[RTTY] 80m from KH6

[Walt Niemczura]

Bill Turner wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 23 Oct 2001 23:54:04 -1000, Walt Niemczura wrote:
> 
> >Not at all Bill. I'm just poking at Chen. I usually don't try 80m
> >from the home QTH. I don't have the space for the wire. The only place
> >I have decent luck is up at KH7R but Ken has a trapped horizontal
> >rotatable dipole at 100'. BIG difference working from there.
> 
> _________________________________________________________
> 
> I'm just kidding too.  I have a total of six 80m Q's with KH6 in the log
> - not much for eight years of RTTY, is it?
> 
> 73, Bill W7TI


No, that is not a lot but there is a reason (at least I think I 
know what the reason is).

In the brief four years I've played RTTY contest it seems that
folks over there <mainland US> move like a herd during the course 
of a contest. This is more evident on the shorter ones than the 
longer ones.

Most of these start at 0000Z (1400W) and I see a lot of activity
on 20m and some on 15. There is little on 10 and I can't "hear"
anything from the east on 40m. As the clock ticks I've noticed 
that activity will shift with propagation (naturally). However,
with the RTTY crowd it almost seems like a tour group moving
through a brewery. 

For example, I hear a lot of stations on 40 meters starting at
0200Z. This grows and then starts to decline about 0330Z. For us
here that is 1730 and we can get there with LOTS of power and
a 3El 40 at 80' (there is only one of those locally, KH7R) but
by the time 40m is locally open a lot of you folks have migrated 
to 80m. 

80 is worse. If we're lucky we can hear W6 at 0430Z. We might
work one around 0500Z. We don't have full access to the band
till 0530 under optimal conditions and usually not to 0600Z.
When we get there the party is over. I've done a lot of 80m 
phone and cw in WW and WPX where there is a lot more activity
but the problem is similar.

If mainland folks expect to work 50 to 100 stations on 80m and,
after 90 minutes they get near this number they don't hang around.
By the time we have the opening folks are gone. For WW last month
AH7R CQed constantly on 80m with 500 W into KH7Rs dipole. For 
30 hrs worth of work he made 86 contacts. When folks called they
were loud and told him he was also. 

I think that it's a geography problem mostly but also a mind set
of RTTY contesters. Folks will get the Qs and mults they feel
they can nab quickly and move on to more productive bands. I
know I do that. That's why I don't bother with 80m from home.
If folks started looking for Pacific mults starting at 0700 to
0800Z I'd be there singing my heart out. However, from home at
least, it's a waist of an hour that might yield one or two
Qs and mults where 40m would get me 30 Qs and some mults.

I wish there was more activity also but it's hard to get folks
interested in this part of the world for one or two Qs.

73 

Walt
AH6OZ