[LCC] BARTG AA5AU SOAB HP

[Don Hill AA5AU]

                    BARTG HF RTTY Contest - 2020

Call: AA5AU
Operator(s): AA5AU
Station: AA5AU

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Countries  Call Areas
-----------------------------------
   80:   72       5         13
   40:  151      17         14
   20:  218      46         21
   15:    9       7          2
   10:    0       0          0
-----------------------------------
Total:  450      75         50  Continents = 6  Total Score = 337,500

Club: Louisiana Contest Club

Comments:

"Stay at home" meant "Get on the radio" this weekend.
Although I only put in a limited amount of time in the contest, I'm amazed I
made 450 contacts. Activity seemed very high. I was thankful to have ham
radio
to get my mind off of things for a while. Probably 90% of my contacts were
made
barefoot but had to use the amp a few times Saturday as conditions weren't
great.

During the contest I dug out the RTL-SDR I bought a while back and installed
it
on my newly acquired PC I use on the second radio (Kenwood TS-870 with
WriteLog). Wow! An SDR with spectrum display and waterfall on the bandmap!
It
works so well that I need to get a second one (RTL-SDR). The '870 has an IF
output for it but my '756 PRO III does not. I have worn out the VFO on the
PRO
III so I may replace it with my spare '870 and go back to what I was running
17
years ago - a pair of '870s. The WriteLog bandmap with SDR is unbelievably
good.
Or maybe I'll buy a new '7300 with my Trump check.

Band conditions the first day weren't great but Sunday they were much better
and
20 meters was as good as I've seen it in a long time. The bands were very
quiet
the second half of the contest and made for nice contesting conditions.

As we navigate through this pandemic, I can only pray that we make it out
OK.
Many of us are older. We are the ones that are at the greatest risk.
Tomorrow I
go to work despite our state being under lock down. I can only hope that I
am
healthy enough in case the unthinkable happens.

Every trip to the grocery store is like walking through a mine field. But
the
problem is that the mine doesn't blow up immediately and you never know when
it
will. Hopefully taking all the precautions will actually work and we will
return
to some normalcy soon.

I do some work in hospitals. I went to Tulane University Medical Center in
New
Orleans last Friday to work on the paging system in one of their buildings.
A
20-something security guard took my temperature when I entered the hospital.
Seeing that it was normal, she commented "Looks like you don't get a 2 week
vacation". I didn't say anything but thought "Asshole doesn't realize
that catching COVID-19 could be a death penalty for me". Her attitude
scared me more than the virus. Fighting this thing on more than one front.

Stay safe.

Don AA5AU


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