[SECC] NAQP RTTY AA4LR Single Op LP

[Bill Coleman]

                   North American QSO Party, RTTY - July

Call: AA4LR
Operator(s): AA4LR
Station: AA4LR

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 9.3

Summary:
Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  80:   37    19
  40:  158    44
  20:  224    45
  15:   56    22
  10:    2     2
-------------------
Total:  477   132  Total Score = 62,964

Club: South East Contest Club

Team: 

Comments:

Antennas:
Cushcraft A3S/A743 at 15m high (40m-10m)
Shunt-fed tower 15m high (80m)

Equipment:
Elecraft K3/100 w KAT3 running 100 watts
Acer laptop
N1MM and MMTTY

Comments:

Yes! A new personal best for NAQP RTTY for me!

Good to be back in Gwinnett county. This is my first full-time contest effort since moving back into the area from Floyd county.

Wasn't sure I was going to be able to do this, as my wife was admitted to the hospital early Monday morning with a punctured bowel. I brought her home Friday evening, and she rested comfortably under the supervision of my youngest daughter during the contest. That's part of the reason I didn't end up on a team.

Bands sounded kind of odd at the start of the contest. Nothing on 10m. 15m was open, but fairly short, which was even more odd since 10m was so dead. High bands were noisy, and signals weren't strong. Some of the stations MMTTY decoded I could barely hear.

Managed to run on 20m for an hour and a half! It is so nice to have a beam! Hoped I wasn't missing any mults on 10 or 15m, but the callers wouldn't stop.

20m didn't see like it ever wanted to quit. 40m didn't seem to want to start.

W7RN called ME on 10m. He wasn't strong. When Radio Nevada isn't strong, band conditions aren't great.

Took a big time off 2215-2340, which probably cost me some points. When I got back on, 40m still wasn't going yet. Couldn't really run on 40m until after 0130.

I found myself missing my antennas from Floyd county on 40m -- the 80/40m dipole and the 160/80/40m trap vertical up in the woods with 24 radials. Both those antennas could really play on this band. Only managed some short runs on 40m. But, I felt loud -- I wasn't getting beat out -- I just couldn't get much going, so mostly S & P on 40m.

80m was pretty crappy. I'm not sure the shunt-fed tower is radiating much. May be a problem with the matching network. I've added that to my station project list.

Such fun! I'll see you in CW next.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Web: http://boringhamradiopart.blogspot.com
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
           -- Wilbur Wright, 1901