[RTTY] I am Back

[Bill Turner]

At 07:52 AM 6/19/2006, roy gould wrote:
>Hi Gang, remember me? I created the CQWW RTTY DX Contest then as 
>KT1N now as K1RY.
>
>I recently moved to Delaware, unfortunately no more big towers and 
>mono banders, but I am on the air with a Flag Pole vertical and the Old TS930s.
>
>A Few questions:
>
>Planning to get a new rig, looking at the Kenwood 480 or the 
>570.  Any suggestions?

Icom IC-756 PRO III if cash is no problem, IC-746 PRO if it is. There 
are more expensive rigs out there but they don't seem to have any 
great advantage for RTTY. The Icoms on the other hand, have an 
excellent filter system designed specifically for RTTY.



>Want to run FSK, now have an old computer with the HAL P38 card, 
>have a new computer on order from Dell but I am sure it will not 
>have the double slots the P38 Card requires.

Give the P38 an honored place on the shelf and use MMTTY. It's free 
and better at digging out the weak ones than any hardware TNC with 
the possible exception of the very high-end HAL products. Beats the 
pants off of KAM, AEA, and the lower-end HAL products. Compatible 
with WriteLog and N1MM contesting programs. See below.


>Any suggestion on what to get so as to operate FSK and PSK?

Do you mean software? MMTTY for RTTY. See above. PSK? No idea.


>Also planning on a small AMP, any suggestions on something that will 
>run 400 - 500 Watts on RTTY?

The smaller Ameritrons or Heathkits will do that power level nicely. 
When you get ready for some serious power, go with Alpha or homebrew. 
Avoid nearly all others. In spite of their advertising, they can't do 
RTTY contesting for long.


>Also want to get a Windows based Logging/RTTY operating program, 
>suggestions welcomed.

For contesting:
WriteLog: Very good but not free. N1MM: Free but buggy. I used N1MM 
for about two years and got tired of the bugs. Every time they 
upgrade something, they break something else. Annoying but usable  if 
you are patient, which I am not. Presently using WriteLog, which 
works fine right out of the box.


>Currently use LOGPLUS for logging but it is no longer supported and 
>it runs in DOS.

For logging (not contesting) the DXLabs suite of programs is as good 
as it gets and is completely free. Easily imports your contest log 
when the contest is over.

Google will find all of the above for you. Welcome back!

73, Bill W6WRT