[3830] RTTY Roundup P49X(W0YK) Single Op HP
webform at b4h.net
webform at b4h.net
Mon Jan 4 14:43:06 EST 2016
ARRL RTTY Roundup
Call: P49X
Operator(s): W0YK
Station: P40L/P49Y
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: FKal52
Operating Time (hrs): 23:58
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
80: 271
40: 657
20: 1040
15: 1146
10: 307
------------
Total: 3421 State/Prov = 59 Countries = 75 Total Score = 458,414
Club: Loma Prieta Contest Club
Comments:
Round-Up is great fun! Even with deteriorated propagation compared to recent
years, it still offers a lot of excitement for the first weekend of the year.
Overall, I really enjoyed the operating despite propagation/activity being less
than the past 4 years. In fact, band conditions far exceeded my expectation
going into the weekend in the aftermath of the solar flare a few days prior.
14080-130 was packed and even more so on 15M.
I didn’t go to 10M until Sunday morning. It looked dead on the bandscope,
but of course once the Skimmers spotted me, there were pileups from Europe and
NA. The activity dried up pretty fast, though, so I wonder how many stations
even tried the band. However, this is a near-the-equator perspective where the
north-south path can work well into EU and NA but they can’t work much of each
other. When P4 and a couple others are the only stations on the band, and
without per-band mults, why should northern latitudes spend time on 10 meters?
The high bands went up and down but never into a complete blackout. The
transitions were amazingly quick. Even 40 and 80 exhibited some of this
behavior. The low bands were quiet with clear, crisp signals most of the time.
Late Sunday afternoon 10 and 15 faded extremely fast, in less than a minute.
Soon 20 was hollow and watery. I had a 30-minute off-time contingency which I
gladly took just to get away from the operating position. When I returned,
things seemed more stable.
Operating
At times I could achieve peak rates of past years, but those periods didn’t
last long. And, there were longer periods of low rates (for P4). I averaged
142 QSOs/hour compared to a personal RU high of 158 in 2015. 4000 QSOs is
still virgin territory.
Mults were almost as high as they’ve ever been from here, so the score is
only 2% down from the all-time high. As others have mentioned, WAS seemed to
come earlier this year. DC was my last mult in the lower-49 and then 3 more
called in for a total of 6 QSOs. Someone reported it was their first mult
which just shows how different experiences we can all have in the same contest.
Missed NB which seemed odd, and of course all the northern provinces. Also
missed the A71 and VP8NO plus of course others I don’t know about.
OH2HAN was my 5th QSO on 10M and the first of 47 five-banders overall. Thanks
to all of them and everyone who moved to other bands. And special thanks to
all the professed non-contesters out there that make the event as active as it
is for all of us. The EU participation seemed lower, and indeed the log has
only 14% Europe vs. double that in prior years.
On average, operating technique continues to improve. More stations are
sending shorter messages. OTOH, I’m grateful for all calls, regardless of
messaging. At least the station is adding activity to the event and they’ll
refine their messages with more time spent in contests.
This year’s Tail-Ender Award goes to K5ZD who laid his call perfectly in the
deadspace between another caller and my replying transmission. If I hear a
transmission start just as I hit a key, then I hold off a beat to see what it
is, or even ESC out of my message (if it started) to copy the transmission.
It’s worth doing that so I can roll right into the next QSO without wasting
time on another CQ/reply cycle. Actually, a number of stations pulled this off
and it really speeds things up. Sometimes their “tailend” may be an
inadvertent mistake, but it still works as long as it doesn’t QRM something I
need to copy. ;>)
Challenges
In the weeks leading up to RU, I had the opportunity to dialogue with folks who
were having various problems with their RTTY setups. I always learn things when
discussing issues with others. And, I get my share of these challenges with my
own setups.
Arriving late Monday, I was too tired to setup the station so that didn’t
happen until Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, I was dealing with DNS server IP
address problems here in the cottage. Once the SO2R setup was complete, it
worked fine on the right side, but not on the left. There was no FSK transmit.
I found an incorrect setting in the K3 but that didn’t fix it. I checked all
software configurations, switched from Rttyrite FSK to MMTTY FSK and back again,
wiggled and re-seated cables, etc. Nothing worked and the problem didn’t
make sense. Then, I moved the radio end of the FSK cables from the right radio
to the left radio. That worked, validating that the left radio was OK. When I
reconnected the left side FSK cables, it suddenly worked fine. I suppose there
was an intermittent connection that was corrected with the unplugging/plugging,
but I had already done that before unsuccessfully, so it is still a bit of a
mystery. Point is, I am impressed that any of us get this stuff working!
