One piece that I forgot to mention, that really made the contest for
me, and is 90% of why I will be back. At one point I did not clear
the buffers when I did not complete a QSO, and sent a French call in
the exchange with a W call. I keyed up and stated, "Sorry about the
call, I have your call correct, just made a mistake". To which he
replied, "No worries, nothing I haven't already done 6 times tonight".
To which I had a big (much needed) belly laugh.
There were several instances like that. I distinctly noticed a
willingness to take a moment and bring in the human element. This was
capped off when I got to work Phil (KL8DX) who helped me get into
RTTY. A very pleasant exchange occurred, no one transmitted over him
trying to get Alaska.
I did notice some idiot stations out there, transmitting a lot more
than they should, making it harder for all. But I came away from this
event very impressed with RTTY and its operators. Hats off to you
gentlemen.
David Wilburn
NM4M
http://www.nm4m.com
Roger Cooke wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I have lost some faith in contest exchanges. With the "joy" of modern
> technology, comes a major reduction in the skill of the operator. In the old
> days ( during the war! ) RTTY was a slower process admittedly, but the
> operator had to copy every exchange CORRECTLY. Now, for example, the 599 is
> completely redundant, meaningless use of 3 characters. Even the zone is the
> same, completely redundant, as most loggers put it in the box before it's
> given anyway!
>
> OK, so I'm moaning. There is a point however. The operator still has to
> copy the CALL SIGN plus the AREA code ( NY, NJ etc., ) and although I did
> not make that many Q's, it really was amazing how many stations did not stay
> around for confirmation OR, more importantly, a request for a repeat of
> either the call or exchange. Now in the quest for more speed, leaving out
> commas and periods etc., we have lost the plot! Those stations I wanted to
> request a repeat from will not be in my log. Tough, but they should have
> spent a few more seconds getting the QSO completed. There are also times when
> no call signs are used, leading to mix-ups with two or more stations on the
> freq at the same time. This can be eradicated by a better use of macros of
> course.
>
> Personally, I would like to see a more erudite and possibly dynamic
> exchange. This would enforce a little more accuracy at both ends and lead to
> a more convincing contact. It would also help to dispense some of the
> antagonism and criticism from the opponents of contests in that we would not
> have the usual comment "Oh, contests, yes you are 5 and 9 but I missed your
> call and my report".
>
> I do like contests of course, and take part in numerous ones during the
> year, so I am not one of the anti brigade. However I would be interesed in
> other people's comments
>
> Regards from Roger, G3LDI
> Swardeston, Norfolk.
>
>
>
>
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>
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