NAQP-RTTY 2011

I decided to try this contest and also the VHF contest that was happening about the same time. I haven't played with any RTTY since April and this seemed like a good test for My set up to make sure its still working OK. The outside heat and humidity made this a nice reason to be in the Ham shack although I still needed to do outside chores. I operated for a bit, then was outside for a bit and so on.
The contest times for both contests was 1800 UTC and i first talked to several locals on 6m and 2m but that ended up being the only action for Me on VHF. Not having a working 6m beam limits Me and it didn't seem like My 2m beam was up to its usual distance-- signals were very weak on it!
The RTTY contest was already going strong when I switched to it. I was decoding signals OK but had forgot to reprogramm the digital messages. They were still set to the previous contest. Eventually after correcting this issue and taking care of some outside chores I was able to begin. The bands were only average with no RTTY being heard on either 10 or 15m so I settled on 20m which was not too bad. The winter RTTY contests have alot more activity but it also means I was able to be heard easier. It could also be because all entrants are limited to 100w max!!
My original goal was to test My set up and achieve at least 60 QSO's. This I did do and and ended up with 80 QSO's, 40 multipliers and 1 DX. Yes- the lack of DX was very dissapointing to Me but on the up side- last state for WAS -- Wyoming- I worked twice!!
As usual this contest was fun for the limited time operating and everyone was pleasant-- I enjoy the extra chatter some Hams include. I even worked one named "Bambi"-- hmmm.
73---Tim