599 is not the most common contest or DXpedition report.
It is 5NN. That is, I hear you, No report, Im busy, NEXT!
When conditions and signals are poor, I usually send 55N for the exchange
on topband in a vain attempt to get across that the signals are weak and
buried in noise. If I have your call, its likely to be 5 something, in any
case. In most cases, I could send 33N and be closer to right, but that
would get less attention during the operation and more list commotion, and
could cause an increase in the worst possible contact for a DXpedition - a
dupe!
And, yes, I do usually run with the AGC OFF so the meter doesn't read
anything meaningful, and if I turn it on, it will read the signal level
from the Beverage, sometimes through a preamp, a meaningless number. A
scheme to report S/N would be nice, but hardly worth the effort in such an
environment Nothing meaningful to compare it to.
5NN means I have a callsign in the little box on the screen. When I hear
your answer, I'll enter it as I sent it, so 5NN means pay attention to make
sure the call associated with the 5NN is YOURS.
Log YOUR response report? Whatever FOR? I got your callsign right, didn't
I? Any information about the relative strength a DX station is producing
might be statistically interesting, but is of very little real time value
to the DX station - who can do nothing about it & would rather not waste
the time.
Robin Critchell, WA6CDR
XZ1N XZ0A VP6DX et al.
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160 meters is a serious band, it should be treated with respect. - TF4M
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