[CQ-Contest] Rx QTCs in WAE

[Zoli Pitman HA1AG]

Clive,

I receive QTC's directly to the computer using CT, which is, in my opinion
still the best piece of SW for this purpose (haven't tried TR seriously
yet).

Obviously, to be able to RX QTC's efficiently first you must have the
ability to "write" CW at those speeds used for QTC's. Being able to write
down CW and to be able to copy it are two different things. Typing is an
other issue but both of these abilities can be easily developed by
practising them.

Getting QTC's on paper is not effective because you still have to copy it
after the contest into the SW or make a clean and readable copy to the log
checkers. When copying the QTC to the clean copy you will be prone to make
mistakes and days after the contest I bet at certain places you will have
problems to decode your own handwriting. :-)

To receive QTC's I put my brain into a kind of "dual-mode". I copy the QTC
record blindly characterwise and check it visually backwards "field-wise".
What does it mean in practice?

Imagine you get QTC 1234 DL1AAA 123 as the first one. Logically you would
expect 12.. for the time of the next one. However, if the next timestamp is
1745 you might get confused for a moment since you get not what you expected
and miss the next characters. In an other situation you just get 35 for the
next one instead of 1235. Sometimes QSO data is given backward in time.
Furthermore you can get in QTC busted calls like DL2NDU or OH2F. You know
for sure that the correct call is DL2NBU and OH1F but the question is who
made the mistake? You when copying the QTC or the guy who transmitted it?
When he's transmitting, I would just copy blindly DL2NDU and OH2F and type
it in CT. I had to learn how to supress the alarm ring for this one because
I very often lost the number coming after.

IMO copying it blindly, concentrating only to copying maximizes the accuracy
of the received QTC. As an additional check I have to validate all of these
options. Since there isn't too much time to perform the check, it has to be
done while you're busy getting the actual QTC record. My best solution is to
concentrate with the hearing to the reception and check the content and
consistency of received data visually. When receiving QTC's I type without
looking at the keyboard or even realizing what I'm typing and scan the QTC
window visually to detect inconsistencies real-time.

This is in practice no too difficult and doesn't require any vodoo magic but
practising. This method worked to me well so far but having the second radio
not muted in the right ear while copying a QTC in the left one challanged me
seriously this year.

The biggest fun in WAE CW for me is getting the QTC's down especially when
it is QRQQ. The highlights of the contest is getting QTC from guys like K1TO
who send them manually still at 50+ WPM ...

73!

Zoli HA1AG

currently /SM0



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