[CQ-Contest] QSO numbers

[John T. Laney, III]

Mike's comments about contest numbers being sent wrong reminds me that
this is something that some of us give too little attention to.  If you
hit enter too soon on most contest programs and then are asked to send
the exchange again and you let the contest program send it, it will send
the number of the next QSO, not of the one you had already entered and
are trying to complete.

I don't know the real explanation for the problem on phone, but in SSB
Sprint Saturday night it happened to me twice.  I had entered the QSO #
plus one sent to the prior station by the one I was waiting to call. 
Twice I got the station I was waiting for and he gave me the identical
number he had just given to the prior station.  I questioned each  about
it and each time he said you are right and corrected the number to what
I had expected to be sent.  

Also, one of the recognized top ops in the world in Sprint CW obviously
sent the wrong number to the QSO before me since as soon as I sent my
exchange to him he said thanks and gave the call of the station he had
just worked trying to correct the number he had given him.  (90% of them
would have been long gone, but I guess he was hoping he was a really
casual contester.)

In any case, the point here is to pay attention to the number you are
sending on CW or SSB.  I know many of the best ops turn off the monitor
when working SO2R on CW and trust to the machine to send the info
correctly, but I can't do it--I've got to be listening to what I am
sending even though I may be concentrating more on the second receiver. 
The computers are only as accurate as your fingers are on the keys and
you will make a lot more mistakes with those keys than you ever did with
a paddle.  If you aren't listening, you could have an "unstable log."

So, we have concentrated for some time on logging the info sent to us
correctly, and it may be time to give some more attention to sending the
info correctly that the log will say was sent.

73, John, K4BAI/8P9HT.


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