[3830] CQ WW RTTY K5ZD SOAB HP

webform at b4h.net webform at b4h.net
Tue Sep 28 16:20:32 EDT 2021


                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY - 2021

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 36.3
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  State/Prov  DX   Zones
------------------------------------
   80:  404       46      49    13
   40:  784       50      63    21
   20: 1173       47      85    30
   15:  849       24      77    25
   10:   14        2       5     4
------------------------------------
Total: 3224      169     279    93  Total Score = 4,177,061

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

[log removed from comments]

Needed a contest fix and this one is always fun.  Conditions were even better
than expected which was a nice bonus.

SO2R is the way to go for RTTY.  Especially if you can handle CQing on two
bands.  The rhythm is easy to match and it keeps things interesting.

The first night was ok, but nothing special.  Fun chasing AA3B on the scoreboard
as he ran away from me.

Saturday morning I went to 20m a bit early and the band was already rocking.
Signals up to 14140.  I found a spot and got a great run going.  Band was open
deep with UA9 calling in.  In high sunspot years that is a sign to check 15m. 
Sure enough, there were some loud Eu there.  Called CQ and it was off to the
races.

15m was good both days. The band was long and it was clear the Europeans were
not hearing each other.  That means less QRM.  Signals levels were great from F
to LA to UA3. Loud signals from 21080 to 21150.

Was getting a bit bored and discouraged as time wore on.  Was doing great on the
online scoreboard, but didn't think I had the mental energy to get through the
full contest.  Took a break to cook lunch and go for a 3 mile walk.  That helped
my mood a lot and I was re-energized to get back into the fray.

The JA opening on 20 was very good.  When that happens, it reveals a weakness in
my station.  The 20 and 40m are on the same mast so if I beam Japan, it is not
good for 40 to Europe.  Working Asia is more fun so focused on that while tuning
around on 40.

Decided to take a nap from 0220z to 0400z while the Europeans were asleep. It
seemed like a good idea at the time, but looks like I gave up 170 QSOs to AA3B
during that period.  Whoops.  Took a second nap during the wee hours.  Felt
great when I got up.  Nice to see 20 was also opening just as it had on
Saturday.  With 650 QSOs already in the log on that band, the rate was slower. 
15m also opened so dual CQing helped keep things interesting.

I had intended to push through to the end of the contest.  Was running stations
on 20m when I looked up and saw the AL-1200 grid meter was hitting the pin. 
There was no output from the amp and no HV.  That bummed me out so I took some
time to cook dinner.  

I had a nice score and it seemed a shame to quit when I still had one working
radio.  Decided to give up on mult chasing and just focus on pressing F1 over
and over.  Rates held up better than expected and was able to cross over the 3K
QSo barrier.  Then passed 4 meg.  Wow.  A new personal best in WW RTTY by far.

Most surprising QSO: Having UA0AGI call in on 15m at 1923z.  That seems kind of
late, but I thank him for checking the band at that time of night.

Other 15m fun: Lots of YBs calling in. And two HS, plus a VU. And a bunch of
UA9.

Weird stuff: Not much USA on 15m.  Band was just too long and no one seemed to
focus on backscatter.

Studly QSOs: Working JA on 40m. Then calling a loud YD9VE and having him come
right back.  DU1UGZ was also very loud but could not hear me.

WriteLog is fantastic for RTTY contesting.  The integration with the decoders is
top notch. I ran with 2Tone as my primary decoder and MMTTY as the clone. 
Always fun to see how one decoder will read perfectly while the other just has
gibberish. Two decoders were especially helpful when running as it reduced the
need for repeats.

A fun way to spend a weekend.  Had the Ryder Cup on TV all day Saturday and the
NFL on Sunday.  https://contestonlinescore.com/ was a big motivator as always. 
Great to chase AA3B and AC0C.

With the high bands open it was fun to work a lot of new calls.  DX contests are
so much more fun for everyone when there are good conditions for working DX. 
And we can spread out on the high bands.

Now on to WW SSB! 

Postscript on the amp failure. One of the fuses had blown.  The AL-1200 will
continue to run with one fuse missing, which is very confusing when you are
sleep-deprived.  If I had only known, could have fixed it in 2 minutes and been
back to full SO2R.  The fuse holder had experienced some heat so need to find a
replacement.  

