Here is my experience using regarding SCP & pre-fill databases.
For years now (a decade or more) I used a Super Check Partial
made up of only the call signs that I have worked from my station.
I was aware of the publicly available databases, but I found that
they contained call signs that I never heard or worked. So I stuck
to my own self-generated SCP, hoping to keep the mistakes down.
Once the exchange look-up feature became available in TR-Log,
I used it. If figured my competitors were, so I better get with it.
Again, I only used data from my own contest activity. Since I was
very active, my look-up databases were well populated. I was
convinced that they were saving me considerable keystrokes.
However, I came to find over the years that those saved keystrokes
came at a cost. I would get lazy or tired, and just accept what was
already in the call sign window -- without really verifying what I had
heard. This was especially true if QRM or the second radio was
covering up the signal. My error rates did NOT improve as a result.
I also found that the pre-fill data distracted me from my main reason
for being on the radio -- which was paying my attention to the audio
stream in my ears, and not the visual input from the computer.
It literally degraded my copying skills through distraction.
Since that time I've used the pre-fills less, and enjoyed operating more.
It was kind of like learning to find DX again on my own, after falling into
the seductive trap of having others do it for me during the early packet
era. They don't allow pre-fill databases at WRTC, and I suspect some
reasoned thought went into that decision.
Bottom line -- copy the stuff yourself, and don't be fooled by the lure
of the pre-fill database. It won't help you become a better operator,
and it probably won't help your score either in the long run.
73 Kirk K4RO
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