September/October 2000 NCJ

RTTY ContestingWayne Matlock, K7WMk7wm@i10net.comBack in 1995 thevarious RTTY reflectorscarried agreat deal of discussionabout theadvantages/disadvantagesof 2-radio operation vs1-radio operationand of how theInternet could be K7WMused for contesting,etc. Of course, many of the commentswere delivered tongue in cheekand civilized—one proposed an InternetRTTY Sprint.The fallout from this thread was a fullblownInternet RTTY Sprint (by radio) thatwas the brainchild of Barry, W2UP. Barrypatterned the Internet Sprint rules afterthe existing NCJ CW/SSB Sprints withsome slight modifications, ie: 80- and 40-meter bands only, 2 hours duration, oncea year, and multiple contacts on the sameband. It was held five years in a row.In 1999, Barry became tired of beingchief cook and bottle washer, and wantedto pass the reins on to someone else. Adiscussion ensued about approachingthe NCJ to see if they might be interestedin incorporating the RTTY Sprintinto their CW/SSB Sprint package. Itwas felt that most of the CW/SSB rulesthat existed could be used with just slightmodifications for RTTY operations. Thiswas done and the NCJ enthusiasticallyendorsed the idea.As a result, the NCJ RTTY Sprintcame into being…The March 2000 NCJ RTTY SprintOn March 12 th , 2000, at 0000Z, (Saturdayevening for North America), thefirst diddle-diddle-diddle of the inauguralNCJ RTTY Sprint was heard. Fourhours of dial spinning, antenna twirling,switch flipping and band changing wasunderway. At the conclusion, you satand looked at the log with blisters onyour fingers wondering if everybody hadas much fun as you did. Over 80 participantsshowed up. Even some surprisingDX stations—CT1AOZ, S58T, OH2LU,RK6BZ—joined the fray to make the firstevent a great success.It was evident at the start of the contestthat some of the competitors werehaving problems with the unique QSYrule. One could tell they were diehardcontesters because they weren’t aboutto give up their run frequency. Afterabout 30 minutes on the air and withsome gentle reminders to QSY afterCQing, everything was running smoothly.(I personally had fun just searching outthe Big Guns and answering their CQs—just to see them have to move.—K7WM)The QSY rule mentioned above canbe described in a nutshell as follows:If you solicit and receive a contacteither by a CQ or QRZ, you must move (1)a minimum of 1 kHz before answering aCQ or (2) a minimum of 5 kHz before youcall CQ (up, down, another band—itmakes no difference, you must move).Forget about coming back to the frequencyyou just left because you knowsomeone there. Another rule unique tothe RTTY Sprint is the multiple contactprivilege. You are allowed to work thesame station multiple times provided threecontacts separate the contacts in bothlogs, regardless of band. Fortunately, twoof the major software packages, RTTY byWF1B and Writelog, will tell you if threecontacts separate QSO attempts. Unfortunately,the software can’t tell you whatis in the other station’s log. This factproved not to be a big problem. Only asmall number of QSO deductions occurredduring log checking.The contest also scores band multipliers.That rule combined with the multiplecontact capability, ensured that actionwas hot and furious on all three bandsduring all four hours. 20 meters neverdied out completely and plenty of opswere moving back and forth between thebands at an astonishing rate during theMarch running of this FB new contest. 40meters got hot and heavy about two hoursinto the contest but 80 meters was tough—100 W is kind of puny for this band—butstill the rate held up for many.With a contest exchange that includesResults, March 2000 NCJ RTTY SprintScoresCall QSOs Points Mults ScoreAA5AU** 225 220 30 6600WS7I* 178 177 35 6195AE5P* 163 162 37 5994W6/G0AZT* 139 139 36 5004K7WM 137 136 37 4896W7WW 144 137 30 4110W4LC* 116 114 30 3420CT1AOZ* 118 117 26 3042S58T* 80 76 31 2356W0ETC* 80 75 24 1800N8YYS* 75 74 22 1628WA0SXV 72 72 16 1152W9ILY* 62 62 18 1116W6IWO 60 57 18 1026K9MRQ* 54 54 14 756KS0M 23 23 14 322WB6BIG 19 19 11 209W4JLS 14 14 10 140OH2LU* 11 11 6 66RK6BZ* 6 6 5 30** Denotes trophy winner* Denotes certificate winnera serial number, one gains added incentiveto go faster. When you find a competitorwith a couple more contacts thanyou—who 15 minutes earlier was threecontacts behind—you got a kick in thedriveshaft real quick! Things were movingso fast that sometimes you wouldhave to stop and think, “Did I CQ or didI answer a CQ?” What a ball! Like the ol’saying goes, “Try it, you’ll like it.”The next NCJ RTTY Sprint is scheduledfor October 15 th , 2000, 0000Z to0400Z. Get your fingers loosened up,develop a super fast winning stratagem,and come join the fun. Complete rulescan be found at the NCJ Web site: http://www.ncjweb.com and at N1RCT’sWeb site: http://www.megalink.net/~n1rct.March NCJ RTTY Sprint CommentsVery few “soapbox” comments wereincluded with the logs submitted for thefirst running of the contest. Here’s asample of what was received.SoapboxWent head-to-head with AA5AU, oneradio against two, and was doing prettywell in the first part of the event. Once 40meters opened up for Don, he steadilypulled ahead for the rest of the contest.There is still not enough activity but underthe NCJ format this event will get muchlarger and more fun. I’m looking forwardto the October Sprint.—Jay, WS7I. TheNCJ RTTY Sprint was a very fun contestfor me. It is a very different format, but alot of fun. Fast paced, it really keeps you33