ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
At 12:15 PM 12/31/2005, Tyler Stewart wrote:
>Guess it depends on how smart your decoder is
>(both computer and human software) and whether you can type well which way
>works better. My preference is for dashes...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's not a question of smart or dumb decoders, it's an inherent issue
with Unshift On Space (USOS). What you are doing by sending dashes is
foiling USOS, not a good idea, IMO. Nearly every TNC and software
uses USOS by default, for good reason.
For those new to RTTY, USOS resets your FIGS/LTRS case back to LTRS
every time a space is sent or received. When copy is poor because of
QRM/QRN and dashes are being used, the reset never happens and you
get print like this: 599-48-48-48 instead of 599-RI-RI-RI. If you
send 599 RI RI RI (without dashes) then USOS can reset back to LTRS
with each space and you will get at worst 599 48 RI RI.
The idea of using dashes goes back to the early days of RTTY
contesting before anyone realized the value of USOS. WF1B, bless his
heart, included dashes in his default macros and people have been
using them ever since. Sending dashes does indeed make sending
faster, but you pay the price. I've been harping on this issue for
years and gradually more and more people are seeing the light. Try it
and see if the number of requests for repeats falls off dramatically.
I'm betting you will change too.
To sum it up:
Dash = bad.
Space = good.
:-)
73, Bill W6WRT
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