Good Propagation And Big Turnout Means More Records Shattered In CQ WW RTTY 2010

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted October 11, 2010

The numbers just keep getting bigger and bigger for the CQ WW RTTY Contest, as the 2010 contest proved that by record-smashing performances all over the world.

A year after the Single Operator mark was set at 8.85 million points by Valery Komarov RD3AF at EF8M in the Canary Islands, that was battered by almost two million points, as contest director Ed Muns W0YK piled up 10.8 million from P49X in Aruba.

"Propagation from Aruba was outstanding on all bands 80-10," Muns told radio-sport.net after returning to the US for the California QSO Party.

"Activity was high and I simply could not work fast enough to get to all the stations calling me," Muns said. "Some of the biggest pileups I've had from Aruba."

Last year, CQ WW RTTY attracted a record 2,307 logs for the 2009 contest - and that was almost reached in the seven days after the 2010 test, as 1900 logs were in after just one week.

"It looks like a number of records will be set after log checking completes and I hope the other two CQWW contests this fall get similar conditions," Muns said.

While Muns was knocking out big numbers in the Single Op category, Komarov was pushing EF8M to a Multi-Two record, claiming 17.3 million points.

The existing record is held by Team HC8N, at 10.6 million. HC8N was active this year as HC8/K6AW, clocking in with 10.5 million points.

Also crushing an existing world record was Serge Rebrov UT5UDX, who operated as 5B/UT0U on Cyprus, as he finished with just over 8 million points. The current mark, held by PY2MNL is barely half of that, at 4.2 million.

Other world records that could be erased include the oldest one of all from 1998, as the Multi-Single low power mark of P40RY (3.7 million) was passed by S50A with 4.23 million. It could be close in post-contest log checks on that mark.

US & EU CQ WW RTTY Records In Danger

Just like the rest of the world, European operators had some good conditions as well to boost their scores.

A year after the Single Op High Power record was set by MI0LLL at 4.98 million, Arunas Vaglys LY2IJ, operating as LY5E, registered a claimed score of 5.23 million points. Once again, log checks will determine whether that score will hold up as a new European record or not.

The Single Op Low Power record seems to have been rewritten by Felipe Lopes CT1ILT, who finished with 2.98 million points as CR6K. The old European LP record was set in 2002 by RU3QW at 2.2 million.

In the USA, Dennis Egan W1UE may have grabbed the Single Operator High Power record, which is currently at 3.8 million, set by W2UP.

"I finished with 4.4Meg, bettering the old USA SOABHP record," Egan said after the contest, adding that propagation certainly helped him.

"The bands were pretty good, especially 15M. I made 736 Qs on that band, with 127 combined mults, as opposed to last year's 175 Qs and 95 combined mults," W1UE told radio-sport.net.

Egan's monitoring of 10 meters also paid off, when around 1900z on Sunday, it opened to the US, Carribean and South America.

"Hope the bands remain hot (and 10M gets better) for the rest of the contests this fall!" said Egan.

Both Egan and Muns said that 10 meters could have been a lot better - if more people had gone down to check it.

"My 10-meter results were definitely limited by lack of activity," Muns said on 3830.

"People must be so accustomed to it being dead that they don't try. There are two ways for a band to be "dead": lack of propagation and lack of operators!"

The US Assisted mark also seems to be going down this year, as Mike Sims K4GMH checked in with 4.42 million points, which should be enough to hold on over the existing record of 3.73 million by KI1G.

In the USA Multi-Op ranks, the oldest American record might now be in danger in Multi-Multi, as Team K1TTT is claiming 6.79 million points - that's more than the existing record from W3LPL, which was set in 1999 at 6.28 million. Log checks will determine who holds that mark.