On Wednesday, I noticed some disturbing unwanted audio spikes in the MMTTY
spectrum display. This seemed to be interfering with weak signal decoding. I
traced it to the audio-in connection on the DXP38 TNCs. Disconnecting those
cables cleared up the spikes entirely. I don’t recall this problem in the
past and all the components and setup are the same. Ignoring the technically
better solutions, I simply added an audio isolation transformer at each of the
DXP38 inputs. Problem solved, though I admit I cheated by not redesigning my
radio, PC, modems, etc. to eliminate that nefarious Pin-1 violations and
unbonded system components that cause this noise. Shame on me!
I tried some new mini-keyboards and trackballs that are wireless and facilitate
easier, simpler setup. The keyboards are great, at least for my RTTY use where
I seldom touch-type, but am just pushing a few single keys on the keyboard most
of the contest. Still getting used to the new trackballs. The “non-thumb”
button is on the side and harder to access with fingers, so I may have to
abandon it. Or, go to a conventional mouse which may be necessary anyway as my
hands develop more trembling.
I added the KXV3B with second pre-amp and KIO3B with USB CAT and audio to one
K3. I was looking forward to comparing the internal Codec with the outboard
USB soundcard I usually use. Unfortunately, I grabbed the wrong cable for also
connecting up the P3 with the KIO3B running on USB, so this test will have to
wait for WPX RTTY. In a couple RTTY contests from home, though, the internal
Codec seemed to perform better than the external soundcard, but that is purely
anecdotal. At the least, this approach eliminates the audio noise issue
described above.
I have naturally good near- and far-vision, but the transition between the two
is blurry. That transition is the typical distance to a LCD display. So, I
have computer glasses that help immensely. And, you guessed it, I forgot to
bring a pair. Fortunately I don’t often type info from the screen into the
log, but I’m sure it slowed me down at times, not being able to clearly read
the screen.
During the contest, two problem arose that were absent from all the testing and
operating I did the week before. First, the left-side PC would develop a
sluggish that produced several seconds of delay before a message was set after
being initiated. All PCs are identical in hardware and software, but clearly
something has changed in this one. This was as frustrating for me as I’m
sure it was for the other station.
Second, I was once again visited by our chronic self-inflicted RFI. We have
wide-band RFI created on the second harmonic, e.g., 40M creating RFI across the
entire 20M band. It switches on and off instantly and seemingly uncorrelated to
anything being done in the shack. It will suddenly appear and then 5-15 minutes
later it will be gone. When it is on, nothing can be copied below S5 or so.
That’s the majority of signals part way into the contest period.
Folks, RTTY contesting has a major problem with far too many excessive transmit
bandwidths. The extent of the issue is readily apparent with a good bandscope.
Worse, there is little incentive to transmit a properly narrower signal because
neighboring stations can move closer to you! Those who do transmit narrow are
penalized because other stations can unknowingly position themselves too close,
such that they themselves have no QRM, yet are creating terrible QRM for the
“good guy”.
Thanks
Each and every QSO is much appreciated. The fun of operating exceeds the
achievement of contest goals. As always, thanks to friends John W6LD/P40L and
Andy AE6Y/P49Y for sharing this cottage with me.
Ed
Rigs: Elecraft K3s (2), with P3s (2)
Amps: Alpha 86, Alpha 91B
Logging software: WriteLog 11.33b on three networked PCs, one for each SO2R
radio and one master as backup.
