CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest Call: KT5MR Operator(s): KT5MR Station: KT5MR
Class: SOAB LP QTH: STX Operating Time (hrs): 16 Summary: Band QSOs ------------ 80: 43 40: 114 20: 108 15: 74 10: 4 ------------ Total: 343 Prefixes = 188 Total Score = 131,036 Wow that was a ridiculous amount of fun! This was sort of a casual-serious effort from me, more on the casual side than the serious side (I enjoy sleeping). My primary goals (other than having fun) were to operate assisted for the first time and gain experience with that and to see if I got the kinks out of my 40 meter antenna (I didn't), and see how best to utilize my dipoles and verticals when I had them available for the same band. Operating assisted was interesting. It certainly is not magic and presents its own challenges when operating with low and compromised antennas as I have. Just because someone is spotted does not mean I can hear them, even if I had the cluster trimmed down to just skimmer spots from W4 and W5 call areas. Just as in DXing, I seemed to get my best results if I stumbled upon a multiplier before they were spotted. Where operating assisted did make a difference is in helping me know when to make the transition from 15 to 20 and from 20 to 40 as they started to close down and the number of multipliers moved as the day went on. One bizarre situation I had to deal with was constantly switching between my dipole and my vertical when working Europe and especially Japan on 15 meters. I could hear far better on my dipole, but he couldn't hear me. If I switched to the vertical, he could here me but the print was garbled on my end. I gave that antenna switch a workout on fifteen meters. Also on fifteen meters on Saturday afternoon I managed a decent bit of running. That was exhilarating. Running is where it is at. That was the second highlight of the contest, which is very cool for me as when I started contesting I was absolutely terrified of running a frequency, let alone ever thinking I could with my compromised antennas. The highlight of the contest for me, hands down, was stumbling across V55V -- Namibia -- on 40 meters last night with no takers! What happened next was such a comedy of errors that I am absolutely astonished I got him in the log. I have a problem with RFI on 40 meters and I *thought* I had solved it as long as I keep my rig at 50 watts or less. If I use more power than that, I risk the rig locking up, the Signalink locking up, the computer locking up, or all three! So I throw out my call to the lonely V55V...and my rig locks up! I do a quick reset and call again....the Signalink locks up! Ack, I guess the RFI is still here. I quickly dial down the power to 40 watts. To my astonishment, V55V still has no callers. I transmit again....and the rig locks up! I forgot to save the new power setting! At this point, I am sure I have lost him. The hoards will be upon him and he will have slipped through my fingers. I reset the rig, save the power this time and throw my call out. He comes back to me....with my call wrong! I resend my call one final time...he comes back with the correct call, we complete the exchange, and with my hair a little grayer, V55V is in my log. :) (Did I mention that my 40 meter antenna is no higher than 16 feet off the ground?!) What's next is to see if I can come up with some temporary antennas for contest weekends that I can get higher than my permanent, but necessarily low/stealthy antennas. Before I can even begin to think about an amplifier, I need to improve my receive dramatically. Oh, and if I can get a confirmation from V55V, that will put me -- finally -- at 100 entities confirmed (DXCC!). 73, -- /*/-=[Michael / KT5MR]-=/*/
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