[RTTY] RTTY Roundup AA5AU SOAB LP

[Don Hill AA5AU]

                     ARRL RTTY Roundup
                    
Call: AA5AU
Operator(s): AA5AU
Station: AA5AU

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band     QSOs  Points 
-----------------------
   80:     70     70
   40:    225    225
   20:    404    404
   15:    471    471     <---Multipliers --->
   10:    352    352     W-VE    DX     Total
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total:   1522   1522      57     59      116   =  176,552

Club: 

Comments:

A mass of warm, moist air pushed northward out of the Gulf of Mexico this past 
weekend and met with cold, dry air sitting over Louisiana at about 1800Z on 
Saturday.  As warm fronts would have it, this produced a very strong and slow 
moving area of thunderstorms with high winds that wreaked havoc on the first 13 
hours of the contest for me.  I knew it was coming and had prepared myself for 
the difficult task ahead.

When a bolt of lightning lit up the shack through it's only window, I made the 
decision to keep operating.  I closed the blinds to the window but I couldn't 
do anything not to hear the static crashes and rain static in my headphones.  
Even with the headphones on, I could still hear the towers popping in the wind. 
But I kept going.  I knew I risked the possibility of damage to equipment or 
even something worse, like - death.  But I was the defending champion and felt 
I had to go on.  Stupid?  Maybe.  If a bolt of lightning had come down and 
taken my life, at least I would have gone out doing what I loved most - RTTY 
contesting.  It sounds surreal, but these are the things I had to say to myself 
to keep going through the worst of the storms.  Nothing happened though.  No 
lightning strike, no wind damage and I thank God for that.

Back to the contest...  When I took rest at 0645Z, I had 927 QSO's compared to 
943 last year.  I was extremely pleased that I was able to keep pace 
with last year's effort with all the distractions going on outside and all the 
noise I had to contend with on the radio.  I figured with the solar flux over 
200, the A index at 3 and K at 0, that I had a legitimate shot of last year's 
record if the weather cleared.

I restarted at 1247Z with the same propagation numbers and the weather had 
cleared.  However, things did not go as planned.  The K index went to 3 by 
1800Z and the path to EU closed early on 10 and 15 meters rendering me to 
trying to make up the difference with stateside QSO's.  Endless unanswered CQ's 
after 1900Z and the lack of multipliers on the 2nd radio convinced me early 
that there would be no new record for me this year.

Lowlights:  Missing NV, YT, NWT & NU.  Not working ZS6RVG.  Lack of multipliers 
and of course, the bad weather Saturday.

Highlights:  Not getting struck by lightning.  Finding JY9NX CQ'ing with no 
takers on 15M Sunday.  Working the RTTY gang in another fun contest.

Thanks to everyone for working me.  I apologize to all those I couldn't pull out 
on 40 and 80 meters.  The noise was just too bad.

Station Equipment:
Station A - Kenwood TS870
Hal DXP-38
NIR-10 audio filter
WriteLog beta version 10.30B & MMTTY plug-in as receive only 2nd RTTY window.
Dunestar Model 600 switchable band filter.

Station B - Kenwood TS870.
NIR-12 DSP audio filter
WriteLog beta version 10.30B & MMTTY plug-in TX & RX in the main RTTY window.
PK232 for transmit & receive in a 2nd RTTY window.
Dunestar Model 600 switchable band filter.

Antennas - Cushcraft A3S with 40M add-on at 62 ft.  Cushcraft A3S 
triband yagi fixed at 20 degrees North at 45 ft.  80M inverted vee w/apex at 55 ft.

73, Don AA5AU
http://www.aa5au.com