[RTTY] New Ham

[Willard]

Hello,

I am a new to amateur radio.  May 2013 I passed my General exam and plan to take the Extra in February 2014.  For my first radio I picked up a FT-950.  I also have the YT-450 antenna tuner, and tomorrow I plan to experiment using my rain gutters for an antenna (no antenna setup as of now).  I suspect antenna experiments will be an ongoing experience.  I have a computer that I will dedicate to the shack, and amateur radio operations.  At this time it has hackintosh installed, but I can install Windows 7 or any flavor of Linux (recommendations please).

Anyway, I have started research into rtty, and so far I am really intrigued with what I have learned so far.  What I have learned and what I understand are at two ends of the spectrum, however I hope this listserv will help me to close that gap.

I see mmtty is a popular application, I think I will start with that.

One area of concern I have is needed, preferred, and nice to have pieces of equipment for my shopping list.  While I accept there are various brands of equipment, I also would like a better understanding on what the individual pieces of equipment actually do in the rtty process.  I am a non electronic tech person, new to amateur radio, but eager to learn more on rtty and start dxing and eventually contesting with this technology.

I hope this is a good place to ask these questions as I seek advice.

Regards,
Wayne