Great question, David.
Regardless of mode, there is more ham radio activity on the higher bands (20
and up) than on 40, 80 and 160 meters. Largely, this is due to space
constraints on antennas and a short dipole or small tri-band Yagi is more
feasible for most hams.
Outside of contests and DXpeditions, there is very little RTTY activity on
any of the ham bands. Thus, there is rarely RTTY on 80 and very little on
40 outside of these major events. The higher bands are a bit more active
now with the current solar activity, but that effect is small compared to
the impact of a contest on activity levels across all bands. If you're
interested in operating RTTY on 40 and 80, seek out the RTTY contests that
include those bands. Don's website, www.rttycontesing.com, lists all the
RTTY contests with links to information on their rules. He also has sample
messages for each contest.
Interestingly, the vast majority of contest participants are not
"contesters", but rather RTTY operators who enjoy the higher contest
activity to operate their station, chase awards, etc. They have all kinds
of reasons, except contesting. Low-band RTTY enthusiasts have little choice
but to use contests for their operating. In fact, most of these operators
do not submit a log to the contest because they don't see themselves as "in
the contest".
However, one way that non-contesters can say "thank you" for the greatly
increased RTTY activity during contests is to send in their log, even as a
CHECKLOG if they choose. The more logs received the better job the contest
sponsor can do with the log checking. The resultant LCRs (Log Check
Reports) available to anyone who submits a log, provide insightful feedback
on the accuracy of the QSOs made and the nature of the errors. This is a
valuable aid for anyone desiring to improve their ham radio operating skill.
Ed W0YK
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David AD4TJ wrote:
Maybe I missed something, but could someone tell me why there is almost zero
RTTY on 40, and very little on 80? I can only find activity on bands above
40. Thanks in advance.
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