[RTTY] RTTY High Speed Sprint? (was: Ahh, the sound!!)

[Roger Cooke]

Hi Bob.

  Well, reading your piece about the High Speed SPrint, and judging by the comments thereafter in the Soapbox, it looks like there could be a case for rejuvenating this contest. It doesn't have to be a marathon, just a short period to evaluate present day technology.
  MMTTY has built-in optional modes to cope with flutter, fading and the like, so the BER may not be too much of a stigma at all. With ever increasing antenna systems, modern transceivers and the latest in software, BER may not be so much of a problem. Obviously 100 Bauds and over will suffer, but I feel that 75 Bauds should be no trouble at all. It will also test the typing skills if you try a "normal" QSO at that speed. Macro's are fine, as are contests, but I like to sit and chat too. Using 75 Bauds will lower the TX duty cycle too!

 Anybody interested?

Regards from Roger, G3LDI
Swardeston, Norfolk.



--- On Thu, 11/9/08, Robert Chudek - K0RC <k0rc at pclink.com> wrote:

> From: Robert Chudek - K0RC <k0rc at pclink.com>
> Subject: [RTTY] RTTY High Speed Sprint? (was:  Ahh, the sound!!)
> To: rtty at contesting.com
> Date: Thursday, 11 September, 2008, 11:36 PM
> "...Also, why do we still stick to 45 Bauds? Why not
> try 75 Bauds for a change. I have had a few Q's at that
> speed but nobody has suggested changing  up to 75 as a
> modern standard, quite easy in MMTTY.
> 
> Regards from Roger, G3LDI
> Swardeston, Norfolk."
> 
> 
> Roger,
> 
> In 1998, 1999, and I think 2000 my brother and I sponsored
> a High Speed Sprint. This was the era where the RTTY by WF1B
> program and TNC's like the KAM, PK232, and MFJ were in
> vogue. It was a 4-hour experiment at pushing that technology
> to 75 wpm. I'd have to look in my old file cabinet to
> see if I could find the details, but in general we picked a
> contest format already supported by the software so scoring
> wouldn't be an issue.
> 
> We had good participation for a fledgling event, but we
> both "got busy" with our non-hobby activities and
> the HSS contest fell by the wayside.
> 
> I provided the opportunity to experiment with the higher
> speeds and see how well the equipment decoded. I remember
> Ray had to create an update for his program because the
> higher speed revealed some issue. Other people had to put on
> their thinking caps (and open up their TNC manuals) to
> figure out how to move to the higher speeds.
> 
> As you stated, today it's simply a menu choice in
> MMTTY. I think it would be fun to ressurect the HSS and give
> it a shot with todays technology. It was exciting back then
> when the message would zip across your screen. It definately
> kept you on your toes.
> 
> QRX a sec... I found the logs and soapbox digest from 1999
> on my old computer. I posted the lists below. BTW, there
> were no awards, just the satisfaction of participation and a
> list of results similar to 3830. There's some familiar
> callsigns in there.
> 
> 73 de Bob - KØRC in MN
> 
> 
> 
> CALLSIGN CLASS QSO's PNT's DIST DX SCORE
> 
> N1MGO SO10LP 5 50 3 3 300
> 
> K9RRB/3 SO15HP 33 400 9 11 8000
> 
> K3MM SOABHP 150 1750 38 45 145250
> GW5NF SOABHP 104 1305 19 44 82215
> DL4RCK SOABHP 85 1035 18 40 60030
> YT800FG SOABHP 96 1255 42 52710
> AE5B SOABHP 80 820 30 18 39360
> VE6RAJ SOABHP 80 845 16 28 37180
> W7WW SOABHP 82 845 26 16 35490
> K5DJ SOABHP 65 675 17 29 31050
> PA0VHA SOABHP 46 565 15 26 23165
> WA9ALS SOABHP 45 525 11 11 11550
> WF1B SOABHP 27 330 13 16 9570
> 
> N8PR SOABLP 122 1435 29 32 87535
> W1TY/2 SOABLP 100 1195 22 35 68115
> YU7AM SOABLP 78 970 17 37 52380
> KK5OQ SOABLP 86 980 19 26 44100
> N6OJ SOABLP 90 965 27 18 43425
> W2JGR SOABLP 79 880 21 23 38720
> WA8RPK SOABLP 72 835 21 23 36740
> N8YYS SOABLP 69 840 16 26 35280
> DL7VOG SOABLP 63 705 12 31 34545
> UT2IO SOABLP 65 675 8 43 34425
> N1NVX SOABLP 60 705 13 31 31020
> AH8LG SOABLP 58 870 22 9 26970
> N1KWF SOABLP 50 590 17 24 24190
> K1ZO SOABLP 50 520 26 13 20280
> W5BBR SOABLP 52 525 28 10 19950
> HA3LI SOABLP 47 555 10 25 19425
> W1EM SOABLP 39 460 18 19 17020
> KB4IJ SOABLP 34 375 18 11 10875
