by Phil Cooper | Feb 15, 2023 | Contesting, GU0SUP
When you are operating in a RTTY contest, please consider the following tips@
If you are calling CQ, then make your F1 macro something like this: CQ GU0SUP GU0SUP CQ (end with another CQ!). If you come across my call whilst tuning around, you can be sure that I am indeed calling CQ, and not responding to another station.
If you see me calling CQ, ONLY send your call! Twice, if conditions are great, three times if not. What I do NOT want to see is GU0SUP GU0SUP DE W1AW W1AW. If you do this, then there is a good chance I might miss your call, especially when QSB is around, or several stations are calling me. Only send your call!
When I send you a report, it will look like this: W1AW 599 001 001 001 W1AW. That way you can be sure the report was meant for W1AW and not someone else.
You would then send GU0SUP 599 100 100 100 W1AW so that I am sure I have the call right, and you heard me. Please do NOT send GU0SUP QSL UR 001 001 TU 599 599 100 100 100. I know what I sent you, and there is a chance I may not see the rest of your exchange, and then think you are sending me 001, and not 100 – again, especially when there are others trying to work me.
If I ask for a repeat (eg NR AGN? or NR? NR?) then DO NOT send your whole exchange! Create a macro that ONLY sends your serial number (or whatever the exchange is) and nothing else.
When the contact is complete, I would then send W1AW TU (CR/LF) GU0SUP CQ
At the every least, when operating in a contest, take a few minutes to watch and see how folk operate, and what their macros look like.
Thanks for reading this! I hope it helps….
by Phil Cooper | Feb 13, 2023 | Contesting, GU0SUP
Had a play in the WPX RTTY contest at the weekend (11/12th Feb 2023), although it was only a part time effort.
As I had things to do on Saturday morning, I though I would operate in the “Classic” 24hr category, and fired up the rig around midday.
To my surprise, 10m was buzzing, so I ended up doing a SB LP entry on 10m.
I managed to get just over 6 hours operating on Saturday before the band closed, but bagged a few nice DX calls, including KH6ZM at 1806UTC, which did surprise me, as he was loud here.
Sunday started with a few JA’s and BY’s in the log, and a good few EU stations, including GM.
Both afternoons saw a good opening into west coast USA, who were generally stronger than the east coast stations.
Here are a few of the choice DX worked….
C5YK, 9N7AA, D4L, FY5KE, PJ2T, TI2OY, V26OC, V55Y, V31MA, KH6ZM, P49X, VU2IBI & VU2DED, plus JA, BY, VE6, PY, LU, XE, KP4, CX, and US States AZ, WA, UT, OR, CA, WY, CO, NV, SD and many others.
I ended up with 313 QSO’s, 253 Prefixes and 207966 points.
Not a bad effort for some 15 hours of lazy S&P’ing I thought….
by Phil Cooper | Feb 8, 2023 | GU0SUP
The latest batch of QSL cards arrived in January 2023, and contain mostly cards from 2020. This may be down to delays in the postal system due to Covid, and also because of the disruption to the Royal Mail service in December ’22 and January.’23.
These cards are now all done and sent to the RSGB QSL Bureau for distribution.
by Phil Cooper | Jan 31, 2023 | GU0SUP
While I am happy to respond to all bureau cards, please understand that we only get 3 or 4 batches of cards from the RSGB Bureau each year. This means you may have to wait up to one year (or more!) before I even get your card. In the last few batches, I have received two (or more!) cards for the same contact.
My log is on LoTW and the DARC DCL (dcl.darc.de0 site, as well as QRZ. PLEASE NOTE – I do NOT confirm any contacts on the QRZ web logbook. I do NOT use eQSL at all.
If you use LoTW, please consider that first…. save your cards, and just use LoTW. I would far prefer to be on the radio, making new contacts, rather than spending hours writing out cards!
by Phil Cooper | Jan 17, 2023 | GU0SUP
On the morning of Monday 16th Jan, I popped into the shack and saw that ET3AA was spotted on 12m FT8, a new slot for me. I fired up the radio, and yay! they were quite loud here. Found a place to call them, and got in very quickly. Over the moon with that. I came back to the shack around lunchtime and they were being spotted on 10m FT8 – another new slot. Fired up again, and within 5 minutes, they were in the log again. Now, if only I could get them on 80/40/30m FT8, that wold be great! UPDATE – 19 Jan 23 – Popped into the shack around 1950UTC and saw a spot for ET3AA on 30m FT8. Fired up the rig, gave a call, and hey! They’re in the log!
20 Jan 23 – Managed to get David AL7LO on 12m for a new slot, and confirmed on LoTW !
