CQ/RJ WW RTTY WPX Contest
Call: AI9U
Operator(s): K9JS
Station: AI9U
Class: SOAB LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 29
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts
-----------------
80: 76 172
40: 119 316
20: 103 145
15: 107 260
10: 127 280
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Total: 532 1173 Prefixes = 236 Total Score = 276,828
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
I really enjoy reading other peoples experiences, even for 'tests I don't play
in (Wow some great Ops played in the CW sprint!), thanks to all of you who take
time to write something up. For those who don't like this practice you probably
havn't read this far anyway..
Here is my little story
After playing a bit in RTTY RU and BARTG from my apartment with indoor antennas,
I looked fwd to trying a FT effort in this one from my Dad's shack with a real
antenna. Set a Goal of 1000 Q's figuring an average of 33/hour was doable if I
could stay in the chair - which due to a herniated disc (surgery in less than 12
hours, appreciate any good thoughts y'all may have for me) is next to
impossible, figuring at least I can kneel and/or stand and still push the F
keys...
Well that fell apart in the first hour! Started late, first QSO tripped a fuse,
damn how many breakers do I have to reset to get that power back, gee better
move that portable heater to a different circuit, 1st QSO 00:48, never got any
rythym going the first night - ended with 141 QSO's and a nagging feeling that I
wasn't going to make my goal.
Saturday came and the SW freezes up after after a few QSO's... PANIC while a F
station is waiting for my ack... dang how do I open a window to manually type in
an exchange... gotta open help files and figure that out... Note to self: Do Not
be a Virgin to the Contest logging program Ever again (Writelog/MMTTY plugin
which worked pretty well EXCEPT for the freeze ups that happened 6 more times in
the weekend) Remembered a post to the WL reflector about this - take time to
search, sure enough, others had found it and reverted back to a previous MMTTY
version which OF course I didn't have. After goofing off and taking many short
breaks to visit with family I ended Saturday with 407 Q's, hoping for a Huge
Europe run in the AM to make the goal,
Europe Run never materialized for me, never got any runs (crawls?) going Sunday
AM, just S&P accross the bands, take time off for breakfast, realized I didn't
have a whole lot of Operating time left after too many unproductive hours
previously used,(more Help files, how do I see my off time?, found it, started
calculating) waste more time taking a nice hot shower, get back at it and decide
to just find a frequency and start CQ'ing (a skillset I still don't really have,
get bored to easily and my mind wanders) biggest thrill was 9G5GA calling me
(hey I get excited at little things!) on Sunday afternoon. At one time I
actually get a rythym going! Wow, I see two different calls, I can use tha F key
that says TU, Now xxx, actually works, I could sure use a second radio, hmm
figure out ways to sell Dad on another tower etc... (Ain't gonna happen..., he
doesn't contest...just DX's - 3 away from #1 - all on phone.)
Oh well, didn't make the 1K Q's, and although it ain't going to get me any
wallpaper, I am very happy with my totals for my first real try at a RTTY test,
hoping to be healthy for RTTY Sprint in March for another first time at a
contest, should be a blast.
Anyone that wants a QSL can either send it direct to me (K9JS) or to my Dad's
house (AI9U, thanks for the use of the call and station Dad!) either way I am
respomsible for filling 'em out. :-)
Thanks for all the Q's, waiting to see AA5AU's post to see how well he did, (Big
thanks for your Web pages Don, they are the WHOLE reason I got on this mode
anyway!)
CU all on the bands, thanks for the Q's.
73,
Jon
K9JS Op @ AI9U station
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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