[RTTY] RTTY on Six Meters

[Jeff Stai WK6I]

caveat: I have never made a PSK or RTTY contact on 6. Would like to do 
so one of these days, however. I do have a fair amount of experience 
on 6 in general...

The fact is that during a domestic opening the general listening will 
be .125 to .150 or so, with occasional CW forays to .090-.100, then on 
up past .200, if the opening persists. For domestic, the .100-.125 DX 
window range is avoided. Some CW will be heard near and above .125

A typical DX opening will occupy .090-.150, with both SSB and CW found 
above .100 (note that it is CW -only- between .080 and .100, with 
beacons below .080 and no general operating down there)

Thus, anyone who wants to be heard in any mode will be most successful 
in these ranges. I would say that if people are congregating around 
.150 for RTTY, that represents a trend that should be supported. There 
may be some griping from the phone guys but I wouldn't worry about 
that too much other than taking the appropriate care not to interfere 
with others - including QSY when a phone signal starts to fade in on you.

I would NOT operate RTTY on .125 however - that is the domestic SSB 
calling frequency. It would be correct, however, to announce there on 
phone that you are calling RTTY on .154, for example. The etiquette is 
to not park on .125 and run - but it happens fairly often so just slip 
your brief announcement between CQs.

The same guidelines would apply to the DX calling frequency at .110 
during a DX opening. Since DX openings are rare, I would urge you to 
use any and all modes to complete contacts and put RTTY aside. The 
heavy QSB during a DX opening often makes CW the mode of choice.

Putting RTTY all the way up at .700 sounds silly. Most 6 ops are 
interested in making contacts in any mode that presents itself and are 
not going to be cruising up that high (exception: AM signals at .400, 
if the opening is strong and persistent). The antenna limitation you 
cited applies to most everyone else and that is another reason why 
.700 is impractical.

Regarding .290 and PSK - I have heard of PSK activity there in 
general, but I would also try it lower as well. A lot of ops will 
recognize a PSK signal when they tune across it and change modes 
accordingly - well, I would anyway...;-)

Hope this helps! - jeff wk6i (CM98)



At 11:12 AM 12/1/2005, Dick Kriss, AA5VU wrote:
>This is off topic to contesting but is RTTY related.  I noted some RTTY
>spots on the AR-Cluster at 50.150 MHz and printed nothing due to band
>conditions.  I was told to look at 50.290 for PSK with the same results.
>The AC6V band plan shows RTTY at 50.700 and the ARRL Band Plan does not even
>mention RTTY on six meters.
>
>My antenna is close to being resonant at 50.125 for US SSB operation but is
>not that great at 50.700.
>
>When the six meter band opens again, where will people look for RTTY on 50
>MHz?  Guess I will just follow the cluster spots but 50.150 would be nice.
>
>Anything wrong with a RTTY CQ on 50.150.00 (FSK- Mark) or 50.152.125 (LSB)
>dial frequency for users like me stuck in AFSK.

--
Jeff Stai               jds at twistedoak.com
Twisted Oak Winery      http://www.twistedoak.com/
Rocketry Org. of CA     http://www.rocstock.org/
Amateur Radio           WK6I ~ Calaveras County, CA