[RTTY] RE: Shelby's dissertation

[Phil Cooper]

Hi all,

Well, I have to agree with a lot of what Shelby said! 
It was great to see Masa (and yes, I did get him in the log - TNX Masa!) but
I missed a few of the "easier" states, GA being one.
As was said, a few years back NV was missing, and now there are several ops
from there - I had two on the RRU - and that surely has to be as a result of
past activities influencing others to participate.
Oddly, I also missed WV, although I am sure there were a few ops from that
sate.

I am a firm believer that showing folk what/how/when in any way possible is
the best way forward. Doing talks is one thing, and may influence a few, but
many folk want to see a "hands-on" thing, and get shown what to do.
I have done a few talks at the RSGB DX Convention, and whilst they are
generally well attended, most want to see what actually happens, and how it
all works.
Last year, I had planned to do a demo after my talk about getting started in
contesting, but due to an untimely fire alarm, that got scuppered due to a
lack of time. I had actually been offered a "state of the art station" by
kind courtesy of Paul Bigwood G3WYW of Yaesu UK, but I felt that a more
basic station, as found in most shacks would be the better option. (However,
due to circumstances beyond our control, that plan went out the window too!)
One of the most aired views was "but, I can't type quickly"! I also found
that CW ops are more likely to take to RTTY, possibly because of the use of
some of the abbreviations?

My feeling is that many of these folks want to see a setup similar to what
they have at home, with a basic PC. It would be no good to offer a demo with
top of the range gear all through, as I feel that would only put them off.
How feasible would it be to set up a basic RTTY station at the hospitality
room in Dayton?
A rig that can do both AFSK and FSK, with a basic interface, running MMTTY
on a PIII 500MHz PC?
Let's face it, most folk start with what they have, and only of they enjoy
it will they start to improve their station for this mode.
If they get shown what can happen when running AFSK overdriven sounds like,
maybe they will learn something from that?
Also show them how to set up the soundcard for "NO ALC" when running AFSK.
It would also be an excellent opportunity to show them what NOT to do in a
contest! (eg K4WW K4WW K4WW DE GU0SUP GU0SUP GU0SUP when calling another!)
The "talk" would also possibly be better coming from someone who is not a
"big gun", although the big guns should be around to show what can be
achieved.

I am sure this would increase not only activity on RTTY generally, but may
well increase the attendance at the forum?

Lastly, it seems to me that many of us DX stations miss out on some states
now because of the appearance of calls out of their indicated area. W7's in
CT, W1's in UT spring to mind!
Would it be useful if there was someplace to indicate your intention to
operate? I'm thinking of something similar to the NG3K website, where you
can see planned operations from all over, but ONLY for RTTY contests.
I'd thought of a website where you could input the info yourself, perhaps
giving class, op times, state/dx entity, QSL routes etc, without giving away
any obvious secrets, but enough to give some of us a clue?

I am sure this will stir up some discussion, and I sure hope so!

73 all
de Phil GU0SUP


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