[RTTY] 2008 ARRL RTTY Roundup

[Brian Short]

SCORING:  559  QSO points x   69 multipliers =     38571  claimed score

I am getting back to participating in contests after a long hiatus.
Funny, I remember the bands being so much better :)

I worked some during the week getting things together enough
to be able to operate this contest, but ended up doing more work
on antennas during the contest.  In fact, I decided to put up a 40m
1/2 wave sloper Saturday afternoon.

FT-1Kmp, Digikeyer, WL, MMTTY, XP.
10m - :)
15m - Cushcraft X-9 55' (fixed on NE)
20m - 205BA 5 ele monobander (fixed on NW) and X-9
40m - 1/2 wave sloper dipole
80m - 80m folded dipole/inverted vee

It was nice having (2) 20m antennas since I have no rotator control
at this time.  I could switch between NE and NW :)  Made it hard working
SA and PAC, though.

My 80m folded dipole was resonant around 3.9MHz, so I had to do
some tuning to get it to 3.6Mhz.  It has been a long time since I had
that antenna up and it was much lower in height and frequency before.

I put up a 40m dipole as a sloper on Saturday so that I could do some
40m work.  I could hear pretty well :)

Well, I have my work cut out for me getting antennas in better shape
before the extreme heat of Summer.  (Everything is backwards in AZ.)

It seems to me that the participation has increased for this event 
despite
poor conditions.

Thanks for the contacts.

73, Brian (K7ON)