[SCCC] ARRL RTTY Roundup - WN6K

[PAUL DOREY]

ARRL RTTY Roundup Call: WN6K
Operator(s): WN6K
Station: WN6K Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Vista, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 22:15 Summary: Band  QSOs
------------ 80:   98 40:  132 20:  207 15:  222 10:  155
------------
Total:  814  State/Prov = 56  Countries = 32  Total Score = 71,632 Club: Southern California Contest Club Comments: Well the first contest of the year (for me at least) is in the books. 2012 was
busy enough (48) and I don't know if this year will be the same - but as I have
said before - Big or Small, I enjoy them all. This contest is again one of those relative 'small pointers' and at a penny a
point, it does take a while to get into a competitive grist.  Goal setting is a
bit hard because you don't know if our current Solar Cycle will cooperate or
corrupt one's good intentions. There were 48 'states' in the US plus DC so that seemed to be the early marker
- trying to get a sweep.  Sometimes that is doubly challenging in that some
activity in the light or hard to get areas is not covered so well by RTTY.  My
last two spots were DC and VT and they came rather late in the game.  The usual
suspects in the VE Provincial Roulette eluded me as well as all but one of the
Maritime areas.  I heard a few but was unable to drag their attention away from
the easier pickings of EU stations calling them. When non-contesting hams ask about 'what value' is in this game, I am quick to
remind them that I seem to learn more from a weekend of contesting about my
radio, conditions etc. as opposed to casual day to day operations. A new radio
and antenna keeps the mind keen to those opportunities and I think that without
contests, it might be a less learning experience for me at least. Fun to work more than usual numbers on my non-antenna on 80m and I played with
attenuation, RF gain control and Extra Sensory Perception to my advantage to
pull out a few mults and kept me from going to bed too early. 73,
WN6K -Paul