Station

K3 + AL-1200
K3 + AL-1500

160m: 1/4-wave GP, shunt fed tower
 80m: 4 square, dipole
 40m: 40-2CD @110′
 20m: 205CA @100′
 15m: 155ca @66′
 10m: 6-ele @90′
 TH7DXX @ 40′

WriteLog software, MK2R+ SO2R box, MMTTY and 2Tone decoders

QSOs By continent

           80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total      %

    NA     251    395    313     86      3    1048    32.5
    EU     150    359    740    698      0    1947    60.4
    AS       0      6     72     18      0      96     3.0
    SA       1      7     20     36     11      75     2.3
    AF       2      6      5      4      0      17     0.5
    OC       0     10     22      6      0      38     1.2

Rates

QSO/Zn+Dx+St by hour and band

Hour   80M     40M      20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    Off

00Z   --+--   21/25    51/38   --+--   --+--   72/63     72/63    10
01Z     -     45/28    62/13    1/3      -    108/44    180/107 
02Z   34/28   73/22    18/6      -       -    125/56    305/163 
03Z   41/26   28/6       -       -       -     69/32    374/195   13
04Z   52/13   63/15      -       -       -    115/28    489/223 
05Z   28/13   57/2      2/0      -       -     87/15    576/238 
06Z   27/7    46/14      -       -       -     73/21    649/259    4
07Z     -       -        -       -       -      0/0     649/259   60
08Z   --+--   --+--    --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     649/259   60
09Z   11/1     7/1       -       -       -     18/2     667/261   46
10Z   14/1    16/0     52/23     -       -     82/24    749/285 
11Z     -      1/0     81/11   88/28     -    170/39    919/324 
12Z     -       -      35/10  104/14     -    139/24   1058/348 
13Z     -       -      61/8    99/8      -    160/16   1218/364 
14Z     -       -      39/3    78/10    1/3   118/16   1336/380 
15Z     -       -      23/3    47/6      -     70/9    1406/389   15
16Z   --+--   --+--    19/1    45/12   --+--   64/13   1470/402 
17Z     -       -      49/2    14/3     8/5    71/10   1541/412 
18Z     -       -      63/6      -      2/0    65/6    1606/418 
19Z     -       -      35/3    31/16    1/1    67/20   1673/438   10
20Z     -       -        -       -       -      0/0    1673/438   60
21Z     -       -        -       -       -      0/0    1673/438   60
22Z     -       -      41/6    21/7      -     62/13   1735/451   16
23Z     -     63/5     31/9     3/1      -     97/15   1832/466 
00Z   --+--   32/1     10/4    --+--   --+--   42/5    1874/471   23
01Z   45/8    56/4      1/1      -       -    102/13   1976/484 
02Z    9/1    18/0       -       -       -     27/1    2003/485   38
03Z     -       -        -       -       -      0/0    2003/485   60
04Z   50/5    23/2       -       -       -     73/7    2076/492    4
05Z   25/3    64/1       -       -       -     89/4    2165/496 
06Z   25/1    56/1      1/2      -       -     82/4    2247/500 
07Z     -      2/0       -       -       -      2/0    2249/500   58
08Z   --+--   --+--    --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    2249/500   60
09Z     -       -        -       -       -      0/0    2249/500   60
10Z   25/1    15/6     12/0      -       -     52/7    2301/507    7
11Z     -      1/0     64/2    39/2      -    104/4    2405/511 
12Z     -       -      55/0    66/0      -    121/0    2526/511 
13Z     -       -      51/2    74/4      -    125/6    2651/517 
14Z     -       -      53/0    44/2      -     97/2    2748/519 
15Z     -       -      52/1    37/5      -     89/6    2837/525 
16Z   --+--   --+--    28/0    31/1    --+--   59/1    2896/526 
17Z     -       -      32/3     7/0      -     39/3    2935/529   13
18Z     -       -        -       -       -      0/0    2935/529   60
19Z     -       -      49/0      -       -     49/0    2984/529   13
20Z     -       -      58/2      -       -     58/2    3042/531 
21Z     -       -      39/1    10/1     2/2    51/4    3093/535 
22Z     -     65/1       -     10/3      -     75/4    3168/539 
23Z   18/0    32/0      6/2      -       -     56/2    3224/541 

Tot: 404/108 784/134 1173/162 849/126  14/11 

Best 60 minutes: 180 starting Sep 25 at 1106z

Worked on 5 bands: K1SFA PV2K
Worked on 4 bands: 81

Most worked countries:

           80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total

     K     214    343    276     62      2     897
    DL      30     54    124    136            344
     I      14     47     86     83            230
    UR       4     28     48     51            131
    SP       9     22     49     41            121
    UA       1     13     50     42            106
     G       7     16     46     35            104
    PA       6     16     43     33             98
    EA      10     14     30     36             90
    VE      29     33     16      8             86

Also nice to see
    JA              4     45                    49
    YB              1     12      6             19
   UA9              1     15      4             20



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