[SFDXA] RTTY & Digital News from Jim's GAZETTE Newsletter #114

Sun, 20 Jan 2002 08:22:54 -0500

Jim's GAZETTE
Newsletter #114
20 January 2002

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any and all interested parties, or to reproduce it
in
any other publication. All we ask is that you give credit where it is due.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

SHORT NOTES: It only took about one thousand Emails to prove that Don AA5AU was not deemed to have
used 'assistance' during the RTTY RU. And we didn't even resort to the Supreme Court to reach the
conclusion. Don's asking a casual contest contact 'Where did you see UN6P?' was not in Ron's (N1ND
ARRL Contest Branch Manager) opinion a formal operating arrangement. Informal or casual queries of
this sort do not make the station 'assisted.' Some thought Don guilty of a cardinal sin, but it is
now obvious that it is appropriate behavior to ask a routine contact for a bit of information. But,
no pre-arrangements of any sort, please.

KH1 Baker and Howland coming up again! Hrane YT1AD is leading a very large operation that will work
all bands, each and every mode from April 30 to May 5. Then they head for Dayton. This is a very
expensive operation. Contact Will K6NDV ([email protected]) for donation info.

Ekki DF4OR, in a very welcome gesture, is about to undertake the maintenance of WF1B RTTY software.
He has been assured of financial support by a number of hams and, though he is not aiming to make
any money on maintaining and upgrading the program, he does want to be certain that he can cover
the expenses involved is keeping the programming libraries current. The RTTY software will continue
to be free. Among other sites, RTTY can also be downloaded from www.sk3bg.se/contest/download.htm.

Signs of the times: Larry W2AX took a cruise on the QE2 these past few weeks. He remembered exactly
where to go in order to operate the ham station he operated a few years ago. But, and imagine his
surprise, he couldn't find the radio room on the QE2 anymore! It's now just another passenger
suite. No more radio room, no more radio operators. What's next? No Captain?

The 2002 International DX Convention has a website at www.qsl.net/visalia2002. The 53rd annual
convention is coming up!

Bob NT1V wanted keep the N1RCT RTTY site alive and well. But he found the pressures of his job and
the frequent and extended travels made the task insurmountable. Thus, Jamie WW3S stepped up to the
plate and will operate the site at www.rttyinfo.net. We all are indebted to Bob's effort and are
thankful that he's found a suitable successor. Good luck, Jamie!

Mo'Slo is often a requirement these days. If you have upgraded, as many if not most of us have, to
a blazing new CPU, you may find some of those good old DOS programs won't work. But they can! All
you have to do is slow your speedster down to a crawl. Do it with this software. Go to
www.hpaa.com/moslo/ and give it a try. It's the price you pay for progress. Hi!

Nick VK1AA will be on H40 28 Mar-12 Apr. He has a HAL RTTY box so he'll be there for the deserving.

Mark your calendar! The TARA PSK31 Rumble (The Spring Wakeup) runs from 0000Z to 2400Z on 20 April.
PSK only, 80-40-20-15-10-6 Meters. There are six categories from Normal to Novice. Full details at
www.qsl.net/wm2u/rumble.html or www.n2ty.org. You may Email Bill at [email protected] or Ernie at
[email protected] for more information. See additional comment below.  

An Email arrived via satellite from old friend Charles NX2T who is aboard as Ship's Doctor on the
SeaCloud 2 in the Carib sea. On a bus trip during their stopover in Dominica, he was exposed to a
bit of surprising technology. The bus driver picked up his 2 meter rig, dialed a three digit code
and proceeded to talk to a ham friend in Toronto, Canada via a local VHF repeater. The island
apparently has a world-class backbone consisting of four repeaters with a DSL connection to the
Internet. The whole world is their oyster. Congratulations!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ernie WM2U lives and works 'up the river' from the Big Apple, about 100 miles north, up the mighty
Hudson River. TARA, the Troy, NY amateur group is very active and runs its 7th PSK Rumble on 20
April. Ernie developed the Rumble and has now turned his attention to another digital arena. The
Digital Prefix Award (DPX) is similar to the CQ WPX (which is limited to CW and SSB) is new and
overdue. The Penn-Ohio DX Society is sponsoring the award for ALL digital modes. The details are on
the website at www.qsl.net/wm2u/podxs_dpx.html. 

In an Email conversation Ernie and I talked about the Rumble and its progress. From my observation
post each iteration of the contest seems to be gaining in activity. I also noted, however, that the
behavior in and pace of the Rumble continues to be substantially different than the typical RTTY
contest. He agreed, as did many others who Emailed about NL#113's PSK commentary. One respondent,
in RTTY since 1969, but a dropout, found his way back into digital via PSK. Like me, he feels this
new mode is the way RTTY 'used to be' and he thoroughly enjoys marching to this different and
better drummer.

The last Rumble drew 200 submitted E-logs, some unknown fraction of the participants. They came
from 35 states and 35 DX countries. Ernie found over 90 DX countries and most all of the US states
in the logs in the logs. 

The behavior and pace of the contest-that's a difficult phenomenon to describe. It's sort of a
peaceful and rambling undertaking in the PSK world. But RTTY changed it ways somewhere over the
past several years. Even those you least suspect show that their focus narrowed to a surprising
degree. Shelby K4WW is a perfect example. He's a good friend, an honorable man and a serious RTTY
addict. (That's not an oxymoron!) Goetz DJ3IW wrote a note to the RTTY reflector and said, '10M is
open to North America every day. But nobody from NA is active in RTTY. Even extended CQ calls
produce no response.' Aye, there's the rub.

 In a very frank yet friendly response to Goetz, Shelby outlined his priorities. 'If it's too cold
for fishing, I play radio. Being retired I don't have anything more important to do. (Shelby,
please call collect. I've work for you!).' And, then he goes on to explain that he doesn't care to
ragchew because of the predictable content, so he tunes around and looks for the calls of the 71
countries he has yet to work or the 33 he's worked, calls that produced no QSL card.

Oh, he's not quite that single-minded for he does answer CQ's if the call is not in his log. In so
doing, according to his theory, he's planting seeds that will sprout during the next contest. Hmmm!
Maybe he's right. Maybe they will look for him the next time they dial into the contest chaos.

Fortunately, PSK has yet to reach that level of dedication. Maybe it will, but many (if not a
majority) of PSK-ers are seasoned operators who gave up on the SSB, CW or RTTY world and went QRT.
Whether it was sheer boredom or distaste, we'll never know. Some claim to have been away from the
hobby for a number of years. In any event they have found a new home in this new mode and, as Steve
N3UYI says, 'Think this mode great fun and a reason to become active in HF again.' 

All hope that the fun and games of PSK remain unchanged. I couldn't agree more!! 

. >>>>>>>>>>

73 de Jim N2HOS [email protected]
Jim's GAZETTE
Newsletter #114
20 January 2002

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any and all interested parties, or to reproduce it
in
any other publication. All we ask is that you give credit where it is due.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>