CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY
Call: KK9A
Operator(s): KK9A
Station: KK9A
Class: SOSB/20 HP
QTH: North Carolina
Operating Time (hrs): 31
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts State/Prov DX Zones
-----------------------------------------
80:
40:
20: 1500 3400 56 87 35
15:
10:
-----------------------------------------
Total: 1500 3400 56 87 35 Total Score = 605,200
Club:
Comments:
This was my second CQ WW RTTY contest and fourth RTTY contest of all time.
During the 2011 CQ WPX RTTY in February, I became very interested in improving
my RTTY setup. After reading various posts from top scoring stations and
talking with my former Aruba renter, N4RR, who has done very well as P40J and
PJ4R, I decided to add a Hal DXP38 as a second decoder along with a JPS NIR-12
audio filter to the station. Over the next few months I kept an eye out for
these devices on various classified sites and I had little trouble acquiring
everything that I needed over the summer. I purchased a new computer for the
shack and changed the operating system to XP Professional. It took me a while
to find the proper drivers, but eventually the computer was running well.
About a week before this contest I installed the RTTY hardware and software on
the new computer and after struggling with it for a few days it was running
great. I would like to thank AA5AU, W0YK / P49X, and N4RR for their advice and
assistance with this complicated setup.
Luckily the station performed perfectly over the weekend, unfortunately 20m
conditions, the weather and the operator did not do as well. After working a
full week prior to the contest and staying up late working on the RTTY setup, I
did not go into the weekend well rested. At the start of the contest the band
opened into the U.S. and Asia as expected, but other than Japan I worked very
few countries in Asia. I had a few Europeans also call me at the beginning,
but the opening there was not that good. I was really surprised not to work a
single station in China. Later in the evening 20m improved into Europe, but
it was hard to penetrate their local QRM while they were busy working each
other. The rates were slow so I decided to take a nap as I was very tired from
my work week. When I woke up I had a nice European run around my sunrise and I
obtained my best 60 minute rate of the contest making 71 QSOs. Soon
afterwards, things became very slow. I am guessing that 10m and 15m were very
hot during this time and everyone one was on those bands. In the late morning
and early afternoon I was only able to work the US, however the rates were slow
so I took a lot of small breaks while waiting for a better opening. I did
notice a midday long path European opening, but it did not produce very many
contacts. The short path to Europe was closed at the time and I do not recall
ever seeing conditions like this. It was so slow that I considered shutting
down and doing something else, however it was a rainy day so I stayed inside
near the radio. Finally in the late afternoon 20m opened nicely into Europe
and I started having fun running stations. A little later the static level
increased due to local storms making it a struggle to decode many weaker
stations. This became very frustrating after waiting all day for this European
opening. On Saturday night the rates dropped so slow that I fell asleep. I
planned to wake up very early to catch more of the morning European opening,
but unfortunately I just did not wake up. I took some time off on Sunday
because it was so slow and waited until the afternoon European opening. The
last European opening of the contest was excellent and I was logging stations
as quickly as possible. Then suddenly the noise level jumped to S9 +10dB as
another thunderstorm approached. Sundayâ??s storms were much worse than
Saturday and I contemplated unplugging the station while listening to the
thunder. The thunderstorms did not get any stronger so I continued to operate.
Copying stations through the QRN was tough. The weather in North Carolina is
usually pretty nice, but the storms sometimes come at the worst times. The
same thing happened during my last serious contest, the 2011 WPX Phone
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/3830/2011-04/msg00753.html . Despite
the QRN from the rain and thunderstorms and missing both early morning European
openings, my final score is still pretty competitive. This was definitely not
the best year for a single band 20m entry however it was still enjoyable and it
was really nice to test out the new RTTY hardware. It was interesting to watch
two decoders running simultaneously over the weekend.
Thanks for the QSOs! Please QSL via WD9DZV. I look forward to operating CQWW
Phone from Aruba as P40A in three weeks.
73,
John KK9A / P40A
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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