My thoughts on picking a call:
On phone, there are certain letters which don't need phonetics because they
cannot be mistaken for others. I would recommend trying to make your call
out of those letters, and actually use phonetics less. Example:
"Dubya Five Dubya Ell."
This call cannot be mistaken for anything else, and does not use phonetics.
Of course, good diction can help, but the good news is anyone can have good
diction if they just think about it. Careful diction in phone contests will
raise your efficiency.
BTW, there is also an excellent case for intentional sloppy diction which is
outside the scope of this post.
Next choice would be to pick letters with phonetics which are the most
difficult to mistake for anything else than what they are. Example:
"Kilo Two Zulu Yankee."
This choice of phonetics just can't be mistaken for any others.
On CW, like Hans and others said, avoid the dits if you want a call less
likely to be mis-copied. This is because a dit is more likely to be
destroyed in the QRN/QRM than a dah.
More exactly, avoid final letters with trailing dits. The reason for this
is our brains are smart enough behind the scenes to re-compose the lost data
from a static crash or what-have-you from the rhythm of the sending and our
subconscious knowledge of CW. So the letter "K" for instance, even though
it contains a dit, is hard to mistake for anything else, even if the dit got
crashed out - your brain would reassemble it as a K based on the timing of
the two dahs.
However, it could be a "C" if there was a static crash after the second dah,
and you wouldn't know for sure. But if this letter was in the middle of the
call and you heard the letter following, then your brain would automatically
determine, based on the sender's rhythm, if it was a C or K, well enough to
take it to the bank.
The deadliest choice is having any letter which ends with one or more dits
at the end of your call. A call like this is most likely to be made
unrecognizable, because it is at risk of having a dit eradicated by on-air
conditions, and there is no letter after it for your brain to re-establish
the sender's rhythm, leaving the smarter brain with a question mark and the
less-smart brain with a copying mistake.
Actually, this post could also be about "how to copy code through noise and
interference."
My point about the sender's rhythm is especially pertinent because probably
95% [more?] of CW in contests is machine generated perfect code, so even the
less-smart brain can't help but get into THAT groove.
Dang, where's my BUG?
:)
Mark, N5OT
...and I didn't just pick this call because I was old.
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