I always thought Ward's call was N0A and he was sending TU all the
time to thank you in advance for calling him.
Beyond the nice feeling of thanking people for your QSOs, there are
actually some other reasons for being "nice".
1. When you are the S&P station, sending something like TU or R or
GM/GA/GE before your exchange does several things. It helps the
receiving station "sync up" to your message. It also gives those
who have slow TR switching to get ready for your exchange. In a
contest with a serial number, you can replace "NR" with "TU".
2. When you are the CQing station - saying TU or even better yet 73
makes it very clear to the station that the QSO has been completed.
I like 73 in most situations - because it acts as a mini-CQ at the
same time as thanking the guy who just worked you. If you are tuning
the band and hear "73" in CW, you know instantly what is going on and
you have enough time to finely tune in the station and get ready to
copy his call. A simple TU is a little too short for this purpose
and should only be used if you are pretty sure someone else is already
there to call you.
73 N6TR SS
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