[RTTY] Comments on ARRL Centennial QSO Party

[James C. Hall, MD]

Hi Dick:

Yes, I caught myself doing this on the first day of TN operation, but I was quickly told 'don't do that' ! It was my first time being the fox and running split, completely opposite from when you are chasing DX. It was REALLY fun ! 

I made over 1700 Q's on my RTTY shifts and really enjoyed myself. The pileups were something I've never experienced and running split is simply a must. The paradigm shift for me was using a panadapter (the Elecraft P3) so as to see the signals and not just hear them. That made all the difference in the world as I could rapidly QSY to a signal 3 kHz away when I saw him. 

I used my Elecraft K3 / P3 with my modified TL-922 amplifier. Worked great ! I had lots of help from folks that have done this sort of thing before in expeditions and made my macros 'DX short', not 'Ed short', but close enough ! BTW, I had both THE 'AA5's' in the log.

I haven't been as active as you, Dick, on this Centennial QSO Party, preferring to give the contacts rather than chase them. I did put W1AW/# in the log on the 12/17M bands since, with all my contesting, I still didn't have USA confirmed on the non-contest bands ! HI

73, Jamie
WB4YDL 

Sent from my iPad

> On Apr 12, 2014, at 8:37 AM, Dick Kriss <aa5vu at att.net> wrote:
> 
> As noted on my web page at http://www.qsl.net/aa5vu/dxcc-table.htm I am active the ARRL 2014 Centennial QSO party and it has been fun. I have moved up on the ARRL’s Leader Board from #360 to #188 out of 91,610 participants - with 319 QSOs for 27 States in CW, RTTY and Phone.
> 
> For the most part the W1AW/P operators have been great but I recently noticed one technique that was really confusing. The operator was saying UP 2 but was selectively working some stations simplex.  This resulted in pile-up on his calling frequency and it was hard to hear (or see) his reports. Hopefully, future operators will stay with split or simplex - but not both at the same time.
> 
> I do appreciate the RTTY macros that give my call twice (at the beginning and end of the W1AW/P exchange). This is really helpful in simplex to be sure the report was for me. The first statement of my call sometimes gets stepped on.
> 
> Thanks to the W1AW/P operators.  You have done a good job and I am sure you enjoyed the experience.
> 
> 73 Dick AA5VU
> Using a TS-590S, fldigi and Aether on a 27-inch iMac
> 
> 
> 
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