Today I participated in my first RTTY contest – actually it was also the first time I used digi modes at all.
My equipment:
- Aerial: 20/15/10m Tribander, 80/40m Inverted VEE
- RIG: Yaesu FT-897D; PWR: 50 W
- Interface: G4ZLP Digimaster Pro
- SW: N1MM + MMTTY
I started on 40 metres, where I made the first (and only) QSO at about 06:28 UTC (btw. thanks to F5OAM for my 1st RTTY QSO!), then I moved to the 20 metres for the rest of contest (except for 1 QSO on 15m).
During the whole contest I made 65 QSOs to 24 DXCC countries, 7 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces. For all the time I was S&Ping, even though now I regret a little I didn’t try CQing for a while…
I had almost no problem transmitting, most of stations read my “DE OK1CLD OK1CLD OK1CLD” right after 1st calling. However, I lost some of potential QSOs, because quite often I wasn’t able to read CQing station’s callsign. Sometimes it was due to weaker signal, sometimes there was a strong signal close to caller’s freq that “erased” everything around. Maybe it would help if I set up either my radio or MMTTY differently – have to try and find some tips on Internet.
Two weeks from now there will be OK RTTY Contest (contest rules – scroll down to the bottom of page), so if I have time I’ll try to set up my equipment better and to make more QSOs than today… and I hope to hear you during the contest! :-)
Table of contacted DXCC entities:
DXCC entity |
3.5 MHz |
7 MHz |
14 MHz |
21 MHz |
28 MHz |
All bands |
France |
0 |
1 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
Finland |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
United States of America |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
Netherlands |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Ukraine |
0 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
Belgium |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
England |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
European Russia |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Canada |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Portugal |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Romania |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Scotland |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Asiatic Russia |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Bulgaria |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Cyprus |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Iceland |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Italy |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Japan |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Kazakhstan |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Serbia |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Spain |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Sweden |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
UK Sov. Base Areas on Cyprus |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Wales |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Table of contacted U.S. states:
U.S. state |
3.5 MHz |
7 MHz |
14 MHz |
21 MHz |
28 MHz |
All bands |
Illinois |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Maryland |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
New York |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Oklahoma |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Pennsylvania |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Tennessee |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Virginia |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Table of contacted Canadian provinces:
Canadian prov. |
3.5 MHz |
7 MHz |
14 MHz |
21 MHz |
28 MHz |
All bands |
New Brunswick |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Quebec |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
ARRL RTTY Roundup 2010
During the weekend I was contesting in ARRL RTTY Roundup. Since I have just a wide SSB filter (the stock one) in my FT-897D and I can always hear only the very strong stations, I didn’t plan to make some very good result – I just wanted to make more than 100 QSOs.
I started at 1800Z on 7 MHz and during the first hour I made only 7 connections. After that it became a little better and until 2230Z I had 51 QSOs in my log – I know it’s not very good, but since my goal was 100 QSOs I was quite happy – especially because I had in my log also two U.S. stations (from PA and IL) and French special station TM6WRC (celebrating Sebastian Loeb’s and Daniel Elena’s 6th consecutive victory in World Rallye Championship) Read More »