[SMCARA] North America QSO Party (RTTY)

[Tom Shelton]

RTTY is a fun mode – almost as efficient as CW and fairly rapid QSOs.  I really want to encourage you to participate in this contest.  The info is being sent a bit early so you have time to get your RTTY station in order and play with the mode a bit before the contest.

Between the SignaLink, home-brew, rigblaster, and other readily available assessories, getting on RTTY (and many other digital modes) is easier than ever before.  This might be a great opportunity (or excuse) to get digital.

Here’s the critical info:

Start: 1800 UTC Saturday (July 20 at 2:00 PM Local)
Ends: 0559 UTC Sunday (July 21 at 2:00 AM Local)

Operate 10 of the 12 hours of the contest – off times must be at least 30 minutes to count.

Output power limited to 100 watts (or 5W QRP)

160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands - When operating RTTY on 20 meters, please respect the PSK window of 14070-14073 kHz and the NCDXF beacon frequency of 14100 kHz.

Exchange: North American stations send Name and State, Province, Country – Non North American stations send name only.  You don’t have to use your full name (I’ll be using Tom instead of Thomas).  A few years ago there were people using things like Rumplestiltskin.  


QSO Points: 1 point per contact
Multipliers: Per band – each of the 50 states, 13 Canadian Provinces, and other North American countries.

Full Rules available here: http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.pdf or http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php?page=1

Free and Easy Logging Program:
Genlog - http://www.qsl.net/w3km/

Free – but more difficult to use:
N1MM - http://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php

The Software I use ($$$) - http://writelog.com/

SignaLink: http://www.tigertronics.com/ (also on HRO)

RigBlaster: http://www.westmountainradio.com/rigblaster.php (also on HRO)

If you need some help getting your station ready for the contest, or need some help submitting your log, contact me...

Tom Shelton, AB3IC
(240) 434-3811

Always be yourself...
Unless you can be a Unicorn...
Then always be a Unicorn...