North American QSO Party, RTTY
Call: VE7FO
Operator(s): VE7FO
Station: VE7FO
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 7
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80:
40: 8 8
20: 59 29
15: 86 36
10: 74 32
-------------------
Total: 227 105 Total Score = 23,835
Club:
Team:
Comments:
Not much of a story here. Had another committment so could only op the first 7
hours. However, the test provided the impetus to get better prepared for RTTY
contesting.
The audio patch panel that I have been so excited about in other stories is now
becoming an established part of the station. i.e. when reconfiguring for RTTY I
no longer have to refer to a sketch of what gets patched to where. ("Let's see
now, does the 75A-4 2nd Rx audio have to go through a line transformer or not?")
I just do it. I still think it's a great addition to the station.
In the WPX RTTY I found that I can listen on other bands with the 75A-4 and feed
its audio to the PK-232 while working stations with the MkV and RITTY. I had
separate print windows for the 2 TNCs open in WriteLog. When I found a mult
with the A4 I read the dial, tuned the sub-Rx of the MkV to the same frequency
and, when ready, hit the VFO swap button on the MkV, worked the mult, hit it
again and went back to running.
I decided that I have the basis for something useful here. VE7IN (my former
elmee and now my elmer) is not so sure. His advice is to sell the 75A-4 along
with the CE 100V, use the proceeds to buy a half decent 2nd radio and stop
dicking around. A rational person would think that someone who figures he has
maybe 10 years of serious contesting life left to him would pay attention to
this advice.
I was really looking forward to this test as I figured I had something just
about as good as a real SO2R setup and that I was going to get a lot of extra
mults and a better score, even if I could operate only 7 hours. Well, I ran
into difficulties. As an example, I started on 10, worked a couple of S&P then
started running while looking for mults or whatever on 15 with the A4. What I
found was that calls I heard on 15 of stations that I had already worked on 10
showed as dupes. Well, I hadn't been on 15 yet so, on 15, they weren't dupes.
I spent a bunch of time trying to get WL to deal with this properly but was not
successful. The problem is more probably located between the earphones and the
chair than in the software. Next move is to ask for advice on the WL
reflector.
Trying to get this working pretty well killed the score. 2300Z came and time to
leave. Wife and I picked up a friend of hers, went to a restaurant and then to
a play. As I was sitting in the restaurant eating some really good food a
heretical thought occurred and could not be dislodged. "This is way better than
fighting with a logging program I don't understand!" Well, I know, this is not
something to be admitted in public and, while probably not of a sufficiently
serious nature to cause me to be cast out of the fraternity, may I say, in my
defence, that, had I been able to get dupe checking working, I'm sure that my
mind would have remained pure and not countenanced such aberrant thoughts.
A couple of amusements;
K6UFO or was it W6UFO goes by the name of Mork. Nanu, nanu. I wonder if his
significant other's name is Mindy
I use AA5AU's WL Function Key messages as found on his WL site as models. One I
particularly like allows you to simultaneously say TU to the guy you just worked
followed by "AND NOW" followed by the call of the guy who also called you and
his exchange. This requires that, following your CQ, of those who respond at
least two full calls print. You select one and send your exchange. He responds
with his. Now comes the tricky part. Instead of hitting the F Key for TU QRZ,
you hit Enter to get the first guy logged, click on the 2nd guy's call to get it
into the Call field in the Entry window and hit the "Fancy" F key which sends,
"TU (first call) AND NOW (2nd call) JIM BC" or some variation of this. Well, I
have tried this before. I have succeeded in, amongst other things, sending TU
to the guy I haven't worked yet and my exchange to the guy who I already sent it
to moments before. I keep trying to get it right because I figure that if I can
reliably do this properly the people involved will think I belong to the SHOPC
as in S--- Hot Operators' Club. So, I'm trying to get better at it and try it
out some more today. OK, 2 calls print. One's a mult so obviously you go for
it. Uh, Oh. The other one is AA5AU. Sure hope I can do it right this time.
Whew! I did. Now the first guy goes away thinking he should nominate me for the
SHOPC and Don smiles, recognizing one of his children. (Given all the help that
Don has provided to RTTY contesters, it was a real act of contesting discipline
to call the mult first.) Thanks Don for this and many other things.
See you in ARRL DX SSB. I'm hoping to get some VHF guys to come to my QTH
(check your shack at the door please) and experience the magic of HF Radio in
general and contesting in particular.
73 de Jim Smith VE7FO
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