[RTTY] Great NCCC Practice Run - let's do it again tomorrow night 0200Z

[Don Hill AA5AU]

The NCCC practice run tonight for the ARRL RTTY Roundup was a success in my
opinion.

The adjustments I made since the last practice run showed I'm just about ready
to go.  But something bothered me on many stations that answered my CQ.  Their
calls to me were too short and they did not put a space or carriage return at
the end of their calls.  I got something like...

DE W9MUXKEOBELABOEB

I'd like to know if my call did not stand out.  I put a space at the end of my
call when calling someone.  Maybe I need two spaces.  I don't know but in all
the years I've been doing this, one space has worked.  I know some use a
carriage return, but I'm not sure that's absolutely necessary.  I do know that
at least a space is needed.

Conditions were strange on 40 meters.  Signals that should have been strong were
not.  West coast and SA signals were strong.  This suggest the band was very
long.  This also suggests that we may need to go to 40 early on Saturday,
especially if 15 is not so good in the evening.

I made 33 QSO's on 80 meters in 17 states, 1 Canadian province (VE5MU really
surprised me!) and 2 DX (both P4's and NP4BM).

On 40 meters, I only worked 25 stations with 7 states and 1 DX scored.  Because
there are no band mults, it's hard to say how many states I actually worked on
40, but conditions were far better on 80 tonight.  Ed, P40X, is still running
stations on 3585 Khz right now.

Tomorrow I'm installing a newly purchased HF2V vertical for 40/80 about 300 feet
out into the swamp behind my house.  I've not ventured out there yet in all the
years I've lived here (11 years), so it should be an adventure.  I guess chest
waders and my 12 gauge shotgun should work for the trek.  Haven't seen a snake
or alligator around here in a few years, but you never know...

I've not run a vertical on the low bands in over 10 years.  But I'm eager to
test it in tomorrow night's NCCC last practice session 0200-0300Z.

CU THERE!

73, Don AA5AU