Pete;
I agree with you. The cut numbers as part of the serial numbers drove me crazy
this weekend.
To receive an "A" in the middle of a 4 digit number may save three dashes but I
think that time is more than used up by guys asking for repeats or , worse yet,
a busted serial number.
It's one thing to use 5NN which everyone expects as a marker but I recommend
that full numbers be used as part of the serial number. While we are at it, I
wish guys would also drop the leading zeros.
Seems to me the use of cut number is more prevelant outside North America. Or
am I imagining that?
73,
Al, K0AD
-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Smith N4ZR <n4zr@contesting.com>
To: CQ Contest <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Thu, May 31, 2012 7:55 am
Subject: [CQ-Contest] To cut or not to cut?
There's nothing like a CW serial number contest to get you re-thinking
bout the use of cut numbers.
For situations where first-time intelligibility is important, I think
se of cut numbers probably costs more time than it saves. Here's why:
The basic Morse Code 0-9 character set has two important characteristics
each number is five code elements long, and each one gives you two
hances to copy correctly or confirm that you have done so. If you hear
he first dit of 1, or the last 4 dahs, then you know what the number
s. This is because, with the regularity of computer-sent CW and the
resence of "5NN" as a signal to expect the number to begin at a certain
ime, you can often infer from the length of the "lost" portion of a
umber what it must have been. Even if you only get the two dits of 8,
epending on when you hear them, you can have pretty good confidence
hat it was, in fact, 8, and not seven with one unheard dit.
How much time is saved by sending A instead of 1? How much time is lost
y responding to "AGN" or "NR?"
Opinions? I bet there are a few out there.
--
3, Pete N4ZR
he World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
he Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at
eversebeacon.blogspot.com,
pots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
rcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
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