The Inaugural 10-Meter RTTY Contest

I participated in two contests the past weekend, the TARA RTTY Melee, and the first 10-Meter RTTY Contest organized by two of the top RTTY contesters, Don, AA5AU and Mike, K4GMH. I only made 4 QSOs in the TARA RTTY Melee, including VO1NM in Newfoundland for a new Canadian province. As Saturday was a busy day with the Big Ten Football Championship Game, the Sunday only 10-Meter RTTY Contest fit perfectly into my schedule.

Although the contest started at 0000Z on Sunday, that was after the band was closed. After a rough night, it was a struggle to wake up at 1400Z to get started. Shortly after 1400Z, I worked four Carribean stations, P40K in Aruba, NP4BM in Puerto Rico, PJ5/DL7VOG on Sint Eustatius, and VP2MWG on Montserrat. After that, it became a slog. Between 1448Z and 1906Z, the only stations worked were eight Texas stations. It seemed that the only place the band was open to was Texas. I finally broke that streak at 1906Z by working XE1EE in Mexico, then two more Texas stations before working W0TUP in North Dakota, KP4JRS in Puerto Rico, and W0LSD in Colorado. At 2021Z, I worked VE5MX in Saskatchewan. Another Texas station was worked after that and then LU7HN in Argentina and FG5LA in Guadeloupe. At 2124Z, I worked XE2FGC in Mexico and KT0DX in Colorado. Two more Texas stations and one more Colorado station came after that before finding LT0H in Argentina. About this time, PJ2/K2PLF in Curacao was quite strong, but I could not break through the pileup despite trying for quite a few minutes. I ended the contest by working K0RFD in Colorado and XE1XOE in Mexico.

Propagation was not good. I heard very little EU. An F station was quite strong, but he was operating S&P. I called a relatively strong GM who came back to "N8" before fading out never to be heard from again. I ended up working 13 Texas stations and several in Colorado. Propagation seemed very focused on certain areas at certain times. Very strange conditions. I hope the conditions are better for this weekend's ARRL 10 Meter Contest.

Here is my 3830 score summary:

10-Meter RTTY Contest

Call: N8HM
Operator(s): N8HM
Station: N8HM

Class: Single Op QRP
QTH: Washington, DC
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 32  State/Prov = 5  Countries = 7  Total Score = 384

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Rig - Yaesu FT-817ND
Antenna - Alexloop Walkham Portable Magnetic Loop

And the QSO Map: