[RTTY] 2016 RTTY Roundup Multis==Unlimited?

[Ed Muns]

The rules for all ARRL contests are a little tricky to understand because
there are THREE sets of extensive rules that must be taken as a whole.
They are hierarchical, meaning that the specific contest rules, e.g., RTTY
Round-Up supersede the General Rules for HF Contests, which in turn
supersede the General Rules for all ARRL Contests. You literally must read
all three sets of rules to understand the rules for a given contest.

The RTTY Round-Up only has one miulti-op category: Multioperator, Single
Transmitter.  The General Rules for HF Contests say:
*2. Entry Categories:* The following categories are defined for ARRL
contests on bands below 30 MHz. See the rules for each contest to determine
which categories apply and whether additional categories exist for that
contest.
Therefore, even though the General Rules for HF Contests list three
multioperator categories, only the first one is used in RTTY Round-Up.

I'm not aware of any contest where any of the multi-op categories are
"unassisted".  Assistance is always allowed in all multi-op categories.
This is explicitly spelled out by the ARRL for all ARRL contests in the
General Rule:

   1. 3.7.2.2. Multioperator and Single Operator Unlimited (Assisted)
   stations may use spotting nets.  Since neither the HF General Rules nor the
   RTTY Round=Up rules contradict this rule, it applies.  So Packet, local
   or remote Skimmer, Reverse Beacon Network, etc. are all allowed for all
   multi-op categories (and, single=op unlimited (assisted) categories).

In the single-op (unassisted) categories, no spotting assistance is
allowed.  Single channel (single signal) RTTY decoders are allowed.

Ed W0YK

   1.


On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:03 AM, Ron W7FIA <fia at clouddancer.com> wrote:

>
> Hi,
>
> While the RR rules mention Single Op and Single Op Unlimited, there is
> only the one Multi-Single category.  The bottom of the rules point to
> other ARRL general contest rules, which list Multi-2 and Multi-Multi
> categories.  Then I remember other RTTY contests where Multi was
> classed as either Unlimited, or Unassisted.
>
> So I'm a little unclear as a novice RTTY Roundup participant, if I
> join a Multi operation, is it expected that the extra ops are
> providing spots - watching a GRTTY-like program, or perhaps a spotting
> network (they aren't that useful in Nevada) ??
>
> When I chatted with the current ops at a local Multi, they seemed to
> think that any 'skimmer-like' operation was not allowed.  It's RTTY,
> it's a bit hard to decode by ear or sight.  I tend to think that if
> signals come down my antenna, I can decode all of them, as I need to
> have something that can handle the dynamic range problem.  I'm puzzled
> as to why a panadapter/waterfall display is OK, but the extra step of
> decoding a callsign suddenly has crossed some line.
>
> Thanks
> r
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> RTTY mailing list
> RTTY at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rtty
>