I have not done any serious RTTY contesting in the past. Have been chasing a few DXpedition slots on RTTY lately using the built-in features of the K3 or IC-7100, i.e. sending RTTY from memories. Using this method I also handed out a few points now and then in a few RTTY contests but usually no more than maybe 20 QSOs.
Being alerted on the BCC (Bavarian Contest Club) mailing list that the RTTY-LDC (Long Distance Challenge) which I already handed out points in in past years was renamed to the DRCG-WW-RTTY and now had even easier rules I thought it might be a good idea to finally set up MMTTY and N1MMLogger with the K3 to do some integrated RTTY contesting and try it out in this one. As it turned out it was very easy to do, configuration took about 20 minutes including on-air tests and figuring out how the digital interface in N1MMLogger works. Using FSK is certainly a plus as you don’t have to mess with audio levels for transmit. 😉
Enjoyed a nice Saturday afternoon and evening with a few friends BBQ’ing and after being back home around 11:30 p.m. local time I started the adventure. 😉 The contest has 3 different time shifts so I had about 2,5 hours left until the night break. Did continue Sunday morning to fill up 6 hours in total as the contest has a nice 6 hour category. Result is below, will be interesting to see how I compared against others in my first more or less serious RTTY contest. 😉
DRCG WW RTTY Contest Call: DH8BQA Class: SOAB-6 HP QTH: JO73ce Operating Time (hrs): 6 Summary: Band QSOs Countries Call Areas ----------------------------------- 80: 20 10 0 40: 24 14 0 20: 95 22 12 15: 79 18 9 10: 9 5 0 ----------------------------------- Total: 227 69 21 Total Score = 255,060 Club: Bavarian Contest Club
BTW: The Elecraft KPA500 did a very good job running full power RTTY key down at about 600-650 watts all the time, even during slow times which meant calling CQ for something like 15 seconds, listening for 4 seconds, no replies and calling again. So a duty cycle of something like 75%. Can really recommend it for serious contesting.