Believe me, a name doesn't have to be *that* unusual, but if it's similar
sounding to other names, you're in for a *LOT* of repeats!
The first time I entered NAQP SSB, I used my real first name (Aaron) not
knowing that you can really use any name you want (as I later determined).
The following was very typical...
Heard: CQ NA CQ NA W6XYZ Contest
Me: KD6DAE
Heard: KD6DAE, Jimbo in Cal
Me: Thanks Jimbo, Aaron in Cal
Heard: Thanks Darrin
Me: Correction Aaron
Heard: Eric?
Me: No, Aaron - Alpha Alpha Romeo Oscar November
Heard: Oh, Aaron, thanks. QRZed
Even when I tried running a freq, people still got my name wrong even though
I'd been phonetically saying it for the past 20 minutes. Got worse when
conditions were bad and my call was being scrambled (Alpha and Delta sound
alike too). If I used "David" instead of "Delta", then they sometimes
thought my name was David. Doh!
So, the next time I worked NAQP SSB, I decided to switch names. I'm
generally one to follow the rules, so I tried to think up a variation of my
name that would work, but there are no variations of "Aaron" (like Dick for
Richard, Joe for Joseph, Bob for Robert, etc). So, I ended up using my
middle initials "TC". Worked *much* better than Aaron, but some people
expect to hear more than just "TC" and ask for it again. Sheesh.
Oh well. when the time comes, I'll just have to give my children with easy,
distinctive names in case they ever get the NAQP Contest bug. <g>
73,
- Aaron Hsu, NN6O (ex-KD6DAE)
{nn6o}@arrl.net
{athsu}@unistudios.com
No-QRO Int'l #1,000,006
. -..- - .-. .- ".... . .- ...- -.--"
-----Original Message-----
From: K4RO Kirk Pickering [mailto:k4ro@k4ro.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 11:14 AM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] NAQP name handicap experiment
I can't help but wonder if an unusual name is a
hinderance to the NAQP score, particularly in the
SSB contest. In the CW contest, it's not as much
of an issue I suspect because 1) the name is spelled
out with each QSO and 2) there are fewer casual QSOs.
In the last August NAQP SSB, I repeated my name "Kirk"
about two hundred times, and it got really old, really
fast. So this weekend I am going to try an experiment.
I'll use my shortened middle name, and see if I experience
fewer repeat requests. Folks using some kind of exchange
database better be paying attention or they'll be dinged.
Good luck to all this weekend..
73,
"Bob" K4RO
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