> SM7BHM SOABLP 32 365 6 22 10220
> VE2AXO SOABLP 27 305 16 13 8845
> GW4JBQ SOABLP 26 275 4 19 6325
> N6TQS SOABLP 29 295 12 8 5900
> YL2KF SOABLP 24 245 0 17 4165
> K7RFM SOABLP 21 195 13 5 3510
> YU7AE* SOABLP 28 190 7 8 2850
> KC3LV SOABLP 9 100 5 4 900
> S57IIO* SOABLP 40 0 0 0 0
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> 
> 1999 HSS RTTY Soapbox:
> 
>  
> 
> VE2AXO - Spent less than one hour in S&P mode. At 100
> wpm, it sounds like guerilla warfare, a couple of short
> burst and it's over. Most "exotic" call was
> AH6 on 10 mtrs. That's the band where my slow turning
> antenna rotor nearly costs me some Qs. Worked a few off the
> back of the beam but at times it was best to aim correctly
> with my pea shooter.
> 
> One question: Has anyone used a 250hz filter at this speed
> (75 bauds)? I know some people use a 250 hz filter at 45
> baud and I am wondering if anybody tried their 250hz filter.
> I am no expert in this field but I suspect the 250 is too
> narrow for 75 bauds. Here I have a 751A and the narrow
> filter is 500hz. It's not a barn doors situation but
> it's wide enough to let all sort of things in. 73,s to
> all, Bob
> 
> 
> 
> DL4RCK - This is a fun contest. The conditions was pretty
> good during the whole time but the activity was low in
> europa. See you next weekend ! 73 de Walter
> 
> DL7VOG - Hi guys, Not that I would say, the bands were
> overcrowded, but it was fun to have a new experience. That
> was my first entry to any high speed contest. Not bad ...
> Okay, 63 QSOs do not even bring me into the "Hall of
> Fame", but anyway - I was not able to make more.
> 
> WF1B - Had my parents over for a big turkey dinner, then a
> providence bruins game (they won). We'll have to try to
> make sure everyone has advance notice for this contest next
> year... seems we all forgot about it until a few days
> before! 73, Ray
> 
> KC3LV - Hi all...after lotsa fooling around and reading
> Ray's suggestion about 3x (this old skull is real dense)
> I finally got the blamed thing to work. Only spent about
> one-half hour since I failed to tell the XYL I was going to
> try this 'test. It was a learning experience. Next time
> I'll know what to do. So the following should be a
> "check log" I guess.
> 
> 
> 
> W2JGR - Comment: This is a fun test. It gets the adrenalin
> flowing. Nice participation by DX. Thanks to all who worked
> me, especially G3NUG who answered my CQ for my only 10m
> contact. CU next year.
> 
> N6QTS - I had fun, but 75baud RTTY took some getting used
> to. I got at least one new country and since I'd gotten
> ND earlier in the morning I was pretty pleased with the day,
> on the whole.
> 
> The computer had a problem an hour before the contest
> started, so that KaGold would run but RTTY wouldn't copy
> anything from the KAM. Wierd, but eventually a reboot fixed
> it. And I found another way of hanging WF1B, this time
> key-down. Conditions here started pretty good, but noisy,
> and then declined. 73, doug
> 
> YU7YG - FUN and easy training for the BARTG next week.
> Thanks for contact's to all. Next contest in PSK31?
> 
> K5DJ - Didn't really have a lot of time for this years
> HSS test. Will try to do better next year.. 73, de Ron
> 
> K7RFM - d the two hours I had available. I'm happy. If
> I worked you, thanks for the contact. If you didn't, I
> will look for you next weekend in the BARTG WW RTTY Contest.
> 
> K3MM - Had bad QRN/Corona noise from a snow storm the whole
> time. Luckily it didnt affect the high bands as much and I
> stayed on the lower antennas to help things along. Not much
> on 40,
> no Q's on 80, and no Asia at all. Still...better than
> last years score...it's all fun! Apparently there is a
> bug with K6STI's RITTY 3.05... at least at 75 baud. I
> went back to v2.38 and it ran fine.
> 
> WA9ALS - Well, this was fun! I was going to run WF1B with
> RITTY/K6STI, but WF1B wouldn't work with RITTY at 75
> baud! (It works fine at 45 baud, and several others
> apparently had the same difficulty - ERROR 5 in RITTY at...)
> Apparently earlier versions didn't have this problem,
> BUT I DON'T HAVE AN EARLIER VERSION!!!
