[GreenKeys] 2016 RTTY Round Up Finished - Phew! (2nd Try)

[David Tumey]

Hey thanks Jim...my fingers, eyes and tailbone are recovering this morning.
Unfortunately, the advent of programs like MMTTY et. al. have all but eliminated the TTY from RTTY.  In fact, why keep the legacy 45.5 baud - might as well jump it up to light speed.
I think it would be great to have a heavy-metal-only RTTY contest, or at the very least, provide a separate award for Single Op TTY in the ARRL RTTY RU.
Even I had to "cheat" a little to keep up with the speed of the contest.  I used a punch tape for the CQ (multiple copies on a long tape), and I had to set up macros using CTRL-keys on the ASR so I could get the basic exchange dialog off quickly - the other ops are so impatient that if you were to hand type everything you would piss off these hyper-contesters.
I had CTRL-A for "W5DT W5DT KN" to answer a CQ, and CTRL-X for "599 FL 599 FL" and finally CTRL-G for "TU GL W5DT QRZ?"  I had the latter answer back to the TTY to ring the bell after each contact.  I had "ASR-33" in my calling string and occasionally I would get a query as to what that was and get to actually type out a short conversation.
Even with the assist from the TNC, it was still tough going given the crowded band conditions - I have noticed that all basic amateur radio etiquette seems to go out the window during contests, reminiscent of a CB band brawl.
I agree with your two classes - a KSR where everything is done by hand the old fashioned way, and assisted where tapes (and I am hoping macros) are allowed.
So next year, the plan is to move from AFSK to true FSK operation, make some improvements in the receiver IF filtering, use a 3-element beam on the mast instead of a dipole.  I am shooting for 208+1 contacts in 2017.
Maybe the Greenkeys could have a side challenge to the contest for heavy metal only.
--daveW5DT
 

      From: Jim Plummer <k8ary at yahoo.com>
 To: David Tumey <davetumey at yahoo.com>; GREENKEYS BULLETIN BOARD <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> 
 Sent: Monday, January 4, 2016 10:44 AM
 Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] 2016 RTTY Round Up Finished - Phew! (2nd Try)
   
 It's good to see that someone has tried running working this contest with true TTY gear. Some years ago, I had brought up the idea of a "machine" class for the Round Up at the RTTY forum in Dayton.  If looks could kill....
I do think it would be interesting to have a TTY based RTTY event.  Or how about a Greenkeys net.  If a contest, there might be two classes:Assisted - Using a TDUnassisted - KSR only
Dave - Well done! Inspirational! An oily hand salute to you!  
Now I need to pull the 28 out of the corner and put it back on the air.  
73, de Jim - K8ARYBack to Net.
 

 
      From: David Tumey via GreenKeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
 To: GREENKEYS BULLETIN BOARD <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> 
 Sent: Sunday, January 3, 2016 7:11 PM
 Subject: [GreenKeys] 2016 RTTY Round Up Finished - Phew!
  
Well,
I wont get any awards or plaques, but I managed to make 208 contacts on 15M and 10M all with the Model 33.  She ran straight for 12 hours today (I oiled her on the fly ~ 4:00 pm with a syringe).
Didn't drop a single bit - what a workhorse!  I even got to run some punch tape macros - worked great!
Thanks for the encouragement, I hope I managed to work some list members, I will comb through the logs later to match up the calls and see.
--daveW5DT
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