ARRL RTTY Roundup Contest

First full weekend in January
Sponsored by ARRL Ref: Dec. QST)
January 2nd-3rd, 1999

1. Contest Period	Starts at 1800 UTC Saturday and ends at 2400 UTC Sunday. Operate no more than 24 hours of this 30 hour period. Two rest periods (for a combined total of six hours) must be taken in two single blocks of time, and clearly marked in the log.
2. Bands	80, 40, 20, 15, and 10m (US Novices 28.100 - 28.150)
3. Modes	ALL digital but attended operation only. Cross-mode, cross-band and digipeater QSOs are not permitted.
4. Operator Classes	1. Single op, unassisted, all bands. a. less than 150 watts output. b. more than 150 watts output. 2. Multi op, single transmitter. a. less than 150 watts output. b. more than 150 watts output. Important notes for classes 2a and 2b. 1. Only one transmitted signal at any given time. 2. Limited to a maximum of six (6) band changes in any clock hour. 3. The clock hour is from zero (0) through to fifty-nine (59) minutes. 4. Band changes are defined so that, for example, a change from 20m to 40m and then back to 20m, constitutes two (2) band changes.
5. Exchange	U.S. stations: RST and state. Canadian: RST and province. All others: RST and serial number, starting with 001. Both stations must receive and acknowledge complete exchange for QSO to count. Neither cross-band nor cross-mode QSOs are permitted. Packet QSOs through digipeaters or gateways are not permitted.
6. QSO Points	Count one point for each completed QSO (anyone can work anyone). A station may be worked once per band for QSO credit, but not for additional multipliers.
7. Multipliers	Count only once (not once per band), each U.S. state (except KH6 and KL7), each VE province (plus VE8 and VY1) and each DXCC country. KH6 and KL7 count only as separate DXCC countries. U.S.A. and Canada do NOT count as DXCC countries. Canadian Multipliers: Prefix.......Province VO1/VO2....NF VE1/VE9.....NB VW1......NS VE1/VY2....PE VE2........QC/PQ VE3........ON VE4........MB VE5........SK VE6........AB VE7........BC VE8........NWT VY1.......YUKON
8. Final Score	Total number of QSOs times total multipliers.
9. Awards	Certificates will be awarded to: Top scoring low power and high power single operators and multi-op scorers in each ARRL/Canadian Section; Top low power and high power single operators and multi-op scorers in each DXCC country (other than W/VE); each Novice and Technician entrant; each entrant making at least 50 QSOs.
10. Logs and Summary	Logs should contain the suggested standard format: BAND, MODE, DATE/TIME, ON/OFF TIMES, CALLSIGN, EXCHANGE SENT/RECEIVED, MULTIPLIERS (marked the first time worked). Entries with more than 200 QSOs must submit duplicate check sheets (an alphabetical listing of stations worked). A Summary Sheet must show: claimed score tally, class of operation, your call, name and address. Multi-ops stations please include names and callsigns of all ops.
11. Deadline	Entries must be postmarked no later than 30 days after the end of the contest. Mail entry to: ARRL RTTY ROUNDUP 225 Main St. Newington, CT 06111 E-mail logs in ASCII format to: [email protected] Files must be named with your callsign.ALL and .SUM NOTE: The above rules are a concise edition. For further information; http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/99 rules-hf.html http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/99/rtty.html

COMMENTS: The Roundup is the most popular domestic contest. It's much like the SS contests on CW/SSB. To make a high score one must concentrate on high QSO rates and lots of CQing. There are no band multipliers, meaning that once you work Utah on 15M, you will not get another multiplier for working Utah on any other band. If maintaining a high rate is just not your thing, you can set yourself another goal: see if you can work all states or provinces in the 24 hour period. In past sessions, all states have had RTTY stations on the air. This goal is especially exciting when using contesting software, such as the WF1B RTTY contest logging software. It automatically keeps track of states/provinces worked and always shows you on the receiving screen whether you need that particular station for a new multiplier.

The Roundup is one of the few RTTY contests that has a low power category. This means that there should be more activity, primarily on the high bands. (Low power stations have a harder time cutting through the D layer absorpsion and QRN (static) on the low bands.) Those operating low power RTTY should pay close attention to picking out a frequency to start CQing. On RTTY it is difficult to find a clear spot on a crowded band, and when running low power, you just get clobbered easier when you're a bit weaker. You can't always assume that everyone has sharp filters in their radios. And on the high bands you can't always hear stations within the skip distance of your QTH. Sending a "QRL? BK" is a good way to interrogate whether the frequency is in use, just as in CW and SSB. It really helps when skip distances are long. And it shouldn't upset anyone - unless the frequency IS in use, and the time between the "QRL?" and the CQ is less than one second!