Lots of good thoughts on this subject from all. Some of mine:
Mark's Dubya Five Dubya Ell is as many syllables (or more) than many calls
using phonetics (IE: Norway Six Mike Mike).
Not sure what the aversion to phonetics is. I've always tried to stay with
punchy ones and/or appropriate ones for the contest. With my own call,
NE6I, I typically use Norway Echo Six India. Fairly punchy, and the use of
Norway and India works pretty well with the DX stations. Echo happens to be
a universal phonetic so that works out.
On CW, my very short call seems to work well as I can send it twice in the
time it takes many to send theirs once. Three times in the time it takes
Mark to send his old call (WA6OTU) (hi). I agree with Jeff's (WK6I) comment
that the "I" on the end seems to be okay on CW. The downside for my own
call is that on CW, it does not work well in weak signal conditions. The E
and sometimes the I get lost in the noise.
At an SCCC meeting many years ago, I recall a similar discussion where most
considered the best call to be a 1x2 with the suffix being the same letters,
preferably something ending with a dah on CW. Dick Norton's N6AA being the
perfect example. I have to admit that over the years, these types of calls
have been some of the easiest for me to copy in a QRM situation or during a
Sprint on CW. N6VV, N6MM, N5MM, K2VV are some that pop into my mind.
On CW, some that give me trouble are the ones where the letter preceding or
immediately following the number are similar sounding, IE (and I'll make
these up) K5HM, WJ1A, KV4H (ouch) and some with incredible combinations of
dits and dahs, IE WQ7Y, K2QTY and the like. These cause me to concentrate
harder during the translation from ears to pencil or keyboard (copying to
logging, that is). The less concentration, the better off I am.
To Jim Neiger's comment about ZD8Z, I have to admit that sometimes hearing
him flying on CW, I have to pause and listen an extra time or two to be sure
of the call. Usually though, after hearing him once in a given contest, I
know immediately that it's him as I hear him on the other bands.
Familiarity does count! Witness Trey's old call of WN4KKN! Regardless of
the conditions you heard him on CW, about the time he hit the number 4 on
CW, you already knew the suffix!
Just my two cents,
Dennis NE6I
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Stai WK6I" <wk6i@twistedoak.com>
To: <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 8:56 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Callsign Advantages
> At 04:32 PM 3/10/2003, david.e.burger@au.pwcglobal.com wrote:
> >I'd suggest keeping the call - it is neat anyway... otherwise consider
any
> >2 by 1 callsign ala..... KZ8Z and hand out a neat prefix in the WPX,
> >Oceania contests.
>
> it's cool to be a unique mult in a WPX contest, though it is a bit
overrated - seems like 80-90% of the calls are mults - I wouldn't use that
as the main reason for choosing a call, but ok as a side benefit...
>
> I am not much of a CW contester, but in dx pileups the two dits at the end
of my call just don't seem to ever get lost - maybe it's just the fact that
enough of the two quick dits get thru, where one dit is not. In any case the
ITALY-INDIA thing is a bit of a bother in phone tests and pileups.
>
> Just do RTTY contesting and you won't have any issues...;-) 73 - jeff wk6i
>
>
> Jeff Stai jds@twistedoak.com
> Twisted Oak Winery http://www.twistedoak.com/
> Rocketry Org. of CA http://www.rocstock.org/
> Amateur Radio WK6I
>
>
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