[3830] RTTY Roundup AA5AU Single Op LP

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                    ARRL RTTY Roundup

Call: AA5AU
Operator(s): AA5AU
Station: AA5AU

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 23.75

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  300
   40:  521
   20:  671
   15:  381
   10:   35
------------
Total: 1908  State/Prov = 59  Countries = 58  Total Score = 223,236

Club: Louisiana Contest Club

Comments:

When you come so close to breaking your own best score but fall short, you think
back and try to think of things you'd do differently that would have improved
the effort.  I don't know there is anything I could have done better.  I think
if 15 and 20 meters had been more open to EU Sunday morning, I would have had a
shot.  The rate early Sunday was so slow, I didn't think I'd have a chance of
getting close to my goal of 2000 Qs.  The A index was 8 early on Sunday and you
could tell when it dropped to five because things got 200% better.

At about 1500Z, 15 meters opened up to the USA and Canada in a big way for
several hours and I had a big run on the SteppIR that boosted by my morale and
score.  20 wasn't too bad either then and I decided to check 10 meters and
found a couple of very strong signals.  Unfortunately not many were found.  I
got excited when I saw the ten meter opening but participation there didn't pan
out.

All the newly erected antennas worked well, especially the SteppIR and the 40
meter inverted vee.  But the low bands on Saturday night were just not up to
par.  40 was way too long.  EU was calling me on 40 so I knew I was getting out
but the big runs of last year were not there.  It did improve late but by then
the East Coast had gone to bed and I pulled the plug at 0730Z for a five hour
break.  I actually got up around 1030Z to make coffee and plan for my Sunday
strategy.  I had the PRO III on 20 meters and there were no signals on the
bandscope.  I watched the radar and saw the bad weather in Texas headed this
way.  I wanted to save an hour of off time in case thunderstorms came so I
restarted at 1230Z but the rate was slow.  It started raining around 2000Z but
no thunderstorms.

When it started raining Sunday 15M was not as productive and ten was only open
to the west coast but not many there.  20 wasn't bad but I was pretty tired so
I took an hour nap and overslept 15 minutes.  I was dazed and confused for a
few minutes when I rushed back to the radios and it took a few QSOs to get the
flow going again.  But the nap rejuvenated me and I got the rate back up to
100/hr at one time after that.  The SteppIR was working well on 20 meters and
the inverted vee was doing well with S&P on 40.

I don't remember much of Saturday except the slow low band runs.  The first few
hours flew by so fast.  Actually the whole contest rushed by.  I have to get
this posted now because tomorrow I begin tearing the station down in order to
install a new floor.  I hope to have it back by WPX.  I learned a lot about my
new setup.  It seems to work well!

The most interesting part of the contest for me was trying the AA6YQ FIR512
profile in MMTTY when I was having trouble copying weak EU signals on 15 meters
Sunday morning.  I decided to try it.  It's totally different than any other
profile I've used.  It's tricky but once you learn it, it's the BEST for
copying weak signal RTTY DX and allowed me to easily work weak ones that would
have taken more time if not for the profile.

Thanks for all the Q's.  Guess I'll have to try harder for the record new
year!

Check the rttycontesting.com blog for other after-the-contest updates at:
www.rttycontesting.com/blog/

73, Don AA5AU


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