[RTTY] RTTY Roundup KI5XP(@W5WMU) Single Op HP

[Charles Morrison]

Call: KI5XP
Operator(s): KI5XP
Station: W5WMU

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Lafayette, La.
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  285
   40:  608
   20:  651
   15:  180
   10:   42
------------
Total: 1766  State/Prov = 55  Countries = 63  Total Score = 208,388

Club: Cajun Contest Club

Comments:

Another great contest. Believe it or not, this was my first RoundUp putting
in a serious effort and being a single op.  Last year Pat was using the
station so I was at home, thus no SO2R, and 2 years ago was the "Official"
National Championship year of my Tigers (no 3-Pete!), so I missed that one.
Prior to that was my very first contest ever, and was a M/S event with no
one knowing how to the use the software.  Lots of things learned this go
round.

Had a rough time getting started, my q's were wayyyy down for the first hour
but recovered nicely.  I just couldnt get going for a bit, and had a hard
head.

10 meters was surprising as always picking up a few q's.  15 was decent, but
as usual 20 and 40 were my long haul bands.  Reading Ed's comments about the
q's on 10 vs the run on the other hot bands really makes me think.  I've
always tried to concentrate more on my stronger bands and always seemed to
trail on 10 and 80.  This is a different contest! I guess its better to
stick with the hot ones in a rate contest as opposed to worrying about the
bands that you'll only pick up those q's here and there.  I think I still
had that CQWW mentality of picking up the mults on the other bands and
thought I needed to work 10 more.

I also have the old hunting dog problem.  I think as soon as I came across
PZ5RA on 40, I spent way too much time trying to pick him up.  As it turned
out, I worked him easily on 15 later in the day.  I've also learned a great
deal on my off times.  I did ok from midnight to 1:00am (local), but lost a
lot of time from 1:00 to 2:00.  It had gotten about a quarter past 1:00 when
I realized that I should have killed it then, but I didnt and stuck it out
until 2:00am then broke.  I came back on at 5:00am thining it would be nice
to be on for the ZL/VK sunrise, but that didnt pan out well at all, only
finding a ZL once 20 opened and not working the VK's until well into the
afternoon, and then on 40m on top of that.  I then broke for the church time
crowd.  I can say that this is a myth and not true.  

My rate graph shows that coming on at 5:00am wasnt bad, but 6:00am wouldnt
have been bad either.  My rate dropped again from 8:00 to 10:00, but it was
still better then that 1:00 to 2:00am.  So next year, I guess I'll learn to
look back at my previous log and figure out a better set of off times.  All
of this combined with ending my hard headed insistance of maintaining a
frequency vs.
moving along and continuing to work stations has to change.  

There's always next year!

Things learned:
Time off is important
You never have enough cigarettes
Never let your host bring you chili dogs and bean buritos for food.
Make your own coax connectors
Burnt coax smells bad
Move on
Call CQ till it hurts, then move on
Sardines and Spam is NOT food
Set 2 alarms
10 meters aint worth it although it is open Stick with what works Check
EVERYTHING out before the contest Never doubt the old dogs, they DO know
more then us young bucks!

Thanks to Pat as always for the use of the camp.  This is a great setup and
this man has put countless hours into making it work great for me.  He
brings food (bean burritos and chili dogs aside) thus sparing me the
Sardines and Spam (his personal favorites).  He gives contesting suggestions
(although he has no idea
about RTTY and computers) that ring true regardless of mode.   But best of
all
he's a friend, and his conversation keeps you going in those slow hours.
Then again, that could be the root cause of the rate drop!

73
Charlie
KI5XP