[3830] RTTY WPX KK9A SOSB20 HP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest

Call: KK9A
Operator(s): KK9A
Station: KK9A

Class: SOSB20 HP
QTH: North Carolina
Operating Time (hrs): 30

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:     
   40:     
   20: 1520
   15:     
   10:     
------------
Total: 1520  Prefixes = 725  Total Score = 2,570,000

Club: 

Comments:

Just before the contest, I set up my RTTY hardware and connected up the
transceiver and amplifier. I spent some time on Thursday night listening to
stations checking my TNCs and software. It seemed like things were working
properly so I called a station and made a quick contact. I then called a second
station and when I completed my transmission the band sounded completely dead.
After some investigating in the dark. I discovered a failed connector on the
phasing box. I am not sure why this happened or if anything else is wrong with
my 40m system, but since I planned on operating only 20m for this contest I
made no attempt to repair the damage. It appeared that 20m was working, but the
band was too dead on Thursday night to make any contacts. At 0000z I started
calling CQ and began working other contest stations. After the strange 40m
failure I had concerns of possible hidden lightning damage, but the 20m
antennas and radio equipment appeared to be working properly. Conditions were
not great and I could copy only a few Asian stations, but I did have a nice
flow of US stations calling me. I was just starting to relax and get into a
rhythm when out of nowhere at 0146z my computer crashed displaying the Blue
Screen of Death. I have been using this computer every day for six months and
also have used it in two radio contests and I never had a crash. I restarted it
and luckily I did not lose any contacts. I checked the computer and ran some
maintenance utilities I but did not see anything wrong. After a good night’s
rest I started up on Saturday morning only to find an issue with my monitor’s
menu screen. I switched to a different monitor (same manufacture) and had the
same problem. I then switched back to the fist monitor and rebooted and it was
now OK. On Saturday, there was a lot of European activity during most the
daylight hours which made this contest a lot of fun to operate. It was a cold
and windy weekend and by Saturday evening I was having trouble turning my lower
beam. Luckily adjusting the starting speed on the controller fixed the problem
and I did not have to leave my operating chair. On the second night signals
from Asia were still weak and hard to decode so I took a long dinner and sleep
break. On Sunday morning while running Europe I had a second computer crash.
This BSOD error seems to be caused by a driver conflict that I have yet to
find. I quickly restarted and finished the contest without incident. In spite
of the problems and poor conditions I had my highest claimed score ever,
breaking the 20m record that I set in 2011. Thanks for the QSOs. Please QSL via
WD9DZV.

73,

John KK9A  /P40A


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