Hi Pete:
I think the worst mistake I ever made in contesting was in CQ WPX CW in
1996, the year the summer Olympics were in Atlanta. Georgia stations
could subsitute other numbers in their calls to celebrate the Olympics.
"34" for the 34th Olympiad, add two zeros, or "96" for the year. I
elected to be K96BAI for that period--maybe it was May through August of
1996 for most general operating and it wasn't too much of a problem to
get the call across. The first contest to come along was, of all
things, a PREFIX contest. So, what would be more natural than to be a
new multiplier for everyone, a K96? Well, I reckoned without the
problem caused in contest operation by the "6B" combination,
particularly coming after K9, which was in itself a complete prefix.
After a few hours, I ferverently wished I was just K4BAI for the rest of
the contest. I stuck it out, but S&P was a real chore. It is truly
amazing that contest operators can (apparently?) copy a random three
digit serial number the first time every time, but cannot copy an
unexpected callsign such as K96BAI even on three or four repeats. (And
to any contester who was really prepared for a prefix contest, the
callsign should not have been unexpected.)
Which is a long way of saying that I agree with you and with Tom's
decision on the call NV7A. He gave it a good try for a number of years.
73,
John, K4BAI.
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