> 
> Sooo, I decided to experiment with WriteLog for the
> remainder of the contest. I didn't see a preprogrammed
> HSS contest choice, so I tried to set it up from scratch. I
> suppose that was a mistake! I logged some Q's, but the
> multipliers weren't right, and the reports wouldn't
> generate right!
> 
> Soooo, just for fun and because I'm compulsive, I
> printed the log and then entered them into WF1B. I then
> edited the times for each and, VOILA! - Here's my
> report! (Yeah, I know, BIG DEAL!) ;-) Still a fun day -
> Hamfest in Indy this morning, and this stuff this afternoon!
> 
> N6OJ - well its over; bands werent the best and the
> activity could have been better but for me being a newbie I
> had a good time..
> 
> AE5B - K3MM booming in on 40. Not a diddling peep from
> anyone else. RTTY/P38 combination worked perfect. No
> equipment or software lockups. Occasionally an operator
> lockup.
> 
> KK5OQ - Dusted off the cobwebs on the 811h and ran low
> power ,150w, into a single wire. Did not appear to be many
> playing this year. Enjoyed it as always.
> 
> KB4IJ - Lots of fun....kinda quiet here though (except for
> lots of noise).
> 
> WA8RPK - OK NICE LITTLE FOUR HRS OF WORK, ENJOYED IT, WAS A
> GOOD TUNE UP FOR BARTG. GETTING MORE SNOW, IM SICK OF IT
> MYSELF. WILL IF THE GOOD LORD WILLING AND THE RADIO STAYS OK
> ILL SEE U ALL IN THE  BARTG  CONTEST.
> 
> N1MGO - Had fun, but not much activity above 28.100
> 
> VE6RAJ - Took a while getting brain and hands in sync with
> 100 wpm. After about 20 Qs pretty much had it down pat.
> Light opening to EU from here. Worked one Italian station,
> which is a hallmark. Haven't worked any in almost a
> year... since the bands started to "improve".
> 
> K1ZO - That was fun! Took me longer to prepare than the
> contest lasted. Finally got the Timewave to talk at 75
> baud...thanks for the help! Just before the 'test I
> downloaded Version 4 but used 2.5i. Hey Ray, the check will
> be in the mail tomorrow! What an improvemment. 73 Doug
> 
> W1TY/2 - Well, someone tried to follow me around, just to
> QRM me! It's OK though, I know who it is. My business
> travels take me to his area a few times a year. Seems like
> it's time for a 'chat' with him.
> 
> YU7AE - Definitive WF1B RTTY and Bitty not work on 75 Baud.
> I using demo version of BTL 1.54 and paper+pencil log ( like
> in Commodore 64 era ). Not bad. Good propagations and 75
> Bauds is too speedy for my fingers hi. Nice contest and I
> hope to see all next HSS with WF1b and Bitty software. (Ray
> and Brian please HELP!!!) TU for all 73's de YU7AE op.
> Kare
> 
> N8YYS - Well, not a bad little contest. Sort of fun trying
> to keep an eye on the snow fall so I would know if to cancel
> the bowling league tonight:-) We did, so I will be here to
> accumulate the summary, instead of pushing it until
> tomorrow. Thanks to those that took the time to dig my
> "puny" signal out of the mush. I was sitting on 20
> mtrs for an hour calling CQ, and then went out to check the
> snow depth, and noticed that I had melted the snow off the
> 20 mtr sections of the TH7DX. No, really, the whole antenna
> was coated with snow when I started, and next time I looked,
> just the 20 mtr portions of the elements had no snow. It was
> still piled on the other elements, and even the parts of the
> driven elements outside the 20 mtr traps. First time I have
> ever seen this! I guess we'll see you next weekend in
> the BARTG.
> 
> W1EM - Had trouble with the RTTY/RITTY combo. It crashed at
> least a dozen times!
> 
> N8PR - Did any one else try 40 M?? I heard no one in US or
> DX part of the band.
> Was Fun for the first hour and 1/2. After that it really
> slowed down! 73 to all Pete
> 
> AH8LG - thank you for the contact today.. the bands faded
> out here about 2100hr so didn't do to well hi. the new
> P38 with WF1B 4.3 sure work good for me at the 74 baud
> rate....not one problem
> 
> W7WHY - [[Date. Sunday, March 14, 1999. 18:00 - 22:00 UTC,
> no rest periods.]]  Well, I guess that leaves me out. GOT to
> have that rest period!!! Tom
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