[RTTY] Band Plan and RTTY contesting

[Phil Cooper]

Hi again,

During JARTS, I often saw someone on RTTY sending U ARE CAUSING QRM TO  THE
BEACON FREQUENCY, PLEASE QSY which was sent over and over again.
This was on 20m, and was sent over any exchanges that were taking place, and
was also sent anywhere between 14099.5 and 14101 on top of anyone calling
CQ.
No callsign was sent during this text, and it was happening for most of the
weekend when I was operating.

I hasten to say I was not operating around 14100, but many folk were, and I
worked some that were calling.

Given that RTTY is mostly squashed into a small band-slot, especially on
40m, and given that this weekend was WAG, the CW guys were pushing us up the
band, and the SSB guys were pushing us down, so something had to give.

Personally, although the beacon stuff is useful (to some folk), it is not
vital, and not "mission-critical" for anything, other than to some folk who
really should get out more!
I will qualify that by saying I will not operate close to 14100, but I will
work anyone claling CQ there.

73 all

Phil GU0SUP