[3830] BARTG Sprint AA5AU SO Expert HP

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                    BARTG RTTY Sprint

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

Class: SO Expert HP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 23
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Pts
-----------------
   80:  231   231
   40:  332   332
   20:  369   369
   15:   92    92
   10:    0     0
-----------------
Total: 1024  1024  Mults = 87  Total Score = 534,006

Club: Louisiana Contest Club

Comments:

Unbelievable.  SFI up to 88 with low A and K indexes and you would think 15 and
20 meters would have opened up.  Didn't happen.  15 was terrible and I just
kept shaking my head not believing the numbers but they stayed consistent all
weekend.  20 wasn't great either.  The "Sprint" was more like a "Crawl" for the
first half of the contest.  Very strange.  Struggled early and fell behind W5AP
and WA5ZUP by over a hundred QSOs for the USA 5th district battle but was able
to make it up on the low bands which were in very good shape. I was hoping for
an all-night 20 meter opening to EU and even though I was able to work a few
EA, I and DL stations, it never really materialized.

Most interesting contact was being called by E51SC on 40 meters.  Congrats to
some stations that had really high serial number here in the USA and Canada -
VA2UP, W0YK/6, K1SFA, W0LSD, AA3B and of course W5AP and WA5ZUP. There may have
been others but those are the ones I remember.  Looked like several EU station
had high numbers too.  I just couldn't keep pace with these stations with the
poor conditions I experienced on 15 and 20 early.  I almost quit the contest
because the weather was absolutely beautiful but decided to stick with it.

I didn't plan on staying up for the whole contest.  But when I fell behind W5AP
and WA5ZUP, not knowing what category they were operating, I felt inclined to
try to catch up and see if I could win W5 Expert plus the low bands were in
great shape and operating was enjoyable overnight.  I can't remember the last
time I stayed awake for over 24 hours.  I took LOTS of breaks and that helped
ease the stress of the low rates.  The last half hour was hard to keep my eyes
open!

I had fun but it was a hard operating.  My station performed well but I need to
replace the A3S with the KT34 on the lower tower before WPX for sure.  Thanks to
everyone who participated.  Got a lot of "599" serial numbers. hi  Can't wait
for WPX RTTY and NAQP next month.

Station A:
Icom IC-756 PRO III transceiver
Ameritron AL-80B amplifier 500 watts output
Dell 4800 XP Pro - WriteLog 10.83C
Homebrew FSK interface
Dell 20" LCD monitor
NIR-12 Dual DSP audio filter
Dunestar 600 band filter
Icom PS-60 power supply

Station B:
Kenwood TS-870 transceiver
Ameritron AL-80B amplifier 500 watts output
Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop XP Media Edition - WriteLog 10.83C
Homebrew FSK interface
Dell 20" LCD monitor
NIR-12 Dual DSP audio filter
Dunestar 600 band filter
Astron RS-35A power supply

Antennas/Misc
3 element SteppIR w/30/40M loop dipole @ 58' w/ Ham IV rotor
Cushcraft A3S at 40' w/M2 RC2800PX rotator
80 meter inverted vee
40 meter inverted vee
Dunestar 842 2-radio headphone switch
SixPak Antenna switch

73, Don AA5AU


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