[3830] RTTY Roundup NW6P M/S HP

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                    ARRL RTTY Roundup

Call: NW6P
Operator(s): WX5S,NW6P,N7MH
Station: NW6P

Class: M/S HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  133
   40:  209
   20:  525
   15:  394
   10:  153
------------
Total: 1414  State/Prov = 58  Countries = 67  Total Score = 176,750

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

Thanks to Tom, NW6P, for inviting me and Matt, WX5S, to join him at his fine
station and to Dean, N6DE, for helping Tom to get the station and computer set
up for the contest.

I was in the operating position for most of the contest with Tom sitting behind
me, observing for much of the time.  Tom has made great progress in his recovery
from the severe stroke that he suffered almost 2 years ago but still has some
lingering effects so he encouraged me and Matt to do most of the operating.

We planned for Matt to do much of the operating during which time I would go to
the nearby QTH of Kevin, K6TD, to give Kevin a break and add some Q's to his log
for the NCCC club effort.  I ended up spending only 3 or 4 hours at K6TD because
Matt became too ill to continue so I returned to NW6P.  Tom operated for much of
the 0400Z hour with Matt's assistance until I returned.

Tom appreciated all of the greetings sent by on-air acquaintances and was quick
to point out to me all those he knew personally as you were worked.  Tom also
kept an eye on the BandMap and packet spots window and let me know when there
was a new mult spotted.  He also pointed out spots of personal friends and made
sure that we worked Ed at P49X on all bands.

We had a couple hours of 100 or more in the early going on 15 meters and then
our next best hour was running Europe on 20 meters at 82/hour during the 1600Z
hour.  We decided that the EU rate on 20 was so good that it didn't make sense
to try working EU on 15 until the run dried up on 20.  By the time we went to
15 the only remaining European stations were a few OH's with heavy flutter.

We had one station issue that N6DE had identified during setup and we
experienced in the practice session on Friday evening.  Transmitting on 80
meters with more than 300 watts would make some of the computer's USB ports
inoperable, including the MicroHam device and mouse, requiring rebooting of the
computer.  We used 300 watts on 80 and had no problems working virtually
everyone we called.  We probably would have gotten more answers to CQs if we
could have run a KW as we did on the other bands.

I intended to shut down at 0800Z for the evening but noticed several new spots
for EU stations on 40 meters.  I worked 7 new European mults before turning off
the radio at 0833.  I didn't stick around to see if the opening lasted until
after 0900 as it had last year when I operated from W6YX.  In retrospect I
probably should have just shut off the radio since all but one of the 7 mults
(LA) was worked on 20 in the morning and I only worked 14 total stations while
chasing these mults.  Here's our overall continent breakdown from CBSW.

----------------- C o n t i n e n t   S u m m a r y -----------------
                 160     80     40     20     15     10  Total    Pct
---------------------------------------------------------------------
North America      0    132    165    404    350    148   1199   84.7
South America      0      1      1      4      9      5     20    1.4
Europe             0      0     18    109      4      0    131    9.3
Asia               0      0     22      5     26      0     53    3.7
Africa             0      0      0      2      1      0      3    0.2
Oceania            0      0      3      2      4      0      9    0.6

We used the VE7CC software and cluster with skimmer turned on.  I didn't have
time to adjust the filters to eliminate all of the CW spots so I frequently
ended up clicking on CW spots in WriteLog's Packet Spots window.  I noticed
that I was able to tune the band to find many unspotted RTTY stations,
particularly on 80 and 10 meters.  I suspect that a lack of west coast US RTTY
skimmers results in poorer coverage for us.  Many of the spots did not match
the spotted station's frequency and I often had to tune up by 100 Hz or so.

Thanks again to Tom for the opportunity to operate from his station for the
first time.  Apologies to Kevin for not being able to offer more of my time to
his effort.  Best wishes to Matt for getting his health issues under control so
that we see WX5S listed in more score reports in the future.

73,
-Mike, N7MH


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