CQ WW RTTY 2011

 I've only done RTTY contests for a little over a year but it is fast becoming My favorite contest mode. The Yaesu FT-950 makes it a joy to operate. I can decrease the received bandwidth down to 250 hz with the factory settings although 400hz is all I  ever decrease BW to before errors increase. I also have roofing filter,slope tuning and other filtering choices-- all factory! No options needed.  I'm still using My homemade interface and still haven't taken the time to get FSK working so I used AFSK which works well once the TX audio level is set.
 I was a little late starting Friday night and was hoping for good conditions since this would be My longest operating time since Saturday and Sunday looked to be busy with other obligations. My original goal was to have 80-100 contacts in the log Friday night with an addtional 100 over the next two days. Not a huge goal but a doable one for Me. This should help Me achieve about 50K points at the end.
  Conditions Friday were deceiving-- RX signals were load and strong but I was just not being heard! 10m and 15m were both open but I felt like a QRP station. I spent many many valuable minutes with stations CQing in My face or hearing everyone but Me! I did have some luck and stayed with it adding mostly domestic stations with a few DX thrown in! I did have contacts from 10m thru 75m but at the end of the night I had only managed about 50 contacts. Very poor, but when it takes 10-15 tries before being heard, time ticks away. Busy day Saturday so off to bed.
  Saturday and Sunday I managed to get back on between a Ham Fest, furniture deliveries, animal care ,church and other activities. Appears Saturday night was the time to be on and the short time I operated, conditions were great adding lots of European  stations including Morocco on 20m which I needed for DXCC and He is a LOTW member-Yes!!
 Sunday turned into another good DX day adding Scotland,northern Ireland,England and Wales-- again LOTW members! Checking the ARRL LOTW site showed seven new DXCC's confirmed! Great! Final score was a little less than My goal but it was a very fun time anyway!!
    Band   QSO's     PTS   CTY   ZN  SEC

     3.5       6            6          1      1       5
      7        40          63       11      6      20
     14       39          65       12     11    16
     21      54         109      21      8      11
    28       18          50      12      8       1
total       157         293    57     34      53

   Score: 42,192
73---Tim

PS-- MY setup is a Yaesu FT-950 at about 50w ( power down because of RTTY duty cycle!)
       Butternut HF6V ground mounted vertical and a 260' dipole