Gabry Iuliani IT9RGY and Przemek Balcerzak SQ9ORQ are two of Europe’s toughest RTTY contesters—and in this year’s CQ World Wide RTTY contest, they showed exactly why. Operating respectively from Italy and Poland, they finished among the top three single-op all-band high-power stations globally, alongside our host Randy Thompson K5ZD, who tested his brand-new Ohio station in real time. Conditions were impressive across the bands, especially on 10 and 15 meters, giving each operator a platform to shine. For Gabry, who operated from the IP4X station in Italy, the weekend was both a technical triumph and a personal memorial—dedicated to his friend Flavio IK1SPR, who had passed just days before. Gabry’s preparation was meticulous, down to sleep strategy and decoder configuration. Przemek, operating as SO9I from his own station in Poland, had just completed significant upgrades: new stack matches, an automatic antenna system, and a K9AY receiving array in the works. But exhaustion and five unexpected hours of sleep cost him precious multipliers—and maybe the contest. Technically, both operators pushed RTTY to the edge. Gabry used FlexRadio’s diversity mode to monitor JA and PY simultaneously, while Przemek ran three radios—each handling different bands—to maximize S&P and multiplier potential. Gabry credited his mentor Chris SN7Q for introducing him to multi-decoder setups and cubical quads. For Randy, it was a return to contesting fundamentals: propagation, and pacing. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.
