Green Flag Drops For 2009 CQ WW Contests With CQ WW RTTY As Contesters Look For Sunspots

By Jamie Dupree NS3T radio-sport.net
Posted September 21, 2009

While some contesters don't start the CQ WW contest season until the last full weekend in October, this coming weekend actually begins the 2009 CQ WW DX tests, with CQ WW RTTY grabbing the contest bands.
The race for top single operator score will be a wide open one this year, as defending champ Ed Muns W0YK will be jumping back into the multi-op fray, instead of defending his single operator title from a year ago.
Muns told radio-sport.net that he is "Planning on a M2 operation using my P49X call sign with W6OTC, K6AW and myself."
The 2009 CQ WW RTTY comes amid one of the quietest periods ever in ham radio contest history in terms of sunspots, which is sure to skew the contest away from the high bands again this year.
Since the sun showed off a week of sunspots in early July, days of spotless suns have been the norm for weeks, interrupted only by a sunspot that appeared on August 31. Those conditions certainly haven't helped band conditions.
"Propagation for this contest, based upon what I've heard or seen doesn't look good," says Dennis Egan W1UE, who finished second in the world last year in the Single Operator High Power category.
"Large numbers of QSOs on 15 and 10 meters don't look promising, so it's going to be a slugfest on 20 and 40 meters again," Egan told radio-sport.net.
"Still it should be a fascinating 48 hours."
The 48 hours of CQ WW RTTY has been getting more fascinating by the year in recent times, mainly due to the explosive growth in RTTY contests around the world.
The 2008 CQ WW RTTY had a 20 percent increase in the number of submitted logs, going up to 2,214 from 1,778 in 2007, which CQ Magazine said was the "largest number of logs ever submitted for a RTTY contest."
Even with all those new entrants, some of the stations to beat remain the same in 2009. Teddy Jiminez HI3TEJ was the winner again last year of the Single Op Low Power category.
Also repeating as winners in 2008 were HC8N in the Multi-Two competition and ZX2B (PY2MNL) in the Assisted category.
If you decide to jump into this CQ WW RTTY contest, remember that there is one big difference between this contest and the CQ WW SSB and CW tests still to come on this year's contest calendar - contacts with your own country do count for points - one point, to be exact.
Another difference is that each US State is a multiplier, along with every Canadian province, a help to stations in the Western Hemisphere.
One other thing for RTTY contesters to remember is that unlike other RTTY contests that have a 30 hour time limit for single operators, the CQ WW RTTY is just like the other CQ WW DX contests - it's all 48 hours.
The 2009 CQ WW RTTY Contest begins at 0000z September 26 and runs through 2400z September 27.

CQ WW RTTY Rules Updated

With Ed Muns W0YK the new director of the CQ WW RTTY contest, the rules for 2009 have undergone a slight update.
Like the rules for the CQ WW SSB and CW contests, the RTTY rules now feature a specific prohibition on the use of the CW Skimmer program and other similar programs in the un-Assisted category.
The "Disqualification" section also includes a broad reminder to contesters about outside means of assistance, some of which have made news in the contest community in recent years.
"Any use by an entrant of an non-amateur means including, but not limited to, telephones, email, Internet, Instant Messenger, chat rooms, VoIP, or the use of Packet to solicit, arrange, or confirm any contacts during the contest is unsportsmanlike and the entry is subject to disqualification," the CQ WW RTTY rules state.
The new rules also include a specific line about remote contest operations as well.
"The entry location of a remote station is determined by the physical location of the transmitters, receivers, and antennas. A remote station must obey all station and category limitations," reads the text.
The RTTY rules also contain a wider punishment for disqualification, as it will extend to other CQ contests as well.
"An entrant whose log is deemed by the CQ WW DX RTTY Contest Committee to contain a large number of discrepancies may be disqualified as a participant operator or station for a period of one year.
"If within a five-year period the operator is disqualified a second time, he will be ineligible for any CQ contest awards for three years."