2929/817
D2-0500Z 49/2 49/7 - - - 98/9 3027/826
D2-0600Z 39/5 50/11 - - - 89/16 3116/842
D2-0700Z 36/5 39/6 - - - 75/11 3191/853
D2-0800Z 2/0 5/0 --+-- --+-- --+-- 7/0 3198/853 49
D2-0900Z - - - - - 0/0 3198/853 60
D2-1000Z - - - - - 0/0 3198/853 60
D2-1100Z - - - - - 0/0 3198/853 60
D2-1200Z - - - - - 0/0 3198/853 60
D2-1300Z - - - - - 0/0 3198/853 60
D2-1400Z - - - - - 0/0 3198/853 60
D2-1500Z - - - - - 0/0 3198/853 60
D2-1600Z --+-- --+-- 43/10 75/12 --+-- 118/22 3316/875 9
D2-1700Z - - 56/7 72/9 - 128/16 3444/891
D2-1800Z - - - - 43/2 43/2 3487/893
Total: 545/1191137/441 787/142 974/189 44/2
Pts by hour and band.
80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm OffTime
D1-0000Z 78 390 ---+- ---+- ---+- 468 468
D1-0100Z 120 528 - - - 648 1116
D1-0200Z 120 490 - - - 610 1726
D1-0300Z 262 458 - - - 720 2446
D1-0400Z 300 438 - - - 738 3184
D1-0500Z 172 482 - - - 654 3838
D1-0600Z 182 444 - - - 626 4464
D1-0700Z 216 360 - - - 576 5040
D1-0800Z 48 354 ---+- ---+- ---+- 402 5442
D1-0900Z 30 70 - - - 100 5542 46
D1-1000Z - - - - - 0 5542 60
D1-1100Z - - - - - 0 5542 60
D1-1200Z - - - - - 0 5542 60
D1-1300Z - - 48 78 - 126 5668 41
D1-1400Z - - 170 315 - 485 6153
D1-1500Z - - 153 291 - 444 6597
D1-1600Z ---+- ---+- 191 332 ---+- 523 7120
D1-1700Z - - 255 309 - 564 7684
D1-1800Z - - 230 291 - 521 8205
D1-1900Z - - 238 269 1 508 8713
D1-2000Z - - 228 262 - 490 9203
D1-2100Z - - 207 143 - 350 9553
D1-2200Z - - 175 155 - 330 9883
D1-2300Z - 248 126 26 - 400 10283
D2-0000Z ---+- 422 31 ---+- ---+- 453 10736
D2-0100Z 222 342 - - - 564 11300
D2-0200Z 278 306 - - - 584 11884
D2-0300Z 228 356 - - - 584 12468
D2-0400Z 246 250 - - - 496 12964
D2-0500Z 294 292 - - - 586 13550
D2-0600Z 234 300 - - - 534 14084
D2-0700Z 214 232 - - - 446 14530
D2-0800Z 12 30 ---+- ---+- ---+- 42 14572 49
D2-0900Z - - - - - 0 14572 60
D2-1000Z - - - - - 0 14572 60
D2-1100Z - - - - - 0 14572 60
D2-1200Z - - - - - 0 14572 60
D2-1300Z - - - - - 0 14572 60
D2-1400Z - - - - - 0 14572 60
D2-1500Z - - - - - 0 14572 60
D2-1600Z ---+- ---+- 129 225 ---+- 354 14926 9
D2-1700Z - - 168 215 - 383 15309
D2-1800Z - - - - 124 124 15433
Total: 3256 6792 2349 2911 125
80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total %
EU 202 507 288 340 0 1337 38.3
NA 329 555 453 582 39 1958 56.2
AS 4 51 26 38 0 119 3.4
SA 5 14 10 10 5 44 1.3
AF 4 3 4 3 0 14 0.4
OC 1 7 6 1 0 15 0.4
80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total
4O 1 1
5B 2 2
9A 1 3 6 5 15
CE 1 1 2
CM 2 3 3 3 11
CP 1 1
CT 2 2 1 5
CT3 1 1 1 3
CU 1 1
CX 1 2 1 4
DL 28 87 64 77 256
E7 5 2 7
EA 7 30 19 30 86
EA8 2 1 4 2 9
EA9 1 1
ER 1 1 2
ES 1 2 3
EU 2 6 1 1 10
F 9 17 10 22 58
FG 1 1
G 10 22 21 32 85
GI 2 2 4
GM 3 7 6 6 22
GU 1 1 2
GW 1 2 3
HA 4 10 6 4 24
HB 1 3 2 2 8
HC 1 1
HI 1 1
HK 1 1 2
HR 1 1
I 16 51 35 43 145
IS 1 1 2
IT9 1 4 1 1 7
J3 1 1 2
JA 32 23 37 92
K 285 502 403 536 32 1758
KH6 1 2 1 1 5
KL 2 2 3 3 10
KP2 1 1
KP4 1 1 1 3
LA 2 4 5 5 16
LU 3 2 5
LX 1 1
LY 3 6 1 5 15
LZ 3 3 2 3 11
OA 1 1
OE 1 4 5 2 12
OH 7 8 2 7 24
OK 10 21 11 1 43
OM 3 11 2 2 18
ON 5 5 4 11 25
OY 1 1
OZ 3 5 3 2 13
P4 2 1 2 1 2 8
PA 1 10 11 8 30
PJ2 2 1 3
PY 1 4 4 3 2 14
S5 3 9 8 6 26
SM 9 4 6 2 21
SP 15 28 10 6 59
SV 2 4 2 1 9
TA 1 1 2
TA1 1 1
TF 2 1 2 1 6
TI 1 1 2
TK 1 1
UA 16 63 12 16 107
UA2 1 1 1 3
UA9 4 11 3 18
UN 2 2
UR 15 39 13 18 85
V3 1 2 1 1 5
VE 31 38 37 34 4 144
VK 2 2 4
VU 2 2
XE 5 3 4 4 3 19
YB 1 1 2
YL 4 2 3 4 13
YO 4 16 4 8 32
YU 3 8 5 1 17
YV 3 3
Z3 1 1 2
ZC4 1 1
ZL 2 2 4
ZS 1 1
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