As a subscriber to the RTTY list on contesting.com I’ve seen some helpful operating tips I thought we might find useful. The points about sending “UP” frequently and Ed, W0YK’s caution about using digital call stacking are of particular note. I assume at least some of us will want to run RTTY, so these bear some thought. Of course, saying “UP” frequently is a good idea independent of mode. I would even suggest specifying the limits, such as “UP 5-15” or something, and then staying within the limits.
To me, having a TU…NOW…answered by silence is more frustrating than simply working stations one at a time. Most DXpeditions I’ve seen/worked operate this way, as most operators on RTTY are not contesters.
FWIW.
73,
Pat, NG1G
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 19:44:41 -0800
From: Hank Garretson <w6sx@nullarrl.net>
To: “James C. Hall, MD” <heartdoc@nullnwtcc.com>
Cc: “rtty@nullcontesting.com” <rtty@nullcontesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RTTY] Being the fox – pileup running
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Yee Haw! You are going to have a blast.
One tip gleaned from my operation as W1AW/6 and from listening to other W1AW/# operations.
When you work split, include UP at the end of every CQ and at the end of each end-of-contact acknowledgement.
Just this evening I was listening to a W1AW/# operator who sometime sent UP and sometime didn’t. It was chaos. Stations calling up, stations calling on his frequency. Even some frequency cops.
Send UP every turnover.
While I’m thinking of it. I tried stacking. It didn’t work well. While stacking works well for me in contests, many of the guys calling W1AW/# are not contesters and are thrown for a loop with w3xxx TU NOW w7abc 599 CA w7abc. I found it was better to work each station one station at a time.
More thinking. Often when running during contests, I send w8aaa 599 CA without a w8aaa at the end. For W1AW/#, I found it useful to always send the call at the end. Likewise during contests, I often send TU W6SX CQ to acknowledge a contact. For W1AW/#, I recommend w5xyz TU W1AW/# CQ (with UP if split).
Diddly Exuberantly,
Hank, W6SX
On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 7:29 PM, James C. Hall, MD <heartdoc@nullnwtcc.com>wrote:
> Hi All:
>
> I will be W1AW/4 during the 3rd week of March running RTTY. I need a
> little advice. I, like many, use N1MM with MMTTY and 2Tone for
> demodulation during contests. Being the ‘DX’ for this one means
> potentially split operation, something I do routinely to put DX in the
> log when I’m chasing – but not being the DX.
>
> On our DX club reflector, it was suggested that I consider MMVARI and
> use its multi-channel RX and browser. This sounded appealing to me as
> I could use my mouse and just click the QSO’s into the log (using DXpedition mode).
> I’m set up for FSK operation. With a waterfall type operation, I worry
> about not tight enough filters to effectively copy the signal. It
> looks good and I’m reading more on it such as using the Align button
> to get the target signal properly tuned. I’ll use either my Mark V or
> my K3. I do have a P3 panadapter, so that’s another option to line up and click signals.
>
> I plan on starting simplex and using stacking. If it gets too thick,
> I’ll run split. Stacking looked like a good idea for DX’ing until you
> realize that there’s a lot of jumping around on the frequencies in the
> split window
> – probably not practical. My macro responses will be designed for
> speed – probably as short as Ed W0YK’s !
>
> So, what do DXpeditioners et al do ?
>
> 73, Jamie
> WB4YDL
>
> Sent from my iPad
> _______________________________________________
> RTTY mailing list
> RTTY@nullcontesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rtty
>
——————————
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 19:56:27 -0800
From: “Ed Muns” <ed@nullw0yk.com>
To: “‘James C. Hall, MD'” <heartdoc@nullnwtcc.com>
Cc: rtty@nullcontesting.com
Subject: Re: [RTTY] Being the fox – pileup running
Message-ID: <C215710444A0453EA2A4EA8DF9230F1F@h81420t>
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The DXpeditions I’m familiar with use a standard logger, usually N1MM Logger, with MMTTY or, lately, 2Tone. I would stick to that basic setup.
Setting up multiple decoders will reduce the number of repeats required, but that may not be a big enough factor to worry about. If two decoders, I’d use MMTTY Standard Profile and 2Tone Normal. If 3, I’d add the DXP38 because it decodes off-frequency callers faster (or you’ll pick up calls faster as you tune through a pile-up). Beyond 3 decoders, I’d do multiple instances of 2Tone with Flutter, Selective, etc. settings.
If you operate split and have the sub-RX in the K3, I would use that radio so you can have a DI window on both your TX and RX frequencies. As you note, the P3 will be very helpful to monitor multiple stations calling.
Call stacking will speed things up a bit, so that’s very useful if you’re comfortable with it and adept at running it. However, about 40% of the time I use it in contests, I get silence in return, or else the guy I just sent a report to simply sends his callsign 3-4 times again. Outside a contest, this percentage may rise. The general public of casual ops may not yet be ready for call stacking and therefore it could slow you down!
I can’t imagine the W1AW/4 pile-ups will be any greater than the P49X ones and the plan above has worked well there.
Ed W0YK