Tower 1: 4 elements 20 meter at 68 feet; 2 elements 40 meter at 76 feet; 1
element 80 meter Sigma 80 at 64 feet; 160 meter "Double L" vertical
at 67 feet
Tower 2: 2 (yes, two!) elements on 10 meter interlaced with 5 elements on 15
meter at 55 feet
Tower 3: C31XR at 43 feet
RX antennas: four 400-500 foot beverages using K9AY switching box/preamp
Cabrillo Statistics (Version 10g) by K5KA & N6TV
http://bit.ly/cabstat
CALLSIGN: P49X
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
CONTEST: ARRL-RTTY
OPERATORS: P49X
-------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y ---------------------
Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1800 0 0 0 87 98 0 185 185 5.4
1900 0 0 0 92 115 0 207 392 11.5
2000 0 0 0 94 96 0 190 582 17.0
2100 0 0 0 87 103 0 190 772 22.6
2200 0 0 0 83 86 0 169 941 27.5
2300 0 0 60 94 18 0 172 1113 32.5
0000 0 7 87 61 0 0 155 1268 37.1
0100 0 33 88 26 0 0 147 1415 41.4
0200 0 79 102 0 0 0 181 1596 46.7
0300 0 51 77 0 0 0 128 1724 50.4
0400 0 49 93 0 0 0 142 1866 54.5
0500 0 48 65 0 0 0 113 1979 57.8
0600 0 4 6 0 0 0 10 1989 58.1
0700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1989 58.1
0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1989 58.1
0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1989 58.1
1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1989 58.1
1100 0 0 0 9 38 0 47 2036 59.5
1200 0 0 0 32 61 0 93 2129 62.2
1300 0 0 0 32 63 9 104 2233 65.3
1400 0 0 0 53 70 3 126 2359 69.0
1500 0 0 0 53 76 0 129 2488 72.7
1600 0 0 0 6 80 89 175 2663 77.8
1700 0 0 0 0 65 92 157 2820 82.4
1800 0 0 0 0 55 70 125 2945 86.1
1900 0 0 0 60 45 5 110 3055 89.3
2000 0 0 0 50 50 6 106 3161 92.4
2100 0 0 11 22 27 33 93 3254 95.1
2200 0 0 16 39 0 0 55 3309 96.7
2300 0 0 52 60 0 0 112 3421 100.0
------------------------------------------------------
Total 0 271 657 1040 1146 307 3421
Gross QSOs=3467 Dupes=46 Net QSOs=3421
Unique callsigns worked = 1873
The best 60 minute rate was 212/hour from 2026 to 2125
The best 30 minute rate was 226/hour from 1902 to 1931
The best 10 minute rate was 264/hour from 1910 to 1919
The best 1 minute rates were:
6 QSOs/minute 8 times.
5 QSOs/minute 54 times.
4 QSOs/minute 212 times.
3 QSOs/minute 396 times.
2 QSOs/minute 391 times.
1 QSOs/minute 285 times.
There were 2103 bandchanges and 1367 (40.0%) probable 2nd radio QSOs.
----------------- 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 0 252 555 838 872 288 2805 82.0
South America 0 2 3 7 6 8 26 0.8
Europe 0 16 91 129 247 8 491 14.4
Asia 0 1 1 54 12 0 68 2.0
Africa 0 0 3 5 2 2 12 0.4
Oceania 0 0 4 7 7 1 19 0.6
--------------------------------------------------------------
Total 0 271 657 1040 1146 307 3421
Number of letters in callsigns
Letters # worked
-----------------
3 6
4 1411
5 1307
6 685
7 5
8 3
9 1
10 3
------------------ C o u n t r y S u m m a r y ------------------
Country 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct
-------------------------------------------------------------------
4X 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.0
5B 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0.1
6Y 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.0
8P 0 1 1 1 0 0 3 0.1
9A 0 1 2 1 1 0 5 0.1
CM 0 1 2 2 3 0 8 0.2
CT 0 0 2 3 2 3 10 0.3
CT3 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0.1
CX 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.0
DL 0 4 11 16 41 2 74 2.2
EA 0 0 1 5 6 0 12 0.4
EA8 0 0 1 4 0 1 6 0.2
EI 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0.1
ER 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0.1
ES 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0.1
EU 0 2 1 3 3 0 9 0.3
F 0 1 4 8 14 0 27 0.8
FG 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
FM 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0.1
G 0 1 6 7 19 0 33 1.0
GI 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
GM 0 0 1 1 3 1 6 0.2
GU 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.0
GW 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.0
HA 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0.1
HB 0 0 1 2 3 0 6 0.2
HI 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.0
HK 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0.1
HL 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 0.1
HP 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.0
