[RTTY] RTTY RU Band Changes

[Rowland.Archer at gxs.com]

Hi All -
Congrats to the RTTY RU winners posting here recently!  Great job!   I received a certificate for first place in NC, low power multi-op, and #9 US in that category.  Thinking ahead to the next RTTY RU, I would like to operate SO2R and use the cluster but it looks to me like there is not really a good category to do that - which seems puzzling as it would seem to be a common enough interest.  Thought I'd check here to see if I am misinterpreting something.  My understanding is:


a)      Using the cluster puts you in the Multi operator category (as it did for me last year).

b)      Since you are limited to six band changes per hour, if I used my second radio on a different band, as I normally would do, I would be limited to three second radio QSO's per hour, a max of 3 x 24 = 72 second radio QSO's in the contest - but actually the number would be less as there would be band changes on the "first" radio as well.

Am I missing something here?

The other rule that seems odd to me is requiring the off time to be in no more than two chunks.  I.e. 4 hours of sleep, 1 hour for breakfast and 1 hour for lunch is not allowed.  Wondering why ARRL SS lets you take 30 minute breaks but ARRL RU limits you to 2 breaks that add to 6 hours.   I know, "the rule is the rule," but I figure someone had something in mind when they wrote that rule and I'd like to understand it!

Thanks!

73,
Rowland K4XD