>N4ZR said....
>I've experimented over the past year with using SCP files that others have
>compiled, and have been quite impressed by the number of "uniques" that
>have crept into the data. It's enough to make me darned careful about
>taking the computer's word for a callsign.
I have helped to make MASTER.DTA files for some years, and personally prefer
files made with
relative FEW occurrences of a given call in the logs used. This GUARANTEES
that some broken calls
and UNIQUES will be in the file. It also means more good calls will be in
the file.
I don't feel that one should be 100% confident that everything in the DTA
file is a sure fire good call.
I use SCP, I like the feature very much. As I dig for a call it is helpful
to know that the station I hear may
be either JS3XXX or JH3XXX (I heard J ? ?XXX clearly) I can zero in on the
specific letter/number I am
struggling with, a little more quickly. The primary advantage for the less
than extremely experienced
contester (one who has all the skills N6AA told us about at Dayton) is that
if you copy a call and it is NOT
in your MASTER.DTA file, you may want to think about it a little harder; was
there QRN, QRM, was a letter
you have trouble with on CW, or a phone phonetic you know you struggle
with, involved? When in doubt
ASK FOR A REPEAT. You now have the opportunity to do SOME of the things
the most experienced and
accurate guys are doing.
Checking your UBN reports may be a good place to find out if you have
certain letters on phone or CW
that give you more trouble with others.
Of course the greatest use of SCP is in events when I am having some fun and
not trying to maximize my
score. I like to try to GUESS the full call of those *&%$# guys that send 2
letters. I use SCP and my
knowledge of propagation, accents and stuff like that to try to answer with
his full call, and surprisingly
frequently am able to confuse the guy.
One last thought, if your use of SCP is close to randomized guessing, not
based on good decoding
of what was actually sent, you are Increasing your odds of having a
verifiable Not In the Log QSO, since
the database contains the calls of relatively active contesters who are more
likely to send in their logs
for cross checking.
73 Chas K3WW
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