HS 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
I 0 0 12 23 42 0 77 2.3
*IT9 0 0 2 2 3 0 7 0.2
J6 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0.1
JA 0 0 0 44 10 0 54 1.6
K 0 230 522 768 795 262 2577 75.3
KG4 0 0 0 2 3 1 6 0.2
KH2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
KH6 0 0 3 1 6 1 11 0.3
KL 0 0 1 5 8 2 16 0.5
KP4 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0.1
LA 0 1 1 1 3 0 6 0.2
LU 0 0 0 3 1 2 6 0.2
LX 0 0 1 1 2 0 4 0.1
LY 0 1 1 1 2 0 5 0.1
LZ 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0.1
OA 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
OE 0 0 0 1 3 0 4 0.1
OH 0 2 1 6 8 1 18 0.5
OK 0 0 5 4 4 0 13 0.4
OM 0 0 0 1 3 0 4 0.1
ON 0 0 2 4 1 0 7 0.2
OZ 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 0.1
PA 0 0 4 9 15 0 28 0.8
PY 0 0 2 1 4 3 10 0.3
PZ 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.0
S5 0 0 1 1 3 0 5 0.1
SM 0 0 3 2 9 0 14 0.4
SP 0 2 5 7 18 0 32 0.9
SV 0 0 2 3 3 0 8 0.2
*TA1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
TF 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.0
TI 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
TK 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0.1
UA 0 0 3 5 5 0 13 0.4
UA2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.0
UA9 0 0 0 4 1 0 5 0.1
UR 0 0 11 5 9 0 25 0.7
VE 0 17 25 52 57 22 173 5.1
VK 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 0.1
XE 0 0 2 4 3 1 10 0.3
YB 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
YL 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
YO 0 1 4 0 5 0 10 0.3
YU 0 0 1 1 3 0 5 0.1
YV 0 2 1 1 0 1 5 0.1
Z3 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0.1
ZF 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0
ZL 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 0.1
ZS 0 0 1 0 2 1 4 0.1
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 0 271 657 1040 1146 307 3421
------------ M u l t i p l i e r S u m m a r y ------------
Mult 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct
-------------------------------------------------------------
-DX- 0 24 110 217 291 22 664 19.4
CA 0 12 60 74 89 32 267 7.8
PA 0 14 37 45 41 17 154 4.5
MN 0 14 25 40 49 12 140 4.1
IL 0 13 23 30 49 17 132 3.9
VA 0 16 22 42 37 14 131 3.8
NY 0 13 22 45 32 14 126 3.7
TX 0 9 27 39 35 13 123 3.6
FL 0 8 15 30 40 9 102 3.0
OH 0 7 18 36 23 13 97 2.8
MA 0 7 21 26 22 15 91 2.7
NJ 0 7 20 25 22 8 82 2.4
WA 0 8 16 26 28 4 82 2.4
ON 0 8 11 24 25 12 80 2.3
MI 0 6 15 25 20 7 73 2.1
MD 0 12 12 20 19 8 71 2.1
AZ 0 2 17 20 24 1 64 1.9
WI 0 6 14 15 21 7 63 1.8
NC 0 7 13 20 20 1 61 1.8
IN 0 7 9 21 14 7 58 1.7
TN 0 6 11 15 17 8 57 1.7
MO 0 9 11 15 16 4 55 1.6
KY 0 6 9 11 14 8 48 1.4
GA 0 2 10 14 13 6 45 1.3
CO 0 2 9 13 18 0 42 1.2
QC 0 5 8 13 11 4 41 1.2
CT 0 5 6 12 12 4 39 1.1
BC 0 2 5 9 9 6 31 0.9
SC 0 2 4 9 8 5 28 0.8
IA 0 4 5 7 10 2 28 0.8
LA 0 3 4 9 8 3 27 0.8
OR 0 2 3 7 11 1 24 0.7
AL 0 1 6 7 7 2 23 0.7
NH 0 2 6 7 4 2 21 0.6
DE 0 2 2 7 7 2 20 0.6
AR 0 3 4 4 4 3 18 0.5
NV 0 1 6 4 5 0 16 0.5
ID 0 0 2 3 7 3 15 0.4
MT 0 0 5 5 5 0 15 0.4
RI 0 3 2 5 4 0 14 0.4
WV 0 1 4 4 5 0 14 0.4
SD 0 1 3 1 6 2 13 0.4
KS 0 1 4 2 3 3 13 0.4
MS 0 2 0 6 4 1 13 0.4
UT 0 1 2 6 3 0 12 0.4
OK 0 0 2 3 5 2 12 0.4
ND 0 2 4 2 3 1 12 0.4
NE 0 0 4 1 4 1 10 0.3
VT 0 0 3 4 3 0 10 0.3
NM 0 0 3 3 2 0 8 0.2
AB 0 0 0 2 4 0 6 0.2
WY 0 1 1 3 1 0 6 0.2
DC 0 0 0 2 3 1 6 0.2
MB 0 1 1 1 2 0 5 0.1
NS 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 0.1
SK 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 0.1
ME 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 0.1
PE 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 0.1
LB 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.0
NF 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.0
------------------------------------------------------
Total 0 271 657 1040 1146 307 3421
U.S. Call Areas Worked
Area QSOs Pct
--------------------
0 321 9.4
1 210 6.1
2 247 7.2
3 259 7.6
4 384 11.2
5 212 6.2
6 264 7.7
7 217 6.3
8 205 6.0
9 258 7.5
--------------------
Total 2577 75.3
Multi-band QSOs
---------------
1 bands 977
2 bands 468
3 bands 251
4 bands 130
5 bands 47
6 bands 0
------- S i n g l e B a n d Q S O s ------
Band 160 80 40 20 15 10
----------------------------------------------
QSOs 0 39 143 355 397 43
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