[CQ-Contest] Fwd: RTTY Roundup practice sessions!

[Jeff Stai]

Please share this notice with your local groups, as appropriate.

Same time and same drill as in recent years. This coming Friday, let's have
two practice sessions to check out station equipment, software and
operator(s).

New in 2019! Practice for both RTTY and FT8! Here's the schedule:

2200-2230 UTC, Friday, 5 January - RTTY focus
2230-2300 UTC, Friday, 5 January - FT8 focus

0200-0230 UTC, Saturday, 6 January (Friday evening NA time) - RTTY focus
0230-0300 UTC, Saturday, 6 January (Friday evening NA time) - FT8 focus

"Focus" means lets focus on that mode for the 30 minutes - but if you want
to practice switching back and forth between modes by all means do so. I
expect you'll find others of a like mind.

Operate just like it's the real thing that starts on Saturday. Use whatever
bands are open and active for you at each time slot. For FT8, the following
dial frequencies as recommended by Joe K1JT in the January 2019 QST would
be a good starting place: 3590, 7080**, 14130, 21130, 28160.

You might want to have a special message prepared to respond to stations
telling you that the contest hasn't yet started. (Or, perhaps even practice
your typing ;)

Most of all, have fun over the weekend in the RTTY Round-Up! Take some
photos of your operation and send them and/or a summary of your experience
to me, Jeff WK6I - especially anything around your decisions on how to use
(or not use) FT8. It will help me write up the contest for the QST article.

73 jeff wk6i

** Below is a link to the article by Joe K1JT for reference. You may notice
that the recommended frequencies for 80 and 40 meters are in typical RTTY
subbands. FT8 ops may want to slide up above 7100 or below 3580 if they are
having trouble getting a foothold in the recommended ranges.

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ContestResults/2019/January%202019%20QST%20-%20Taylor%20-%20FT8.pdf

-- 
Jeff Stai ~ WK6I ~ wk6i.jeff at gmail.com
Ask me about Green Keys Night - Jan 1, 2019 0000-2359 UTC!
RTTY op at W7RN
Twisted Oak Winery ~ http://www.twistedoak.com/