[RTTY] TARA RTTY Melee Questions

[Don Hill AA5AU]

Had to laugh at Bill's final comment... And hard to get used to that new
call of his.

Bill's got the right answers.  I'm hoping TARA will bring more activity now
that's it's a 24 hour contest.  I got to come home early today so I'll be
there
at the start.  That's pretty important in just about every contest
regardless
of the mode.

I thought about doing TARA & 160 contest too but didn't get the 160M
constructed
or installed.

However, if I was doing the 160, I would work TARA from 0000-0500Z, then
work the
160 contest 0500-1300Z or something close to that.  Then go back to TARA
after
1300Z.  Depending on where you are, doing 160 from 0400-1200Z might be
better but
not much happens here on RTTY until 1300Z (except a little stateside and may
JA
on 40M).

If you are doing SO2R... try 20 and 15 at the start.  If there's nothing on
15,
do 20 and 40.  When 20 slows down, put that radio on 80.

During the day, if you are one radio, alternate on 10 and 15 but 15 is going
to
be much better especially with the numbers we have:  SFI=112, A=33, K=4.

Also check 20 during the morning and after lunch.  If 10's a washout, 15 and
20
will be your daytime hours.

If you are SO2R, keep one radio on 15 meters from sunrise to sunset at
least.

With the poor numbers, I'm toying with going high power to see if my brand
new
Dell PC will handle the RF (2.66 GHz, 1MB SDRAM, WinXP Pro).  Another new
toy!!!

73 & Good luck,
Don AA5AU

-----Original Message-----
From: rtty-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Bill Turner
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 11:53 AM
To: WI8W
Cc: RTTY at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RTTY] TARA RTTY Melee Questions

On Fri, 5 Dec 2003 16:49:40 -0000, "WI8W" <rtty at comcast.net> wrote:

>Ok, all you seasoned, hard core RTTY contesters out there.  This is 
>newbee asking a few questions.
>
>1.  Given the past history,  best and most active bands for this contest?

20 and 15 during daylight, 40 in the evening.  This is true for nearly all
contests.  Sometimes there will be a spurt of activity on 80 and 10, but
don't waste a lot of time looking for it.


>2.  How can I determine the best times to take off?  I know that I have 
>only
>16 hours out of the 24 to work.  2 breaks or 1 large one best?

Avoid the wee hours of the morning.  One break if you're a heavy sleeper,
two if you're not.  Doing two breaks allows you to check the bands during
the wee hours and who knows, you might get lucky.


>3.  CQing...how much percentage of the total time...S&P...how much 
>percentage?

I CQ until the rate drops off, then S&P.  Caution: I don't win very often.
Best advice is to do whatever AA5AU does.  :-) 

--
Bill, W6WRT

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