[SCCC] NE6I ARRL RTTY Roundup

[Dennis Younker NE6I]

Call: NE6I

Operator(s): NE6I

Station: NE6I

 

Class: Single Op LP

Summary:

Band  RTTY Qs  Dig Qs

-----------------------

   80:              

   40:             9

   20:            37

   15:            11

   10:             3

-----------------------

Total:    0       60  State/Prov = 23  Countries = 1  Total Score = 1,440

 

Club: Southern California Contest Club

 

Comments:

 

All FT8 QSOs here (between watching NFL playoffs on TV). I wanted to try the
mode out in a contest. I probably should have read up on and executed the
N1MM+ / WSJT-X interface before the contest but didn't know one existed. The
WSJT-X contest log has some polishing ahead in my opinion but did okay on
this first official outing I thought. Also, either I didn't have WSJT-X
configured to tell me about dupes or that doesn't exist yet. Not sure which.
I did work a couple of dupes.

 

I checked the suggested FT8 contest freqs a few times on Saturday but saw
nothing. Those freqs were full of RTTY, as I would expect. All FT8 contest
activity that I saw was on the usual .074 frequencies. Contest and
non-contest activity seemed to co-exist well enough on .074. I did get a few
answers to CQs from non-contesters. Those had the wrong exchange of course,
so I had to ignore them. Unlike CW and SSB, you can't coach them through the
right exchange on FT8. 

 

All in all, a good first outing on FT8 I thought. 

 

Will FT8 in its present state ever beat the rate on RTTY? Probably not.
However, during slow times on RTTY (or poor band conditions), FT8 provides a
nice alternative place to work stations. Heck, I even picked up three QSOs
on 10m late Sunday afternoon! And not locals! As well, I'm sure a whole new
crop of hams got their first taste of contesting this weekend. THAT is never
a bad thing.