[RTTY] Topband: 160m in RTTY Contests

Joe Subich, W4TV lists at subich.com
Sat Oct 31 22:44:45 PDT 2009



> On Oct 31, 2009, at 6:29 PM, Bill, W6WRT wrote:
> 
> > REPLY:
> >
> > Absolute nonsense. Anyone who has spent much time actually 
> > operating 160 meter RTTY knows it works just fine. This is 
> > one canard that should die a quick and merciful death.

There goes Bill again ... writing what he "wishes" were true 
without any understanding of the physics behind the subject 
and ignoring the experts in the field.  45 baud, 170 Hz FSK 
has a well established minimum SNR that is not often met on 
long haul (more than groundwave or NVIS) medium wave paths.  
In addition, "RTTY" is very sensitive to the very kind of 
multipath distortion common on medium waves.  Simply put. 
RTTY as amateurs know it is not useful for much more than 
local or limited regional QSOs on 160 meters and is certainly 
not suited to international contesting. 

If there was a real interest in digital mode communication 
at medium waves, the push would be for system using low baud 
rates, multiple closely spaced tones and a robust coding that 
would work with signal to noise ratios approaching 0 dB with  
multipath delays in excess of 10 to 15 msec.    

Absent interest in an MW optimized protocol, calls for 
increased RTTY activity, particularly contesting on 160 
meters are nothing more than intentional and destructive 
interference to other users of the band. 



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