Sunday, May 15, 2011

After 33 years of RTTY operating here are my 33 whys of RTTY ;o)

This rant is dedicated to Ted who thought I didn't Blog often enough!

  1. Why don't some RTTY stations insert a space at the end of their callsign so it doen't run into the following text?
  2. Why is there always an Italian or Ukranian calling CQ on the spot frequency of the DX you need?
  3. Why do stations running a split listen to every frequency but the one I call on?
  4. Why doesn't eveyone use unshift on space so I don't have to use mousover to decipher their serial numbers?
  5. Why don't any Nigerian stations use LOTW?
  6. Why can't I ever seem to work Utah or Delaware when Alaska and California are so easy?
  7. Why is RTTY on 14.08 21.08 28.08 and then 50.3?
  8. Why am I still waiting for my first country on 4M RTTY?
  9. Why can't some stations spot frequencies correctly i.e. carrier f0 = mark frquency?
  10. Why do some stations use AFSK and then compound the sin by using AFC?
  11. Why doesn't N1MM remember my comment for all spots when re-started?
  12. Why use 75baud RTTY when its 50% faster but 50% more errors?
  13. Why is PSK 31 and RTTY so mixed together on 10Mhz?
  14. RYRRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRR Why?
  15. Why are there only about two stations active in each African country except ZS?
  16. Why do some sations have strange shifts wider than 170Hz?
  17. Why can't some stations seem to net correctly?
  18. Why do I seem to miis the leading "I" when first tuning a station on 20M so I stop thinking its K6NNN when its only IK6NNN?
  19. Why are there more licenced hams in Japan than in the US?
  20. Why do some stations seem to have a line feed fetish (Didn't they ever run RTTY on a Teletype machine)?
  21. Why do conditions deteriorate exactly one minute before a contest starts?
  22. Why don't more stations run RTTY on Top Band (I only have seven countries confirmed)?
  23. Why do some stations stop transmitting at the end of their over with no CR LF?
  24. Why does RTTY rock and PSK suck?
  25. Why are all the finest hams on RTTY?
  26. Why is it called RTTY (Radio Teletype) and not RTTE?
  27. Why is there still no software for AMTOR when the available firmware is getting really ancient?
  28. Why isn't more RTTY/Ham software written for Linux distros (I'm tired of having to run Micro$oft Windoze in my shack)?
  29. Why don't contest organisers set operating frequency limits and exclude contacts (Or disqualify competitors) who go outside these limits to stop interference to other band users?
  30. Why do some Russian RTTY stations never copy you even when you run QRO?
  31. why do some RTTY stations sign/QRP when we already know how weak they are?
  32. Why are there only about four RTTY hams in China none of whom ever seem run more than a noodle for an antenna?
  33. Why do I enjoy RTTY operating so much?
WHY? WHY? WHY?