W2UP CQWW RTTY score

[Barry Kutner]

W2UP score CQWW RTTY 1996, Single op 40 m

521 Qs/969 pts  50 QTH 67 DX 26 Zones = 138,567

Equipment - FT1000D/Alpha 77 to 2 el Cushcraft @ 86 ft

Highlights - New amp worked great. Coasts at full power with about 35 
W in. (Am selling a Heath SB-220, if anyone is interested...)
Called by A71CW 30 min before end of contest for double mult.

Lowlights - Bad thunderstorm/high winds/heavy rain Sat. night caused 
me to quit early (guess it's the storm that hit 5 land on Fri night). 
Hearing the 5s and 6s run JA when I could barely hear a thing.
Where was VT, WV, MT and DE? Worked 2 PEIs but no NS/NB or VE4.

Ideas for discussion - I thought it was amusing that all us Ws were 
down at 7040+/- CQing for Europe and all the EUs were up at 7080 
CQing for Ws. Could we come to some agreement world wide on where 
RTTY should be on 40 m? There was surprisingly little CW QRM 
(intentional or otherwise) at the low end for me.

Even though it really doesn't apply to me as a single band op, I vote 
for a return to 36 hours. Judging by the Dayton turnout, not too many 
of us are kids, and at the old age of 39, I don't like the full-time 
endurance contests. RTTY supposed to be the civilized mode, isn't it?

I was considering doing a single band 80, instead of 40, and was 
reviewing results from the last few years. I noticed that all the 
winners come from EU, and then reviewed the scoring rules (don't pay 
much attention to them when the computer does it...) Let's see now, a 
DL gets 2 points for working one of his many nearby neighbors like 
PA, F, ON, etc., in the same zone.  I only get 1 point for working a
W6 station 3000 miles and 2 zones away. Or, a VE can work hundreds of 
Ws for 2 points each, but a W can only work a handful of VEs for 2 
points. Is this fair? I think there should be a North America 
exception, as there is in CQWW CW and Phone that ALL QSOs between 
North Americans count 2 points. 

Comments invited... 73 Barry
--
Barry Kutner, W2UP              Internet: w2up at voicenet.com
Newtown, PA         FRC         alternate: barry at w2up.wells.com

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