[RTTY] Volta RTTY AD6WL SOAB HP

[webform@b4h.net]

                    Volta RTTY DX Contest

Call: AD6WL
Operator(s): AD6WL
Station: AD6WL

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Pts   Mults
-------------------------
   80:   14   109     9
   40:   69   827    27
   20:  187  2968    53
   15:   70  1134    29
   10:    4   184     4
-------------------------
Total:  344  5222   122  Total Score = 219,156,896

Club: 

Comments:

This contest had it all.  High noise, bad band conditions, lots of QSB, QRN, new
operators and old timers alike.  I had started preparing for this contest the
night before by going out and drinking with my wife’s family.  This made it hard
to get up at 4:30 am.  With bad band conditions it was hard to determine which
way to point the beam and on which bands.  I used the ICOM 756 Pro III as my S&P
radio and the band scope made checking the bands quick and easy.  But with 15
very weak and nothing heard on 10 it was hard to determine if I should call CQ
on 10 to pick up some multis.  I decided to make some calls on 10 and move other
stations to 10.  All this work resulted in only 4 multis.  But since I was
operating SO2R there was always another radio working on another band, usually
20 meters.  

Since the bands were in such bad shape and I was getting tired I decided to take
a little catnap in the middle of the day.  Well this turned out to be about 3
hours away from the radio.  Luckily a phone call woke me and I went to the radio
for some more abuse (I never did answer the phone). 

Late at night I called into space going unanswered for long periods.  When I
would S&P on 40 or 80 I would hear K4GMH calling into space also.  What a
glutton for punishment we are.  Well, obviously he did a lot better than I did. 
I did have a short but good opening to EU, JA and VK on 20 at night, which gave
me some much-needed multis.

This was my first contest using my new ACOM 2000A amp, Icom 756 PRO III,
Dunestar and ICE filters, and MicroHam keyer.  All worked great and there was
very little interstation interference. 

Overall, I am very pleased with the way the station is coming together.  There
are a few upgrades that I still need to make but there were some major changes
that I tested out and am very happy with so far.

Thanks to: The SSB and RTTY club of COMO, the A.R.I., and AA5AU for info on the
MicroKeyer and 756ProIII on his website, and all the operators that I worked,
tried to work or wish that I could work.

Station #1:
Yaesu FT-1000MP MK V, transceiver
ACOM 2000A amplifier
Top Ten band decoder
Dunestar model 600 Band pass filter, automatically switched
VFD wattmeter
Force 12 C4SXL at 74 Ft Beam antenna 2 elements each for 10, 15, 20, and 40
80 meter inverted V at 72 Ft.
US tower TX472

Station #2:
Icom 756 Pro III, transceiver
Microham USB micro Keyer, 2 comm ports for Icom radio control and FSK
ICE 419B, band pass filter, manually switched
Butternut HF9V, vertical antenna 10-80meters
(future upgrade C19XR at 35ft), beam antenna 5 elements for 10, 3 each for 15
and 20

SO2R device:
WX5D multikeyer
WX0B SixPak antenna switch
Computer with 2 sound cards, 2 flat panel monitors 15 and 17 inch, 7 comm ports,
win98se, Writelog.


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