[CQ-Contest] Re: copying weak signals was: K4OJ's problem

[K0LUZ]

My problem on cw is cut numbers.  It is very apparent that out there
somewhere in Europe is a software designer who has made cut serial numbers
the default and many are using the software!  Trying to figure out fives
that are sent as 'e',  zeros sent as 'o', etc., etc., etc.   In one of my
'senior moments'  I logged a k1 in New Hampshire as serial number '95'
instead of NH!  Considering the penalties for bad qso's,  you would think it
would be important to be accurate instead of just fast.  Cut serial numbers
create more doubt than the real thing!

73
Red
K0LUZ

>
> At 04:33 PM 12/18/01 +0000, Bill Tippett wrote:
> ...but when a station is EXTREMELY weak, you can
> >waste a lot of time for nothing so I often choose not to.  Many times I
> >ignore stations calling that are so weak I feel I'll never get
> their call
> >or exchange.  I'm more likely to try to dig them out in contests
> like CQWW
> >or CQ 160 where I know the exchange if I get their call...but in serial
> >number exchange contests like ARRL 10 or WPX, I'm more likely to ignore
> >the water-weak guys who call.  ARRL DX is somewhere in between because
> >the exchange is usually a round number.
>
> This raises a related issue.  I find it much harder to copy a
> serial number
> with high confidence on CW than on phone, when the signal is really weak.
> I guess this is because a spoken number ("seven") has many more points of
> potential recognition than "--...".  The benefit is increased because of
> the multiple ways that one can speak a number -- "one-two-seven,
> that's one
> hundred twenty seven, etc."  Any info theory professionals out there with
> real scientific explanations?
>
> I believe that the need to copy serial numbers is one reason why rates in
> the ARRL10 don't get as high as CQWWCW, even though participation
> in Europe
> (our big rate-generator) is every bit as high. I had to ask a lot of
> people, "Did you say one-twenty-seven?"  At least on phone most people at
> least said "roger" or "QSL" before some of them repeated the whole thing
> three times...
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> www.qsl.net/n4zr
>
>
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>


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