2003 BARTG RTTY SPRINT
Sponsored by British Amateur Radio Teledata Group.
CALL: W1ZT
___Class: Single OP expert, but Don, AA5AU, got the plate
Comments: Thanks to all the participants. The list of active RTTY
contesters continues to grow along with skills that increase everyones
contact rate and contact totals. This year was my best result to date
(again) and the improvement is due to the operating skill and participation
of all involved. It sure was not band conditions !!! And thanks to BARTG
for their continued sponsorship.
QSO Antenna
80m: 102 Inv Vee at 60 ft
40m: 123 Rotary Dipole at 65 ft (Force 12 C4)
20m: 240 2 element (Force 12 C4)
15m: 339 "
10m: 60 "
Total: 864
Continents: 6
Call Areas: 21
DXCC: 62
Total multipliers: 83
Score: 430272
Station Description:
Icom 756PRO and SB220s
WriteLog
RITTY by K6STI
Comments: I need to catch up on all the SO2R reflector traffic but I did
see Don's comment on our little BARTG Sprint challenge we have. I agree
that I have an hour advantage due to eastern location and if northern
lattitude propagation losses are "reasonable" I can get a jump on him with
the 1200z start. However, we sure did not get that magic 10m propagation we
need up here in the cold country. But I did manage to get the WriteLog 10
QSO rate above 130 Qs per hour a few times which is as good as I have ever
done. This rate which includes sending and recording serial numbers is
quite a flow and prompts me to recognize the operating skill by everyone
involved. This includes the two making a contact as well as the discipline
of a "waiting" flow of operators in the queue. If one of benefits of
contests is to help train operators and develop operating skills, it sure is
working correctly.
Highlights:
1. Lots of 4 and 5 band contacts with more stations which is very good
growth in everyone's attempt to cover more bands.
2. Heard and worked N6TQS on 80m. I knew Doug got an antenna up but it was
a thrill to hear him on the band and be able to work him.
3. Very good signal peaking here from Europe at their sunrise. I screwed
up and went to sleep about 0700z. I saw needed 40m Qs on the screen when I
woke up a couple hours later: GU0SUP and others were clearly on the screen
!!! But long gone by 1000z.
Lowlights:
1. There is still some RF feedback in my equipment grounding that I noticed
in the ARRL Roundup. There were no RITTY and WL hangups this time. I shut
down all unneeded windows activity except for the logging program, DXTelnet,
and my network to a backup logging computer. So what is left is just RF
feeding into my audio lines at times on 40m and 80m. I think the RITTY hang
problem I had before with WriteLog may have been background activity that
jammed the computer. I hope to fix the RFI in time for WPX.
2. There are still lots of ops who like to send lots of extra information.
I don't mind the friend file but when trying to pull a serial number out of
marginal signals, the "extra" stuff sure creates havoc. BTW, this includes
extra carriage returns and dots. They all get corrupted and add the the
alphabet soup.
3. No UA9 or UA0 worked. I heard a couple on 40m but they were S&P and I
could not get their attention.
All said, it was another fun operating event with some real surprises on the
bands. The paths to Asia and Europe are open for shorter and shorter
intervals but it was really great to hear new stations as well as the
regulars. Much more 80m activity again.
73 and see you in WPX,
George .. W1ZT
w1zt@arrl.net
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