[CQ-Contest] NS RTTY this Thursday

[Ken K6MR]

Greetings Diddlers:

Yes, yes, I know. For those of us who are hopefully addicted to Sprints (Guilty!), this weekend is the real deal. And in the original mode. So even though this is the NS RTTY announcement, I’ll still put in the plug: Don’t forget the CW Sprint this Saturday evening, 0000Z – 0400Z. “The most fun you can have….”.  Well, you know. 24 hours of contest effort reduced to 4 hours. No packet, no assistance, just you and your radio(s). Hmm, where have I heard that before?

Okay, on to RTTY. Another great group last week in the digital mode. NN2NN, Steve, joined us, and KB5TB, Tommy, also dived in for the first time. We also had old-timer but-it’s-been-awhile N0TA, John, back in from CO. So lots of mults and stations. It’s still kind of a 2 band evening (unless you try 160), but hopefully the longer days will bring back 20. Don’t forget to at least give a listen at the start and see if you can hear anything on 20.

The weekend does have a little digital action with the Mexico RTTY Int’l test, and some QSO parties that support digital modes. Since the CW Sprint only takes 4 hours you’ve still got plenty of time to do some digital.

So drop by on Thursday evening and spend a few minutes checking out the station.  New stations are always welcome, and don’t worry about the exact form of your Qs. Serial number, name, and state.  Just keep moving around and work who you hear and call CQ in the empty spots. It really is simple.

I’ve had some questions and suggestions over the last few weeks. I can’t guarantee we’ll adopt all of them, but if you’ve got some ideas send them on.  Time and format seem to be the most popular requests.  All ideas considered, but no guarantees.

Here’s the usual list of times, rules and extra notes for our usual Thursday soiree.

Friday,  3 Feb 2017, 0145Z - 0215Z (Thursday 2 Feb 2017 in NA)
-- 1745 - 1815 PST
-- 2045 - 2115 EST
-- (others in-between those two)
-- 160: 1805 and up (Last two minutes seem to be popular…)
-- 80/40/20/15 +80kHz up from the band edge
-- Same band dupes ok after 1 intervening Q.
-- 1 kHz QSY rule, otherwise standard Sprint rules
-- Mults per band
-- 100W power limit

Please visit http://www.ncccsprint.com/rttyns.html for complete rules and links to other info. If you find any problems with the web pages, please let me know so we can get them fixed.
If you would like to receive all the latest info about NS as well as a have a place for comments and questions, sign up for the NS mailing list:  http://www.kkn.net/mailman/listinfo/nccc-blue

Report scores to 3830scores.com, and join us at 0300Z on 3610 kHz (+/- a few for ongoing groups) for comments and questions (and dinner menus).

Diddle diddle,

Ken K6MR