Ron Stailey K5DJ (ex: AB5KD)

Ron Stailey K5DJ (ex: AB5KD) dominated the RTTY contesting world in the late 1990s. With a modest station at his home in Round Rock, Texas, Ron really enjoyed RTTY operating. When Wayne Wright W5XD, a fellow resident of Round Rock, began developing one of the first Microsoft Windows-based computer logging programs, Ron was an early adopter, and helped champion its tight integration with the state-of-the-art RTTY terminal hardware of the time. Ron became the distributor of WriteLog, freeing up Wayne to focus on software development. WriteLog soon became the premier computer logging software for serious RTTY contesters, and Ron was always on the cutting edge.

Ron's first RTTY contest from the W5KFT Ranch Station was the 1996 ARRL RTTY Roundup, in which he operated under his own call sign, AB5KD, in the Single Operator High Power category. It was his first of five consecutive W/VE victories. It was also the first of five consecutive record scores in that category of the ARRL RTTY Roundup, a feat that has never been accomplished before or since. Ron also dominated the BARTG Spring HF RTTY Contest operating at the W5KFT Ranch Station, with two Single Operator High Power world victories in 1998 and 1999, and two Multi-Operator Multi-Transmitter victories in 1997 and 2000. From 1996 to 2000, no other RTTY contest station in the world had as much success as the W5KFT Ranch Station, operated by Ron Stailey K5DJ.

Between 1996 and 2002, Ron entered a total of at least 14 major RTTY contests from the W5KFT Ranch Station. In addition to dominant victories in the ARRL RTTY Roundup and the BARTG Spring HF RTTY Contest, Ron also had successful contest efforts in the JARTS RTTY Contest, the CQ WPX RTTY Contest, and the CQ/RJ World Wide DX Contest, RTTY. Ron's last RTTY contest from the ranch was the 2002 ARRL RTTY Roundup, in the Multi-Operator Single-Transmitter category with teammate Robert Brandon K5PI.