[3830] RTTY Roundup W4AAA(KK9A) Single Op LP

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ARRL RTTY Roundup

Call: W4AAA
Operator(s): KK9A
Station: W4AAA

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: North Carolina
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  284
   40:  429
   20:  668
   15:  238
   10:    6
------------
Total: 1625  State/Prov = 56  Countries = 62  Total Score = 191,750

Club: 

Comments:

I had some free time over a rainy New Year’s holiday and used it to set up the
computers and radios for this contest. I even added a sub-receiver to my second
Elecraft K3S so both radios now had SO2V capabilities. I made a few contacts in
the RU practice session on Friday night and the station seemed to be set up and
working properly. It was raining during the practice session however that was
supposed to turn into 6 inches of snow through the night and into Saturday
morning. It is unusual for it to snow here in NC and when I woke up on Saturday
morning there was little snow on the ground, however the trees and cars had a
coating of ice. I did not think much of it and did a few chores around the
house while waiting for the contest to start. I had lunch and then I went into
the shack. I turned the equipment and computers for the contest and at 1800z I
started running on 15m and 20m, working around 70-80 stations per hour. After
an hour I realized that I should rotate one of my 15m beams more toward the
southwest to better suit the band opening. I became quite surprised when it did
not turn. In fact none of my 15m beams were rotating. Around this time I also
realized that the SWR on all of my homebrew beams was slightly higher than
normal. It is sometimes hard to stay in the operating chair when there is
something wrong with the station but the rates were good and I was having fun
so I tried to put the problem out of my mind for a little while. After a couple
of hours I took a short break to investigate the antenna issues. I went outside
and saw that my antennas and towers were completely covered with a coating of
ice which explained the rotator problems and the higher SWR on my OWA Yagis. It
was too dangerous to attempt an on tower rotator repair and applying voltage
directly to the motor leads from the shack was not successful at getting the
antennas to budge. Luckily most of the stuck antenna were in convenient
directions from testing out the station on the previous day so I got back on
the air hoping the strong sun would melt the ice and that they would start
working again. Unfortunately instead of melting the weather got bitterly cold
and the ice remained for several days. The good QSO rates continued through
most of the contest and even with the rotator issues it was hard to walk away
before putting in the full 24 hours. 20m was the money band and it was the only
band where I could run Europe well. Approximately one third of my 20m QSOs were
with Europe which really helped my country multiplier total. Most of my 20m
beams have prop pitch rotators and they had no problems turning in icy
conditions. This was my first time operating this contest and I had to figure
out a strategy as I went along. It turned out to be a lot fun! Thanks for the
QSOs. Please QSL via WD9DZV

73,
John KK9A - W4AAA
http://www.w4aaa.com


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