[RTTY] 2003 Round Up

[N3SL@aol.com]

2003 ARRL RTTY RoundUp
N3SL
Single Op
Low Power

............Qs...W/VE...DX
80m.....152......0.........0
40m.....201......4.........9
20m.....372......9........14
15m.....320.....32.......27
10m.....125.....14.......14
______________________
..........1170....59.......64  

1170 Qs x 123 mults = 143,910 claimed


First time ever, using WriteLog in a RTTY contest (die-hard WF1B fan).  About 
3 hours into the contest, it "locked up" such that I could not send ANY 
messages via the function keys.  Took me almost an hour to get it working 
again, and I have NO IDEA what I did to "break" it or "fix" it!  Thereafter, 
it was smooth sailing.  And, yes, I have to admit, it's a better program for 
RTTY - but at 2100z, I was ready to kill....

Although conditions initially seemed "quiet," especially on 10m, this was my 
best RTTY effort to date.  Perhaps I should say, "...ever" since I clearly am 
getting too old for this.  Q totals on 80 and 40 were greater than expected, 
especially with low power and a vertical on 80m.  The 40m beam played better 
than I ever would have guessed.  When I got to 100 Qs on 40, I thought I'd 
try 80.  After the initial burst of new Qs, I thought about going back to 40, 
looked at the summary, and I had 86 Qs on 80 already!  I'd have lost money on 
guessing my 80/40 totals, pre-contest.  In general, however, US sigs were 
huge.  A very large number of 5-band US/VE Qs.  AA5AU was loud on all bands.  
Even K2YG was S-9, and he's QRP.

Overall, multipliers came fast and furious to about the 100 mark, then died.  
Absolutely NO mults in the last 5 hours of the contest (but still my highest 
ever mult total).  Never even saw a Delaware station.  VE8AE (my last mult) 
found me (!) with about 5 hours to go. DX quantity seemed to be down, in 
general, (or were US conditions that good?) although 2 other surprises were 
4Z4 and A45 answering my CQ.  DX to the west (Pacific, JA, VK, etc) was 
really slim pickin's!  Europe provided a variety of mults, as usual. 

Can someone write and post a "co8zz.dll"???

The number of players this year was impressive to me.  Certainly my highest Q 
total and mult total, and I only run single radio.  It also seemed to me that 
nearly everyone knew how to run their equipment!  Exchanges, with very rare 
exception, were quick and clean.  I did have an 8-land station tell me I was 
a dupe on 20m.  I tried to work him again, and he replied, "We worked on 40 
already."  I moved on.

I'm thinking, if I did this well, so did others, so I'm sure Don set a new 
Universe record this year.  All I ever shoot for is Midwest division, so 
we'll see.  I heard and worked all the competition.  

Thanks to ALL of you for the Qs.  Kudos to NW0L and team - 5 band Qs.  Next 
year you need to consider Delaware...although I believe you were the only ND 
station.  Let's talk!

73,
Steve


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