NAQP and RUMped

Now that’s an interesting headline. RUMped is contest logging software produced by DL2RUM, a ham operator in Germany. So the RUM stands for DL2RUM. The “ped” stands for DXpedition.

This was not my first contest using this software, which operates on MacOSX, but my first in a couple of years. The first time I ran it, the sofware was in Beta form and didn’t have a lot of contests that it supported. It is now in version 3 something and it works quite well. I used it in NAQP only in the search and pounce mode but there it worked very well after I got used to the function keys and the ESM mode, which essentially sends the right message as you’re keying in the call sign, name, and state and hitting the enter key at the right time. The next contest I’ll try the run

mode and report back. So far I like this software better than the Skookum Logger that I have been using. Note that I’ve also moved from MacLogger DX for my general logging program to RUMlog, which is the companion general logging software. One thing also to note is the superb integration with the Elecraft K3. You can see some of the windows from RUMped in the nearby screen captures. Click on the image for the full size version. RUMped and RUMlog It also makes use of WinKeyer and so they match my station perfectly. For my next post, I’ll get more into the main logging program, RUMlog.

The January 2012 NAQP CW went well. I attended the Lone Star DX Association’s meeting for lunch, which began at the same time the contest began. So I really started the contest by taking my nearly two hours off time right away! I was generally surprised with the low number of stations on 10 meters at the beginning. After finding and working just two, I moved to 15 meters and managed to work just over 50. Once on 20 meters, I could see where the action was taking place. There I managed to work 101 QSOs and 32 multipliers. As the sun went down here, I moved to 40 meters and managed to pick up just over 50 stations, followed by my best experience ever on 80 meters, working 66 stations and 27 multipliers. An earlier post documents my tweaking over the holidays on my HF2V, which really paid off during this contest. The SWR levels were very low on 40 meters and the coverage on 80 meters was good up to 3.550 MHz when I needed to bring in the K3’s built in antenna tuner.

Around two hours before the contest was set to end, I either ran out of steam or ran out of stations to work on 80 meters. I couldn’t make myself sweep through the band one more time. I ended up with 276 QSOs, 101 multipliers (42 states/provinces overall) and 27,876 points. Not a bad effort for around 6.5 hours in the chair (taking some time out for dinner with my wife, Karen, and our daughter Kendal, who only visits on the weekend from her group home).

I hope you were on for the contest and if not, try the next one. They are fun.