JARTS WW RTTY contest

Event: JARTS WW RTTY 2019

Section:  Single Operator Low Power  All Band 

Logger: N1MM+ newest version

RTTY engine: MMTTY & 2Tone

Station: Icom IC-7300 70W

Antenna (1): Multiband Inverted-V 2x20m ladderline fed, apex @12m agl
Antenna (2): Multiband HF vertical with CG3000 autotuner in feedpoint @17m agl

Affected by the guys from our PA6AA contest group I though I needed some contest practise for next weekend. I also wanted to take another look at N1MM+ spectrum display. Interesting to see that a IC-7300 brings a whole other dimension to RTTY contesting compared to using a IC-706. With the IC-706 I had no FSK keying. It was a everytime struggle how to set parameters in N1MM+ so I could use the bandmap. The IC-7300 needs just one USB cable to connect the computer to the radio to do it all, CAT control, FSK, CW, RTTY, Audio. Besides that N1MM+ has a build in spectrum display that is much larger as the one at the radio. Last month I wrote about the display that it is useless, I still think it is when the band is so crowded that everyone calls at the same frequencies. But....at a quieter band, like 15m was this contest,  it was very useful. I also noticed it is important how to set the span width, noise floor and static sensitivity to see more difference in signals. If you set a wide spectrum there is too much to see, you get confused. It is really worth playing with this spectrum monitor display, not only for RTTY but also for other modes. On 80m the band is always crowded here, with the spectrum display it was easy to find a quiet spot for running CQ, something I do really appreciate. I was surprised by some propagation on 15m and although I listened on 10m several times nothing was heard there...