[CQ-Contest] SS CW thoughts

[John Laney]

Chuck:

Thanks for the QSO.  I was guest op at W4AN.

Not everyone who uses a bug has trouble sending numbers correctly.  You
can't know who is using computer generated CW or just using an
electronic keyer. The computer generated numbers are at least as
unreliable as the ones sent by an electronic keyer.  In some programs,
if you ENTER the QSO before giving a fill, the fill sends the NEXT QSO
number, not the one that you intended to send.  If you are not
listening, you will not catch and correct the error.  The guy with the
electronic keyer (or bug) will NOT make that mistake.  I am pretty sure
that I had two guys give me the wrong number because of that very
problem...I asked for a confirmation or correction and they sent me the
number after the one they had originally sent, but both insisted that
the second number was correct....so what can you do but log the later
number?

You worry too much.  Those guys will probably not send logs in and no
one will lose the QSOs.  Or they will send in a paper log that won't be
used for cross checking.  Even then, if you lose the QSO, you lose the
QSO.  There is no penalty as there is for a NOT IN LOG claimed QSO.  So,
you lose nothing by making and logging the QSO.

I have been told that, in at least one contest, the logging software
does not kick out QSO numbers that are off by only one number, apprently
because of the computer problem I mentioned previously.  (This was not
ARRL SS.)

We do this for fun.  Let's keep it that way.

73,


John, K4BAI/8P9HT/8P9Z.