Incomplete exchange

[Brent Smith]

Not a flame, just a comment ...  There's a lot of difference in what 
is described below (dealing with a non-contester) and a potentially 
top op that shortens every single QSO in the entire contest.  But for 
the neophyte this is exactly right.  We had the NC State Univ club 
W4ATC sation on for most of the contest with mostly operators that had 
never made a QSO on HF before.  They all learned a lot, and most of 
the other contest ops were very kind in helping them learn how to send 
a NTS message header, which is what the exchange is ...

HISCALL, serial#, precedent (priority), MYCALL, ck, section (state)

This is for message routing and is intended, I guess, to develop 
operator proficiency in traffic handling.  (We all handle traffic, 
don't we?).  What is happening is that some ops are beyond developing 
OPERATING SKILLS and into developing CONTESTING SKILLS.  I do not 
object to this, but we should recognize it for what it is.

                --- Brent -- KO4PY --


snip  ............. 
come on during my SS begathon and start off with "I'm not in the
contest, but you're 5-9 in Wallawulla, Mississippi."  Whereupon, and who
among us hasn't done this, I started the game of 5 questions to pull out a
full exchange.