ARRL RTTY Roundup - 2020
Call: N6WM
Operator(s): N6WM
Station: N6RO
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Oakley CA
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band RTTY Qs Dig Qs
-----------------------
80: 246
40: 553
20: 817
15: 245
10: 0
-----------------------
Total: 1861 0 State/Prov = 55 Countries = 44 Total Score = 184,239
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
What fun. the ARRL Rtty roundup is one of my favorite contests. It allows for
experimentation in multiple radio single op contesting, relying on the rtty
decoders for copy and pushing the envelope in this regard. This year I was able
to prepare 2 Flex 6600-M SDR radios, with Interlocks, giving me continual access
and awareness to 4 simultaneous bands at all times. The problem.. were the
bands. with the exception of a fairly productive 15m on Saturday.. the
opportunity to have 3 open bands was somewhat limited, with the exception of 40m
open to the east coast at 1pm CA time on Sunday afternoon. We will just need to
wait for improved solar conditions to test what I believe will be a highly
conpetitive layout. In the meantime I will mount monitors and continue to fine
tune this operating position.
We were faced with the usual propagation challenges in Northern CA, where even a
station in NV/W7 is able to best us with multipliers we never heard. But Radio
Oakley is a power house none the less, and I am able to consistently place in
the top 10 box and this was no exception. Congratulations to the several
Northern CA stations that join us in the box in this regard, including WK6I
operating W7RN with a fantastic score, he always does a great job from that
amazing station.
Noteable openings included western EU with beams on JA Sunday AM, I tested
beaming down the LP terminator and they were weaker than pointing at Asia.
A good 20m EU opening and run on Sunday morning. Better DX participation would
really have been desired.
I operated SO UNASSSTED, and no FT mode QSO's or spotting networks were used in
this run.. Just a boy and his... err.. fancy SDR's. Adds an extra element of
fun and challenge.
I agree with my esteemed colleague K9CT in regards to the heavy push of FT mode
qso's in this contest, Its a revolutionary mode for DXing and DXpeditions, but
not the best contest platform, with one exception. I beleive that it does
bring in new contesters, but rather then lumping them in the Unlimited
categories, I think they should have their own.. So the assisted rtty
competition can continue as it has in the past. and the new Digital powerhouses
can compete for their own awards and leave the existing ones for RTTY.
I personally prefer to use spotting assistance in contests, but will not do so
in this one b/c I dont get the fun factor from the FT Modes and dont want to be
up against weak signal systems grabbing mults and tilting the tables so to
speak.
Anyway, Thanks to Ken N6RO for his support and our wonderful station and
wonderful supporting team we have, and thanks to all of you for the many
QSO's.
Operating conditions
2 X Flex 6600-M with hardware interlocks each with 2 band SO2R capability
2 X Flex/4O3A Power genius XL amplifiers each with 2 band SO2R capability
2 X 4O3A antenna genius's integrated to NA6O antenna farm switching matrix
Multi-sensor wattmeters in front of both amplifiers
High power BPFs on all bands
5 X 5 X 5 on an absent 10m band
5 X 5 X 5 on 15m
5 X 5 X 5 on 20M (some rotator problems with top beam caused me some grief)
4 X 4 on 40 M
4sq on 80M
73 and seeya next time and HNY
Chris
N6WM
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