[SMCARA] Time to Warm up your Digi-Modes

[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.  

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)

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

73, Tom Shelton, AB3IC
(240) 434-3811