[3830] ARRLDX SSB N4TZ/9 SOAB LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: N4TZ/9
Operator(s): N4TZ/9
Station: N4TZ/9

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: IN
Operating Time (hrs): 41
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   27    21
   80:   84    52
   40:  135    67
   20:  307    85
   15:  275    79
   10:  147    46
-------------------
Total:  975   350  Total Score = 1,018,500

Club: Society of Midwest Contesters

Comments:

Terrible low band conditions - horrible QRN first night, hard
to hear anything on low bands even with beverages; second night,
I could hear ok, but activity down there was lacking.  After
the first night's QRN went away, a broadband hash appeared
from the Southwest, which is still there as of this righting.
The nearest electrical line in that direction is about a half
mile away; it is S7-S9 up through 15 meters.

The contest started off ok, worked more JAs on 15 the first
hour than in the remaining 47 hours, so the high bands ended
up pretty punk here, too.  Definitely worse conditions than
last March.  Not one response to any of my CQs.

Guess we missed the peak of the sunspot cycle :^(

I spend most of the contest overcoming a series of problems
related to my voice keyer.  My physical voice has been a
problem since last September, so I have been relying upon
the DVP messages I recorded last year.  But, this 3 minutes
into this contest I started having problems with my system.
I spent most of the contest trying to isolate and identify
the underlying problem so that I could fix it.  At this
time, I'm still uncertain of the root cause, but I have
noted that TR4W and the computer continue to send the 
audio message but the Winkey PTT seems to drop out it you
try to send a second message too quickly after the first
message.  If you hit the F key before the first message
is complete, the PTT drops out and stays out until all
the messages are sent!  The PTT from the Winkey is used
to transfer the audio input to the SO2R box from the mike
to the computer soundcard.

At least the problems with the hardware took away some of
the boredom the the poor conditions would have otherwise
caused.

Terry N4TZ


                              2012 ARRL-DX-SSB N4TZ
                                 Continent List

                    160    80    40    20    15    10   ALL
                    ---   ---   ---   ---   ---   ---   ---
       NA calls =    15    25    24    42    54    39   199
       SA calls =     4    10    15    54    49    86   218
     Euro calls =     6    40    85   191   135    11   468
  African calls =     1     2     1     6     5     4    19
    Asian calls =     0     1     2    11     2     0    16
    Japan calls =     0     2     4     1    23     0    30
    Ocean calls =     1     4     4     2     7     7    25

    Total calls =    27    84   135   307   275   147   975


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