NAQP RTTY from Floyd County

Had a very limited time to operate the NAQP RTTY, due to other commitments in the evening.

During the IARU, my K2/100 had been acting up with an INFO 080 problem. I attempted to diagnose the issue further on Saturday morning, but no dice. I remove several boards, replacing them with Rework Eliminators, but the rig just seemed to get sicker. It refused to recognize the KPA100 at all, and even with it disconnected, the radio didn't sound right, and gave "not instd" on several options that were still installed. My K2/100 is a very sick radio right now.

So, I had to fall back on the venerable Kenwood TS-430S. I bought this rig new in the fall of 1985, and it has always given me reliable service. It was never designed for RTTY or computer control. (That being the role of it's successor, the TS-440S) But, an old rig is better than no rig, despite having to manually change bands in the logging software.

It was great to hear signals on 10m, and 15m open as well. Had a lot of fun S & Ping between stations. I tried several times to CQ on 20 and 15m, but only one station answered me. A few people I tried to answer CQed in my face. As a result, I'm contemplating moving the R7000 further up the hill, or perhaps hanging up some real antennas.

It seemed like conditions were generally good, just not a tremendous amount of activity. Still, plenty of fun. CU in the next NAQP.


Class: Single Op LP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 3.2

Summary:
Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  80:   0      0
  40:   1      1
  20:  33     21
  15:  21     19
  10:  12      7
-------------------
Total:  77     48  Total Score = 3,696

Club: South East Contest Club

Comments:

Antennas:
R7000 at 3m high (10-40m)
80/40m trap dipole at 3-4m high (80m, 40m)

Equipment:
Venerable Kenwood TS-430S w/ AT-250 running 75-80 watts