[South Florida DX Association] RTTY Gazette - February 2005

Tue Feb 15 14:39:13 EST 2005

Welcome to the latest issue of the RTTY Gazette.  Shelby,  K4WW sent me a
email wondering if there was a Gazette issued since the January issue came
out on the 15th of last month. Nope,  but here is the latest issue.
>
> If you subscrivbe to the RTTY DX Notes published by a group of dedicated
RTTY operators you may be interested in some info I received from one of the
Publishers, Don, AA5AU.  Recently there was some inquiries by me asking if
the spots in the report could also contain the station that made the spot.
This question was posed after a few posts on the RTTY Maillist.  Here are
some of Don's comments, used by permission of the author.
>
> " The intent of the notes is to just make RTTY DX'ers aware of stations
that are on.  I agree that it would be useful to know where the spot
originated but that can be easily done with a search on DX Summit."
>
> Don continues;
>
> "A Editors of the notes, we are starting to ask ourselves if the Notes are
still of any value since the info it contains can be found on DX Summit by
searching RTTY spots. One day when I have spare time, when ever that is, I
plan on doing a survey on the Internet and asking RTTY DX'ers if they find
the Notes helpful.  Depending on the outcome of that survey, the Notes could
go away.  But until we know if anyone still uses them, we will continue to
put them out."
>
> Thanks Don for filling us in.  I for one,  find them useful and I sure
hope they continue.  When Don makes his survey available let him know your
feelings about the RTTY DX Notes.
>
> If you do not now subscribe to the RTTY DX Notes and wish to,  you can
subscribe to the digital-dx reflector by sending an email message to
majordomo at mla.nifty.ne.jp as follows:
>
> Subject (blank)  Message Body:  subscribe digital-dx
>
>
> Enjoy.
>
> Some discussion has surfaced recently about the large number of RTTY
Contests.  There is some arguement that RTTY is the fastest growing segment
of ham radio operations  and I saw some indication of it last weekend during
the RTTY WPX Contest.  I worked a lot of stations never worked before, by me
in any RTTY contest.  This rapid expansion is welcome news to some of the
established RTTY operators, but it also has created some controversy. This
was apparent last weekend in a flurry of emails on the RTTY and CQ-Contest
lists dealing with the apparent conflict with the RTTY WPX and the National
Contest Journal sponsored CW Sprint.  40 meters were particularly ugly with
RTTY running down to 7027 and the CW Sprint ops trying to find holes to
operate in and being forced down to 7001.  The scheduling of the two
contests was the topic of some mighty heated exchanges of email between RTTY
ops and the CW fellas. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail.  I am not sure
how all this will play out...only time will tell.  Stay tuned.
>
> In the February QST magazine I ran across a article titled  The Tides
Changing - VHF Meteor Scatter written by Randy Tipton WA5UFM.  This short
article describes how to get started in this digital mode.  Thinking this to
be something interesting I download the WSJT software, installed it on my
shack computer and began learning about this mode.  Most of the activity is
on the 6 and 2 meter bands using modes called FSK144A and JT6M.  JT6M is
used exclusively on 6 meters.  Randy's website, located at
www.qsl.net/wa5uhf contains a lot of info on this exciting mode.  So far I
have managed to copy a few signals on 6 meters, but like a new Novice, I
have yet to attempt to make a contact.  I will have more on this experient
in a future issue.
>
> The long awaited Peter 1 DXpedition is scheduled, subject to weather and
sea conditions, to begin operations February 17-18.  They say they want to
make at least 100,000 QSO's and RTTY and PSK will both be quite active.
Their website at www.peterone.com contains the latest info.
>
>
> Well, that is about it for this issue.  One final thought comes to mind
before we get to the Announcements.  A slight change to the RTTY Gazette is
coming.  I am moving the publication date each month to the first day of the
month. The March issue will arrive on March 1, 2005.  And now...the
Announcements.
