RTTY Roundup Fun

If you were within earshot of an HF transceiver this past weekend and especially tuned through the data portion of the bands, I’m sure you heard the tell-tale signs of a digital contest taking place.   You really can’t miss it.  The quick bursts of RTTY signals going back and forth is music to some and a nightmare to others. 

Between a heavily packed weekend consisting of an amateur radio breakfast on Saturday morning, taking the Christmas tree down along with the lights outside before the snow started falling and a few other misc. items on the “honey do” list, I managed to find about 3 hours of spare time to spend in the shack working the ARRL RTTY Roundup.  During this time I logged 79 RTTY QSO’s mostly on 20 and 40 meters. 

I must admit I don’t work a lot of RTTY contacts outside of contests and while I started getting serious about contesting in 2011 and actually submitted logs for several, digital contesting isn’t something I get overly excited about.  This fact may sound odd, especially coming from someone who spends 75% or more of his on-air time working the digital modes. 

In any event, as the title states….I did have fun and this is what matters to me.  I’ve mapped out many of the contests (mostly State QSO Parties) I hope to operate in throughout 2012.  I hope to make 2012 and my involvement in the radio sport  aspect of the hobby a memorable one.  So between many of the upcoming on-air contests and my SOTA involvement.  You’ll be certain to hear CQ CQ CQ from KD0BIK throughout the year. 

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].

One Response to “RTTY Roundup Fun”

  • Stewart VA3PID:

    File it under “nightmare” for me. Only got a couple of QSOs, since RTTY contestants were all over every digital band. ARRL != world radio.

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