Another Record Year For CQ WPX RTTY; Single Op Marks Shattered Again; P49X Leads With 11 Million

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted February 16, 2009

While this year's CQ WPX RTTY contest got off to a slow start for some because of bad propagation, defending Single Op champ Ed Muns W0YK shrugged that off and claimed a score that would shatter his existing High Power record.

"This result is a surprise," Muns wrote on 3830 after using up his 30 hours on Sunday afternoon, who ended up at 11.6 million points, well above his record set in 2008 of 10.05 million.

"The point total ended up a bit above my all-time high in 2007 but the real boost came from nearly 100 more mults," Muns said.

"I was stunned at the 808 prefix total," he added, again demonstrating the huge growth in RTTY contesting in recent years.

While Muns may have re-written the record books again in high power, the low power category also seems like it will have a new high water mark, as two ops have already claimed scores that would blow away the exising record.

Roger Hoffman N4RR took P40R to 5.82 million points, as did Girts Budis YL2KL at D4C.

The difference in their final claimed scores? A measly 535 points, as P40R has 5,824,775 to 5,824,240 for D4C.

The new records aren't just limited to the single operator ranks, as early scores also indicate a big change in the Multi-Single mark.

Team 4O3A, led by Ranko Boca turned in 9.58 million points - almost one and a half million more than the existing M/S record set in 2007 by CT9M.

Boca's team found 879 prefixes during their 48 hour effort from Montenegro.

The Multi-Multi record may also be going down, as Team EF8M turned in 27.2 million points, more than doubling the previous record from two years ago.

In the Single Band categories, the 20 meter World record could go up a little as both current record holder Nikola Percin 9A5W and Sue Cook AI6YL/P40YL turned in scores that would nudge the record up. 9A5W is at 2.5 million; P40YL at 2.47.

In the US, Fred Dennin WW4LL might be the new owner of the 40 meter Single Band US record, as he checked in with 2.3 million points after an effort at W8JI. The current 40 meter mark is 1.7 million.

The US 20 meter Single Band record is also under pressure as Charles Anderson KK5OQ turned in a score of 1.39 million points.

Check back with radio-sport.net in coming days to see how the scores roll in for the 2009 CQ WPX RTTY test!