>
> *************************************************
>
> ANNOUNCEMENTS
>
>
> Jan01 Feb20 Cambodia XU7
> By ON6TZ as XU7POS, along with XU7AJV
>
> Jan01 Apr19 Djibouti J20FH
> By F5PRU; 80-10m; CW SSB, perhaps digital; spare time operation
>
> Jan04 Mar31 Macquarie Island VK0MT
> By VK0MT; HF bands, 1000-1100z; spare time operation
>
> Jan28 Feb22 Rotuma 3D2RR
> By HA9RE HA8IB fm OC-060; all HF bands; CW SSB RTTY
>
> Jan29 Mar01 Spratly DX0K
> By 4F2KWT fm Kalayaan Is; CW
>
> Jan31 Feb17 South Cook Islands ZK1
> By ZK1WET ZK1XMY ZK1SDE ZK1SDZ fm Aitutaki; 160-10m w/ focus on 20 17m;
mainly SSB, but ZK1WET QRV in CW + RTTY
>
> Feb02   Feb22 Reunion FR
> By F5TNI fm AF-016 as FR/F5TNI; mainly CW, some RTTY PSK; also as
3B8/F5TNI for one week
>
> Feb03 Feb17 Somalia 6O0 M5AAV Buro I2YSB
> By I2YSB IK1PMR IK2DIA IK2GNW IK2WXV IZ5BRW as 6O0G 6O0CW; 2 stations, all
bands; direct QSLs fm IK2GNW (SSB) and I2YSB (CW RTTY)
>
> Feb03 Feb18 Palmyra & Jarvis  KH5
> By AH6NF as AH6NF/KH5 fm Palmyra Atoll (OC-085); 40-10m; SSB, perhaps PSK;
as time permits
>
> Feb03 Feb21 Reunion FR
> By F6TNI; mainly CW, some RTTY PSK
>
> Feb06 Feb26 St Maarten PJ7
> By ND5S KF5LG as PJ7/homecall fm NA-105; 160-10m; CW RTTY SSB
>
> Feb07 Apr07 Niue ZK2
> By VE7HA; mainly SSB, some CW PSK RTTY; fm a motel on the west coast
>
> Feb10 Feb18 Mongolia JT1
> By I1ZB (JT1FCZ) and I1QOD (JT1FCY); mainly 80 50 30 15m; CW only
>
> Feb10 Feb22 Trinidad & Tobago 9Y4
> By YL2KL YL2LY YL2GM as 9Y4/homecall fm Tobago Is; All bands; CW SSB RTTY
>
> Feb10 Mar14 St Vincent J88DR
> By G3TBK fm NA-109; 160-10m; mainly CW RTTY
>
> Feb14 Mar20 St Maarten PJ7
> By W8EB W8DVC; 160-10m; SSB CW PSK31
>
> Feb16 Mar14 Dominica J73CCM SM0CCM SM0CCM
> By SM0CCM; all bands; mainly CW RTTY, some PSK SSB
>
> Feb20 Mar03 Peter I 3Y0X
> By an international team; dates tentative
>
> Feb21 Feb24 Antigua V25
> By W1LR W4WX as V25LR and V25WX; 20-6m; mainly PSK31 RTTY
>
> Feb22 Mar09 British Virgin Islands VP2V
> By DL7DF DL7UFR DL4WK; All bands, focus on low bands; SSB CW RTTY PSK31
>
> Feb23 Mar03 Trinidad & Tobago 9Y4DLH
> By DD8ZX, DG3FK DH6ICE DJ3FK DJ9RB DK7LX DK7PE DK7TF DL1FDS DL4FP fm
Tobago Is (SA-009); 160-10m; SSB CW Digital
>
> Feb24 Mar02 Montserrat VP2M
> By W1LR W4WX as VP2MHS and VP2MHX; 20-6m; mainly PSK31 RTTY
>
> Feb24 Mar04 St Kitts & Nevis V4
> By W1USN AA1M W1SSR as V4/homecall fm St Kitts; all HF bands; CW SSB PSK
>
> Feb24 Mar08 Montserrat VP2MDY
> By N2NB fm NA-103; 160-6m; QRV in PSK31
>
> ***************************************************
>
> UPCOMING CONTESTS
>
> ARRL Inter. DX Contest, CW 0000Z, Feb 19 to 2400Z, Feb 20
> Russian PSK WW Contest         2100Z, Feb 25 to 2100Z, Feb 26
> UBA DX Contest, CW 1300Z, Feb 26 to 1300Z, Feb 27
> North American QSO Party, RTTY         1800Z, Feb 26 to 0600Z, Feb 27
> High Speed Club CW Contest 0900Z-1100Z, Feb 27 and
>   1500Z-1700Z, Feb 27
>
>
> ****************************************************
>
> That will about do it for February...see you in 2 weeks
>
> 73
>
> Thom WI8W
>
> ****************************************************
>
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