01/06/2010 | N5VU My soapbox comments were posted for about 20 minutes and then disappeared. Hmmm. Anyway, this is my second year in the RTTY Round Up. After being a ham since 1976, I decided to get into the digital game. And what a game it is! In 2009 I banged out 370 Qs searching and pouncing. This year I managed 510 Qs in S & P. 37,000+ points
Maybe next year I'll get brave enough to actually hold and run a frequency. I can't type fast, but I sure know how to build and use a macro! I like to cruise up and down the dial, you know, fiddling with the amp and tuner every so often. Pushing buttons and adjusting filters. It's a lot of fun being in S & P mode.

Being so close to the Cayman Islands and working them fairly regularly, I heard a ZS2EZ and thought, "Oh, Cayman. Might as well work him." So, I did. I didn't even bother to turn the beam. He's so close, I'll just work him off the back of it. If I get him, Good. If I don't get him, that's Good too. After it was all said and done, I submitted my log to LOTW and guess what; ZS2EZ is not Cayman. ZF2 is Cayman, and I managed to get a QSL match with South Africa. WOW! On RTTY no less.

I'm an old CW geezer, (50 years old, been a Ham since I was 16 in High School.) Contrary to popular belief that the "Hokey Pokey" is what it's all about, I believe that RTTY is what it's all about!

73, God Bless & Good DX. See you folks next year in CQ CQ RU DE N5VU N5VU K

(Marcel) -- N5VU