[RTTY] WK6I CQWW RTTY SOABHP

[jeff stai]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY

Call: WK6I
Operator(s): WK6I
Station: WC6H

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 40
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Pts   State/Prov  DX   Zones
------------------------------------------
   80:  270   318       47      13    12
   40:  560  1086       55      58    28
   20:  884  1899       54      72    31
   15:  244   394       38      27    20
   10:    4    10        1       3     3
------------------------------------------
Total: 1962  3707      195     173    94  Total Score = 1,712,634

Club: Northern California Contest Club

BIG thanks to Rich WC6H for the use of his amazing station!!

What I usually do is head down to WC6H on Thursday morning and get it
all set up - K3 and RTTY computer under my arm and everything else
needed to set up an SO2R RTTY station, I tear apart Rich's beautiful
operating desk, rearrange the antennas, and generally wreak havoc.
When I left there Thursday afternoon everything was working
beautifully, which concerned me greatly....

I arrived Friday to find Rich on the phone with M2 because the
venerable Orion on the main tower was not turning properly. I knew
Thursday was too good to be true! By the time things were tried and
Rich had been up and down the tower in the 100 degree heat to check it
physically, I started 24 minutes late. (The rotor is making what Rich
called a "ticking sound" but to my ear it's more like a coffee
grinder!) While the rotor was able to turn the antennas the position
indicator was worthless so turning became a matter of pushing the
button 1-2-3 and then running to the window to see where it was really
pointing, and repeat. (I'm not complaining - I was relieved that we
would be able to turn the antennas at least!)

Being a relatively new ham (licensed "only" 14 years) the concept of
"bottom of the cycle" is also relatively new. Overall I enjoyed
working the openings and paths that you maybe don't see at the top of
the cycle. Curious though that I made fewer overall Qs in 40 hours of
the WW than I did in 24 hours of the RU last January.

Special thanks to the 6Y that actually moved from 15 to also work me
on 20 (I think almost nobody moves for a W6, but I still kept asking
;), to all of the weak eastern Europeans that kept trying so that I
could finally work them, to the VU2 as the farthest DX, and to the VO2
that showed up in the last 15 minutes to give me Zone 2.

CU all in the RU! 73 jeff wk6i

-- 
Jeff Stai ~ wk6i.jeff at gmail.com
Twisted Oak Winery ~ http://www.twistedoak.com/
Winery Blog ~ http://www.elbloggotorcido.com/