Digital FD 2012

[KG6MZS]

No way I could touch those CW numbers. 30 per hour is a lot for me, but this is the only contest I run a year so you are not dealing with a radiosport jock, here. But 30/hr is comparable to 60/hr SSB at 2 points each.

So, just how productive can digital be? Our 4A setup uses 100W rigs and a mix of wires, verticals and a few mostly home-brew beams on jury-rigged masts...30 feet to 50 feet. Our best ops are on CW, and one can hold a rate of 150/hour for a few hours. SSB ops tend to run half that, but the better ones are learning fast and I saw one chap running close to 100/hour for the last two hours.

So, with a location and antennas that can do those rates on CW and SSB, what should we expect from digital? Typically, we'll see 30 QSOs in several hours. Is that about right, or is there a "contesting 101" class for PSK and RTTY?

TNX ES 73,

Dave W8NF

[N2EY]

No way I could touch those CW numbers. 30 per hour is a lot for me, but this is the only contest I run a year so you are not dealing with a radiosport jock, here. But 30/hr is comparable to 60/hr SSB at 2 points each.

This FD, during a particularly good hour, I made 60 CW QSOs. All were hunt&pounce, no CQs. No computer or memory keyer - pencil, paper log and dupe, semiautomatic key.

Boy that was fun!

73 de jim, N2EY

[KG6MZS]

That is a good hour! Nice work!

[VA5LF]

So, just how productive can digital be? Our 4A setup uses 100W rigs and a mix of wires, verticals and a few mostly home-brew beams on jury-rigged masts...30 feet to 50 feet. Our best ops are on CW, and one can hold a rate of 150/hour for a few hours. SSB ops tend to run half that, but the better ones are learning fast and I saw one chap running close to 100/hour for the last two hours.

So, with a location and antennas that can do those rates on CW and SSB, what should we expect from digital? Typically, we'll see 30 QSOs in several hours. Is that about right, or is there a "contesting 101" class for PSK and RTTY?

I may be a bit late to the party with this, but I do a fair bit of RTTY contesting from my small urban station (50ft tribander, wires for low bands). On a good hour I've made up to 85 QSOs/hr. If I had better antennas and a bit of power, I would imagine 100/hr would be quite achievable.

I did a 1E entry for FD this year. Had around 100 digital QSOs, if I remember right. The thing I found most annoying was the number of people who would call the guy I just worked while I was running. I was surprised by the number of folks who didn't get the whole running vs. S&P thing.

For reference, here's the rate page from my RTTY Roundup entry from Jan: http://www.unixgeeks.ca/loganalysis/...-2012/hour.htm