I’d like to note that OM0A is slowly becoming a fixture in RTTY contests. This year’s CQ WW RTTY Contest was no exception; in fact, we formed a two-person team consisting of Viliam OM0AAO and Oliver MW0JRX.
For the contest, we made a few adjustments to the antennas in my backyard. Under the suspicious glances of my neighbors, “multiband corn” and a 4-element OWA yagi for 15m sprang up in the garden. Due to time and material constraints, we simply didn’t have time to set up a hexbeam.
This contest could also be subtitled “How a Multi-Single Became a Multi-Multi.” Why?
The multi-single low-power category is quite popular in Slovakia. The record held by OM3RJB has stood there for many years. The goal: to beat it! The team from Zvolen came close in 2009 and 2010, but even they didn’t succeed…. We hoped that by using a multiplier station, we’d gain an advantage and be successful.
OM0A’s Score
What we couldn’t factor into our plans were our own abilities and propagation conditions. In reality, we had to fight for many of the contacts! Better openings on the 10-meter band would have helped a lot.
OM0A CQ WW RTTY 2014 Contacts Chart
OM0A CQ WW RTTY 2014 Multiplier Chart
OM0A CQ WW RTTY 2014 Points Chart
We ended up with 919,000 points, “only” 80,000 short of the record. We were on the bands for 47 hours. However, even one more hour probably wouldn’t have been enough to close that gap. We told ourselves—we’ll try again next time!
However, upon looking at the tables, we found something interesting: we had broken the multi-multi record. After making a few minor adjustments to the log, we submitted it to the judge for this category. Thanks to everyone for the enjoyable contest moments!