[RTTY] North Dakota was missing in the ARRL RTTY Round Up

[Brian Kassel]

Brian and Folks:

   Yes, I was brought up near Philadelphia, about 40 miles from the DE 
border.   There are indeed fewer hams in DE than in ND.  However, since 
the population density  around DE is many times greater than ND, there 
are many times when hams can simply over the border and operate from DE, 
not  nearly so easy in ND I am afraid.  Also, having been raised in the 
east and having lived in the western US for many years, I can tell you 
that folks around DE are, in general much more competitive, and prone to 
do contest per unit of population, compared to ND folks.  Even in SD, 
there are really only less than 5 hams who do any real contesting, of 
those I can only think of 3, including myself, who contest on a regular 
basis.  Just an observation that may explain the disparity in contesters 
between both states.  Having said that,  I try every chance that I get 
to promote RTTY and Digital mode contesting.

Brian K7RE

Brian, KA7KUZ said:

I have to add my 2 cents worth here.  In my RTTY contesting experience I 
worked North Dakota early on and as I recall it was a challenge but I 
got it well before I got some other states.  The challenge for me had 
been Delaware.  I did some research and found that there are less hams 
living in Delaware than in North Dakota.  It was not clear to me why I 
had North Dakota in the logbook and not Delaware until I found this 
statistic.  After trying for about 3 years on a lark I got into the NA 
RTTY QSO Partly contest late and while searching and pouncing I came 
across someone sending DE DE....it took me a moment to realize what he 
was sending.....damn I jumped on him fast.....he was even on LotW which 
saved me a heap of time.

For what it's worth
Brian
KA7KUZ