I can really sympathize with K0M's problem of people not being able to copy
his call. As the holder of a "special" call myself (WA2GO), I can attest
to the fact that having something unexpected can really throw people off.
At least until they get used to it or learn to expect it. I seem to recall
someone mentioning M6T's callsign woes decreased with the years. I
guarantee that after a few years and a bunch of 1x1 operations, the
majority of the people out there will get the idea. (Wishful thinking?)
I have a theory about another factor that exaggerates these problems even
more: Those special calls are not in anyone's MASTER.DAT files! And as
many of us have observed, there are people who seem to copy calls and
exchanges from their DATABASES instead of from their HEADPHONES! There's
a simple fix to this problem!!: AD1C should put all 520 possible 1x1 calls
into the MASTER.DAT file now! This way, when your fingers type what you
heard, and you see it on your screen, you will say (ok, there it is on my
screen -- must be right).... "W5X 59 <wherever>, go"...
On a related note...
I know this story was aired here before by someone else, but I was so
peeved on Saturday afternoon that I decided I had to tell my version just
to get it off my chest:
I operated Phone and CW Sweepstakes this year from Connecticut -- first
time ever in a contest with my new call, and first time ever from CT.
People seemed to copy 'CT' pretty well both weekends. I was pleased -
didn't even have to sign "portable One".
But THIS weekend, I operated the 10M contest from my old QTH in New York
state. On both modes, after sending my exchange, I had many stations
either ask for my section again or actually come back with "CT? CT?" or
"Was that Connecticut? Was the section Connecticut?" Apologies to the
one guy I finally yelled at when I said "NO - READ MY LIPS - IT'S NEW
YORK!! NEW YORK!!!" But that was like my fourth contact out of eight
where that happened. It's frustrating enough being so puny weak that
people can barely hear you. (Talk to my dad - it's his house, and he's the
one that put the height restrictions on the antennas.) But it becomes even
worse when they
start "hearing" things off their screens rather than out of their radios.
Now I can _kinda_ see how 'CT' might sound like 'NY' on CW, especially from
a guy running 100W with a 22' high antenna. Maybe. But since when does
'New York' sound like 'Connecticut' on phone??
I can't help but wonder how many stations logged me as CT instead of NY
without even listening for what I sent them. Would be interesting to see a
list.
Help me - I'm starting to have masochistic fantasies of getting a mobile
setup and operating from a different state for each contest....... Stop me
before it's too late!!
73,
John "Way to Go!" Lash
WA2GO
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