Sunspot Jump Greets First Contest of 2010, as ARRL RTTY Roundup Rings In New Year

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted December 27, 2009

The theme of the last few ARRL RTTY Roundup contests has been much like that of the contest world in recent years, where lackluster propagation has limited action on the high bands.

But that has a chance to change with a recent jump in sunspots, even though 2009 was another very slow year in terms of solar activity.

"Many of us are nearly giddy with joy over the recent steady increase in sunspot activity, which seems long overdue," wrote Tad Cook K7RA in the latest ARRL Propagation Bulletin.

The other theme of the past four years has been the domination in the Single Operator category of Ed Muns W0YK, who has won four straight ARRL RTTY Roundups from his Aruba alter ego of P49X.

In 2009, Muns won the World title easily, finishing with 387,004 after log checks, and setting a new Single Operator record, breaking the mark he had set two years earlier.

The P49X effort also became the first station to make over 3,000 QSO's as well.

Much of that is due to the ongoing increase in RTTY contest participation, which continue to be the biggest growth segment of ham radio contesting.

While the sun may or may not cooperate on this first contest weekend of 2010, one thing is for sure, it is a good bet that even more RTTY contesters will flock to the RTTY roundup.

In 2009, the number of submitted logs to ARRL HQ for the RTTY Roundup went up an amazing 24.7% in one year, from 1246 logs in 2008 to 1555 in 2009.

And that increase resulted in a number of records being set in 2009, 76 score records in all, led by Ed Muns W0YK, who set the new Single Operator record from P49X in Aruba with a final score of 387,004.

Maybe the biggest piece of news out of the 2009 RTTY Roundup was the outcome in the Single Operator Low Power category, where Don Hill AA5AU had his winning streak stopped at 14 straight wins by Chad WE9V, who emerged with a slender 107 point win after log checks.

Hill told radio-sport.net just after Christmas that he is ready to reclaim his title, hoping that bad weather doesn't hamper his effort as it did in 2009.

"I had so much rain and thunder static that my rate was cut drastically," Hill said.

"Despite all my weather problems, I only lost by 1100 points so that gives me confidence that I can win in 2010 if I don't have problems. So I'm really psyched up for the contest and plan on all-out assault," he added.

In the High Power category, the US & Canadian winner the last two years has been Dennis Egan W1UE.

"I'm planning another HP effort in the RTTY Roundup from W1KM this year," Egan told radio-sport.net.

"Strategy in the contest hasn't changed - it's still work Europe, work Europe, work Europe," said Egan. "Use SO2R to keep a signal on 2 bands at the same time. Devote myself to the highest rate hours- if I finish early, so be it."

A look back at recent results from the RTTY Roundup shows just how much band conditions have changed the way operators have gone about their gameplans, as in 2009, only three of the top ten overall finishers made a contact on 10 meters.

And of those three entries, the total number of 10 meter QSO's was six - that's right - just 6 in all.

15 meters has been the big band for Muns at P49X, as in 2009 he made 856 contacts on that band. Back in W/VE, the next best was Jeffrey Stai WK6I, who rattled off 417 QSO's on 15 meters.