[UK-CONTEST] RTTY in CC Contests

[peter Jackson]

Hi, I would like to underline all Ian and Robin said. Last year in one of the data modes contest I switched over to PSK but only worked one station as I found the mode was frustratingly slow. This year has seen an increase in RTTY and I find there are plenty of stations to keep me occupied for the whole of the 90 mins. Can the adjudicator tells us how many as a percentage are PSK against RTTY? if it is a small amount maybe for next year we can make it a RTTY only contest. I am sure most of the software used will support both modes so it wouldn't stop anyone entering.
A bigger problem is with the SSB allocation, I have voiced this before without response. This is a wide band mode although I can go back to the times when it was regarded as a narrow mode as opposed to AM ! I have never heard any qso's taking place in the contest free section. I constantly get qrm'd by Germans saying "Dis is not a contest frequency" I try and explain about the contest free section but their knowledge of English disappears! In the April SSB contest one of our club members became involved in a very heated argument with some Germans which became very personal, they even switched on their amps to try and shift him. The top section is occupied by the Slow Scan people which restricts us also. So it's high time we used the whole of the section, after all it's only for 90 minutes. The only chance you have of getting a high score on SSB is to occupy the crease long before the contest starts.
Now I have had my moan, I must say these series of contests have introduced many to the joys and frustrations of contesting.
73 Pete G3KNU