North American QSO Party, SSB
Call: K6CTA
Operator(s): K6CTA
Station: K6CTA
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 1hr45m
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80:
40:
20:
15:
10:
-------------------
Total: 98 57 Total Score = 5,586
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Team:
Comments:
Well, I had no intentions of getting on due to numerous other activities, but
found I had a spare hour in the afternoon, and another hour in the evening while
I was waiting to pick up my oldest daughter, so I thought I would get on. With
no real plans, and being sort of bored, I decided to see who was using a master
call data base, and who was actually listening. I was prompted to try this
experiment after reading a thread on the contest reflector about short names. My
name is one of the shortest, so I thought I would try a variation that was
slightly longer,and sounded somewhat the same. A little devious on my part, but
the results were interesting. I **will not** divulge the name until after the
contest log submission cutoff date, 'cause a number of you busted it!
Now, I will admit that there is a big difference bewteen SSB and CW, and that on
SSB there is a distinct disadvatage (I believe) to start with (ie -Chris, Kris,
etc.), but it still was interesting.
Since I was only S&P, I was not going at a high rate. I made sure to enunciate
the name very clearly. The good ops that were expecting one thing, and were
not sure what they heard, said "was that Ed?" (or something to that effect).
This gave me the chance to correct it. Those that expected a certain name, or
had their log populated by a database, and didn't pay attention, just said
OK, Ed, or QSL, and moved on. My guess is that none of them got it, especially
since I worked a number on other bands, and quite a few got the name right
later, and asked if I had been using it the entire contest (proof of a busted Q
earlier). What was even more interesting was the number of people who, after I
had spelled it out phonetically, said "OK, XXXX", where the name wasn't even
close!
What did this prove, other than a cheap way to keep myself entertained for a
few hours? Not much, except that a) you need to listen (what a surprise!), and
b) relying on a database may be more of a hindrance than a help. Just copy
whatever is sent....odds are you'll get it right, even if it doesn't seem to
make sense at the moment! I think that it is prbably easier to copy odd stuff
on CW, but I know that sometimes I question what I just receive. Of course,
when I ask for a repeat, it usually is just what I copied.
Anyway, I'm back to my normal name! I also discovered how you can really gunk
up a rate with a name the is a little out of range from the norm.
73,
Ed (except for yesterday) K6CTA
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