01/14/2003 | VE2OWL Once upon a time, many many years ago, ... well maybe not that many years ago since it was in January of 1989, I had this idea of participating in the ARRL RTTY ROUNDUP contest. I had been licensed for about a year and this mode would be all new stuff to me. Using simply a terminal and a TNC, I've made my entry into the RTTY world. It must have been fun then, because I've been hooked on RTTY ever since!

Moreover, after many many years, ... well maybe not that many years since it was like ... last year or so, I thought I should have a look at the possibility of earning a worked all states award on RTTY, with confirmations received for contacts made exclusively during the Roundup.

I've heard it before from others, many work all the states during the course of a single weekend! But I've never done that myself ( the kids, the XYL, the antennas: kind of need more attention ) , but like I said before, after that many many years, ... well maybe not that many years, I do keep a tidy logbook of all my contacts and I do have a nice QSL cards collection !!

So I went on to get those QSLs out of the drawer. I mean, I thought I had cards for all the 50 states already, didn't I ? -- No, I didn't have all my QSL cards.-- But wait, I can find contacts with each state made exclusively during the Roundup ! Yesss

I got the logbooks out and found those missing states AL, DE, HI, KS, MO, NE, RI, UT, WV --. Some more cards got printed, got envelopes, got some return stamps from the US, etc. Many hours were spent finding addresses, writing envelopes, getting stamps, waiting for the postman, ...

The results ? , the state of Hawastill eludes me, because I've got ONE and only ONE QSO in the logbooks for all those years !

Let's get one more card out ... and pray, "Dear OM, KH7V, I am once again writing to you, because I sure hope the contact I've made with you last year was a valid one!"

73, and see you next year for more fun! Stephane -- VE2OWL