[CQ-Contest] More on Cut Numbers

[Fred Laun K3ZO]

I noted with some interest the threads on cut numbers which have appeared
here recently.  I have never really been bothered by having a cut number
thrown at me because during several years of hamming in Southeast Asia I
was accustomed to hearing little CW stations all over every band sending
cut numbers for hour after hour in four-number groups.

Now, thanks to an article by Juan, EA3FXJ, in the May issue of the Spanish
URE Magazine "Radioaficionados", I finally learned what I was hearing.  It
seems that since the Chinese language is written in a series of ideograms
numbering some 8000, each ideogram is assigned a four-number ID in Chinese
CW.  So for example one character might be represented on CW as "0215"
[TUAS] and another as "6752" [BGSU].  

With all of this work to send Chinese text, it's no wonder the Chinese have
resorted to cut numbers to speed up the process!

73, Fred, K3ZO  


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