[RTTY] WPX from GU0SUP

Mon Feb 14 12:51:56 PST 2011

I had already worked S9DX on a couple of bands, though not RTTY.  I ran across them during my last 20m S&P pass on Sunday afternoon and got through on the second call.

One the perverse benefits of contests to DXers like me is the distraction it provides to a whole lot of operators that would otherwise be in a DX pileup.  Saw a spot for W. Kiribati on 40M CW on Friday night.  Been chasing that DXCC entity for some time.  40M is not a favorable band for me at that distance, but I was able to hear him passably and got through after just a few minutes of calling!

On Sunday morning a station from Benin, another entity I need, was on 15M phone.  Since I lack a good antenna for that band, I didn't try very hard and got back to the contest after 30 minutes of fruitless calling.

A very pleasant surprise for me was B3C.  China, another needed DXCC entity, is straight over the pole from my location and thus there is no propagation 4-5 months of the year on the bands I can use effectively at that distance.  I was running a frequency on 20M late Sunday afternoon and started getting calls from JA's and VK's, which I expect at that time of day.  B3C came booming in.  We must be close enough to the spring equinox that there was daylight in the propagation path.  Thanks guys!

Al
AB2ZY

________________________________________
From: rtty-bounces at contesting.com [rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Phil Cooper [pcooper at guernsey.net]
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 3:23 PM
To: rtty at contesting.com
Subject: [RTTY] WPX from GU0SUP

Hi all,

Wow, that was fun! I had a target of 700 Q's and 1M points, which meant a
lot of S&P and making the mults count.
However, I also wanted to do some CQ'ing, as pretty much everything in this
contest is a mult.
I also wanted a chance to work S9DX for a new country on RTTY, and I knew
they were going to participate in the contest.
I tried VERY hard not to sit and call and call on Saturday, knowing (well,
hoping!) that they would be easier on Sunday.
But, I got dragged into it, and spent an hour or so on 15m, calling and
calling.
Eventually, I did make it, and was over the moon with that.
On Sunday, I bagged them on 20m too, but with the first call!
And, not wanting to miss out on new ones, I also spent a couple of hours
trying to work TJ9PF on 17m. After a few non-productive sessions, I gave up,
and decided I would try later. I did, and got them after just a couple of
calls.
That took me away from the contest, but it was worth it.
It is not easy with 100 watts and low antennas!

Trying for both of them hit my targets hard, but I was more than happy with
working both, so I didn't mind.
Some really nice conditions on the bands, except 10m, which only yielded 2
contacts. They were the only stations I could hear.

15m opened nicely, and I managed some nice DX there. 20m was also good, but
not to EU. I could not hear DL/SP/IK on 20m, so I had to make the most of
those mults on 40/80.
On Saturday evening (around 1730UTC), 20m just closed totally, very
suddenly. One minute I was hearing W6/7 easily, and the next, they just
went.
40m was open, so I went there and made the most of the extra points. Nice to
see W/VE coming in so early too, only just after our sunset. Same on Sunday
too, with stations such as VY2SS pounding in here.

There were too many nice calls to mention individually, but special thanks
to Phil KL8DX for the contact. I had spent some time trying to alert KL5DX
to my presence, but (if you aren't reading this, someone please tell him!)
you had no time between sending CQ's to actually hear anyone coming back. I
didn't even get my callsign sent once before he was back in Tx. OK, maybe he
wasn't hearing EU, but even so!

I wonder how long it will be before Writelog needs to update the exchange
format to cope with 5-digit serial numbers? Ed at P49X must have been
getting close to that now, so imagine what he might do when the sunspots
rally do arrive!

Just a couple of moans:
Firstly, folk calling me when I am in the middle of a contest exchange!
SP6NVK tried this more than a few times, and it really bugged me. It was the
cause of numerous repeats between me and the station I was working.
And why do some folk send the serial number just once when there is QRM/QSB
and they need my CALL AGN AGN?? You really need to change your macros on the
fly depending on conditions!

I also suspect I will lose a few points because my call was not correctly
logged at the other end. Some were getting me as GU0SU and some as GI0SU, so
we will have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Here is my claimed score:
Call: GU0SUP
Operator(s): GU0SUP
Station: GU0SUP

Class: SOAB LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 21.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:   49
   40:  184
   20:  236
   15:   91
   10:    2
------------
Total:  562 Q's
Prefixes = 433
Points = 1783
Total Score = 772,039

Many thanks to all for the contacts! My log is now on LoTW.

73 for now

Phil GU0SUP

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