[RTTY] BARTG 75 Sprint

Sun Jun 13 21:52:59 PDT 2010

Bob K0RC wrote:  "I can imagine the higher rates would even challenge the SO2R operators in the beginning. Maybe some SO2R operators
can comment on this?"

I don't remember much about the High Speed Sprint other than I took part in them!  It may have been harder back then since we didn't
have MMTTY and perhaps the decoders weren't up to the challenge.  I just don't remember how it was.

Running SO2R at 75 baud caused a rush of adrenalin and it was a challenge, but didn't take long to figure out.  I'm glad I wasn't
drinking alcohol!  (I'm on call at work so had to stay sober) As I stated earlier, the biggest concern was getting the signal tuned
in fast when S&P.  Since I practice this all the time at 45 baud, it wasn't difficult for me to do, but there was more of a sense of
urgency at this high of speed.  I tried running both radios as much as I could but activity was not high enough to sustain any rate
so S&P was needed.  The trick is to stay calm.  I got into a flow rather quickly and really got a kick out of the text screaming
across the screen.

I was constantly adjusting my messages on the fly for the first hour.  Before the contest, I took a conservative approach and
created longer messages than what I normally use at 45 baud.  In many cases, I found the messages didn't need to be much longer, if
any.  One time when running, a station I was working came back with something like "7-7" and that was it.  They just sent the number
twice and it printed perfectly.  I had a buffer created already in case someone needed a repeat of my number.  It was just the
number sent 5 times.  So I started using that as my S&P report - just the number sent five times.  It worked great.  No need to send
my call if the run station got it right.  No need to send the callsign of the run station, because he/she already knows their call.
I noticed most everyone was sending three digit numbers even at the start.  I decided on using single digit numbers, then double,
etc 1, 2, 10 instead of 001, 002, 010, to make things even faster and it worked well.

I'm not sure about pressing 100 baud onto other RTTY contests.  I still prefer 45 baud and it's robustness through band noise, QRM
and weak signals.  I seriously doubt 100 baud is going to work in a lot of situations where 45 baud can - like the low bands in the
summer time or when there are two or more stations calling at the same time.

73, Don AA5AU
http://www.aa5au.com
http://www.rttycontesting.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: rtty-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Robert Chudek - K0RC
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 10:23 PM
To: Kok Chen; RTTY Reflector
Subject: Re: [RTTY] BARTG 75 Sprint

Sure, I remember that contest!  :-) It pretty much fizzled because I had looked for a "commercial sponsor" but was not having much
success. Then family "issues" reared their ugly head and I was off the air for several years so the HSS fell into oblivion. I had
talked to Ron K5DJ about it. He took over the contest weekend but decided upon a different contest format.

Yesterday I decoded someone sending CQ HSS... and that put a smile on my face... apparently someone else remembered it too!

This was the first time I have used two different decoders in a contest, the normal MMTTY soundcard software and my old Kantronics
KAM Plus TNC. It was quite the circus act trying to get that KAM going on a laptop with only USB ports available, but I finally won
that battle.

I thought the KAM was a decent decoder "in its day", but having the two RX windows open side by side, the MMTTY engine was clearly
the winner when signals would dive into the noise. My Icom Pro 3 also has the advantage of the Twin Passband Filters and this helped
both decoders when a signal was too weak to copy normally. Turning on this filter creates a serious "noise" 
issue which is irritating to listen to for an extended period of time, so I only turn it on when necessary.

There were stations I called who could not copy me. I was running 300 Watts which helped somewhat, but I think having the Twin
Passband Filters in my receiver might have been another part of the problem of a one-way "connection". Other variables are the other
station may have been running 1500 Watts and/or he did not have Twin Passband Filters in his rig. So it's really difficult to draw a
conclusion without more information.

I did not experience abnormal requests for repeats. But this is really subjective as well. It's tough to quantify with only one
"Test" and the less than ideal propagation during the contest. I was keeping track... I asked for 3 repeats, and I was asked for 4
repeats. My repeats were to verify I got the serial number more than one time on my screen. These were mostly European stations and
they were during QSB conditions. I was impressed how quickly the exchanges came across the screen when decoding normally.

My opinion is the RTTY contesting community should look toward moving to this higher speed. As a SO1R operator, the first hour
tested my skill to punch the right keys, log the contact, and settle into the faster routine. I can imagine the higher rates would
even challenge the SO2R operators in the beginning. Maybe some SO2R operators can comment on this?

73 de Bob - KØRC in MN

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kok Chen" <chen at mac.com>
To: "RTTY Reflector" <RTTY at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 12:00 PM
Subject: Re: [RTTY] BARTG 75 Sprint

> On Jun 13, 2010, at 6/13    6:52 AM, Don Hill AA5AU wrote:
>
>> That was a blast!  I really enjoyed the 75 baud RTTY Sprint.
>
> Has everybody forgotten the High Speed Sprint (HSS) contest already?
>
> The same 75 baud, and similarly short contest.  I have logs from 1997
> through 2000.  And then the contest appeared to have fizzled out.
>
> My first contact in 2000 was with an AA5AU :-).  Followed in the log
> by the usual suspects: WS7I, N8YYS, VE3WQ, W4JLS, W0ETC, and ta da...
> W6/G0AZT, and more familiar call signs.
>
> KK5OQ, K0RC, K3MM, K5DJ, W7TI (remember him?) and ta da... VE6RAJ were
> among calls my 1998 log.
>
> As I said, the usual suspects :-) :-).
>
> 73
> Chen, W7AY
>
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