Having listened to myself work V47T in the recent ARRL DX SSB Test (thanks
for the QSOs and for the recordings!) I had been thinking about cut
numbers, even before VE9AA raised the issue again. How so?
I worked V47T on March 8 at 0358Z on 80M. You can listen for yourself. I
could tell that Randy could hear me fine, because the first time I called
he got my prefix before a louder station covered me up. After working the
louder station Randy said (instead of a "QRZ"), "the K3?"
I responded without phonetics: "K 3 K U". Randy got it fine and gave me my
report. Then I got too cute -- I said "5 9 M D", without phonetics.
Randy had a little hitch in his "thanks". I think my saying "M D" instead
of "Mike Delta" was unusual, and threw him off for a second. (Or maybe he
was tuning the second radio or picking his bagel up off the floor.)
So, sending something unexpected -- cut numbers, in many cases -- causes
confusion, wasting all the time you saved.
QED.
But maybe we'll learn. I think we're all fine with "ENN K". But until we
all learn, using cut numbers can be chancy. And a pain in the receiving
op's neck.
73, Art K3KU
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