Thanks for the answers so far -- sounds like there is no widely understood code
for "send the second digit please!!" It does seem like it would be really
helpful -- of course if conditions are poor, and you send something that is not
expected (like "NR 2" meaning send the second digit), there's a good chance
the guy on the receiving end won't hear you well, only adding to the confusion.
One comment that has come up several times is that most people are more
comfortable hitting a macro key than using a paddle to send at relatively high
speeds. Count me in that group -- although one skill I've worked on is just
hitting Alt-K to bring up a keyboard typing window so I can send arbitrary
keystrokes. I try to set up the macros I need for 95% of my transmissions, but
over time it has become second nature to just hit alt-K when I need to send
something ad-hoc. That way I can keep my hands on the keyboard rather than
reaching for the paddle, but still send anything I want. That was helpful this
weekend with QTC's -- people would ask for "TIME?" or "CALL?" on a specific
QTC, and I could use alt-K just to send the missing part of the exchange. I
was actually amazed at the receiving ability of the EU ops for QTC's - out of
200+ QTC's sent, I bet I only had to send less than 10 repeats, and I was
sending them at 25WPM from my modest station.
73,
Rowland K4XD
-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Rowland.Archer@gxs.com
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 11:18 AM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Fills and repeats
Hi folks,
While asking for "nr nr" over and over this weekend on WAE CW, it occurred to
me that I didn't know any "standard" practice for asking for the JUST that one
digit or letter I'm missing. Nothing more frustrating than something like this
sequence:
You: K4XD ur 5NN 3<QRN>9
Me: NR NR?
You: 5NN 3<fade>9, 3<static crash>
Me: AGN NR?
You: NR 5NN 3<fade>
Me: 3?9 3?9
You: ur 5NN 3<crash>9 5NN 3<fade>
You get the picture. I keep hearing the stuff I don't need, and not hearing
that one bit of information I'm lacking. Only once this weekend did I hear
someone try to specify the single digit he was missing -- he sent "NR 3 NR 3?"
to indicate he was missing the 3rd digit.
I would think sending 3?9 would indicate "please just send the number between 3
and 9" but it seldom works, people resend the whole sequence most of the time,
or send 5NN very slowly just in case I missed that part! It is frustrating to
hear the parts you already know coming through clearly, knowing you would have
the missing info if they were sending that instead of what you already copied.
Any advice from the brain trust? (Besides better antennas!)
73,
Rowland K4XD
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