CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY
Call: AB1OD
Operator(s): AB1OD
Station: AB1OD
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts State/Prov DX Zones
------------------------------------------
80: 33 51 17 9 7
40: 90 197 25 31 10
20: 126 307 26 52 18
15: 183 454 21 54 19
10: 95 250 8 34 15
------------------------------------------
Total: 527 1259 97 180 69 Total Score = 435,614
Club:
Comments:
In the words of Mr. Hammerstein, the bands were alive with the sound of RTTY!
Whoever bribed the propagation fairy to make this weekend possible deserves an
award. I've only been licensed less than a year (and on HF since April), so
this was my first experience with a good, prolonged opening on 10 and 15.
I hadn't really planned to spend this much time playing in this contest. I had
other plans for the weekend, and for some reason N1MM+MMTTY quit keying my rig
in FSK mode (essential in difficult condx, as the rig's built-in Baudot decoder
seems to work better than software+soundcard), which had me thinking my
participation would be very limited..and that perhaps instead I'd focus on
hunting Texas counties.
However, the XYL is out of town for a funeral, and most of those plans were
canceled due to weather. MixW is still willing to operate FSK, and with a bit
of quick research, I figured out how to get the program configured for contest
purposes. So, I decided to get started, and see how things would go.
Boy, did they go.
I had fun playing search-and-pounce (or more correctly "turn the VFO and see
who comes up next") all weekend. It seemed like every time I said "just one
more, and I'm done", that one more would be something unexpected, which just
fueled my willingness to push on.
My modest little station is challenged by topography and antenna orientation,
which makes it difficult to get to Australia, and nearly impossible to get to
East and South Asia. However, to my amazement I worked Australia, Japan, and
India. I heard, but was unable to get through pileups for Israel, Saudia
Arabia, the UAE, and Tajikistan. This contest also marked the first time I've
heard China from my QTH (but sadly, I wasn't able to get more than a "QRZ?"
from the other station).
I haven't integrated the contest log into my main log yet...but I did work a
few new ones and many new band-entities. If I can get some LOTW confirmations
or cards back, I think this contest should get me eligible for DXCC-RTTY.
In short, I had a blast. The propagation fairy should be this kind to us more
often!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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