I had 82 QSOs, lost one because I either heard or entered the call sign incorrectly, so a net of 81 QSOs counted for the contest. It’s too bad. The lost call was a multiplier for me too.
Two stations copied/entered my exchange incorrectly and one station copied/entered my call sign incorrectly, so I guess I wouldn’t have counted for their scores,
Final score ended up being 17520. Good enough to rank #54 in 4-land, #262 in North America, and #967 in the world. With the Rookie overlay, I ranked #6 in 4-land, #22 in North America, and #69 in the world. Not bad for only participating in it 12 out of 48 hours.
Fun contest to operate in. Looking forward to trying it out again next year.
Saturday I spent a few hours on the radio participating in the North America QSO Party. Managed to pick up 46 QSOs mostly on 20m and 40m. Added a few new states towards my quest for WAS, including CA, WA and CO. I was just tuning around casually picking out the reasonably strong signals that didn’t require me to work too hard to interpret, as well as states that I knew I didn’t have QSOs with previously.
One thing I did decide during the course of playing radio was that the shack needs a more comfortable chair.
Spent a couple hours yesterday afternoon out at the club communications trailer for the ARRL Rookie Roundup (RTTY). Tom (AJ4UQ) set up one of the club radios, a Yaesu 897D and one of the laptops to run RTTY.
ARRL Rookie Roundup (RTTY) 2013 from the CARS trailer
Radio set up for ARRL Rookie Roundup (RTTY) 2013
There were two other rookies that came out, James (KK4REM) and Andrew (KF7YOX). We operated using my call sign this year and after Tom showed us the basics and helped set up some macros in fldigi, we were off and running.
ARRL Rookie Roundup (RTTY) from the CARS Trailer
KK4REM (right) and KF7YOX (left)
The radios and laptop were initially set up to run off the batteries in the trailer, but after a few minutes, we noticed the voltages displayed by the radio were getting pretty low. A quick look revealed the batteries had gone dry for some reason despite having been topped up a couple of weeks ago. They were also unusually hot even after they were refilled with water. Some of the more knowledgable people suspected a problem with the charger not reducing the power once the batteries were charged. We managed to find a long extension cord and switched over to wall power.
This highlighted another purpose for these “contests”: it gives you a chance to exercise your equipment and discover problems, especially important for something intended to be used in emergency/public communications purposes.
After getting past that, we started hunting around the bands looking for other people playing in the Rookie Roundup. We wandered around several bands, learned how to adjust and tune the antenna (a Little Tarheel) and a bit about how to use the radio. We found a few people and made a handful of contacts, but it seemed like it was easier to hear them than to make contact with them. We decided that maybe the antenna didn’t have a good enough ground plane, and Tom thought that maybe some radials would help. That’ll be something else to try for later.
I think in the 3 hours or so that we were operating, we made about 5 or 6 contacts. More importantly, I think the three of us learned a little more about radio operating. I learned a little more about the inner workings of the trailer and a little more about the different digital modes. We got to hear several different types of digital modes, including some PSK signals.
Overall, even though we didn’t make a lot of contacts, I think it was still a pretty good time. Got outside to play radio, worked with a couple of the newer hams, all great fun.
Now I want to see if I can build my own interface so I can do digital modes at home.
Coming up this weekend (Aug 18) is the ARRL Rookie Roundup (RTTY) which I’m planning on participating in. Like last year, we’ll be using the club’s communications trailer and setting up at the old fire station off Dorchester Road (6938 Dorchester Rd) by the Air Force base.
Not sure who’s call sign we’ll be using yet but hopefully the bands will be in decent shape and we’ll be able to make some contacts.
Well, the back of me is in QST anyway. If you flip to page 82 of the latest (August 2013) issue of QST magazine, the bottom half of the page talks about the upcoming August Rookie Roundup (RTTY) contest.
Last year I got to participate in it with a few other people from the club. The accompanying photo, taken by Tom (AJ4UQ), is of me and fellow rookie Warren (KK4EVI) trying to make sense of what the software was telling us.
The only problem with the photo is the caption is incorrect, and gives the wrong call sign (and therefore name) for me and Tom. Here’s what the image caption should read
August 2012 Rookie Roundup (RTTY)
Warren Richey, KK4EVI, and Eugene Mah, KK4JRP, used the Rookie Roundup as an opportunity to learn RTTY operation by activating the Charleston (SC) ARC station in the club’s EmComm trailer. [Tom Glaab, AJ4UQ, photo]
The red bandage around my arm is from donating platelets earlier that day.
It was fun participating in the roundup last year, and I got a good introduction to the digital modes, including packet radio and even sending email using the radio. I hope we’ll be able to do it again for this year’s Rookie Roundup (August 18, 2013).
