[CQ-Contest] Callsign Advantages

[David A. Pruett]

I for one wish Brian would get a correct callsign, because acccording to 
every accepted portable callsign convention I've ever seen, his call should 
be interpreted as a VY3, of which there is no such thing.

Also, I am one of the logcheckers for the ARRL 10 and 160 contests, and 
while our logchecking software handles Brian's callsign just fine (because 
we strip off the /3 since it has no effect on scoring) I've seen some 
pretty wierd interpretations of it, probably due to the contortions 
necessary with some logging software to parse it correctly.  And sometimes, 
the QSO get's scored as a bust, or perhaps even a NIL as a result.

A bust hurts the station Brian works, while the NIL hurts Brian.  While I 
would grant Brian the right to sign whatever his government allows (have 
you ever asked?) I would suggest that he would be doing the contest 
community a favor to get a callsign which accepted conventions will 
interpret correctly.  I have no trouble working him, and probably all of 
the serious contesters don't either.  However, I'll bet there are a lot of 
low to middle experience contesters using general or simple logging 
programs who get confused, or can't make things come out right.

Just an observation.  Uniqueness is not always a good thing when it's 
carried to non-conformity.

73,

Dave/K8CC


At 07:11 PM 3/12/03 -0500, Brian Campbell wrote:
>Well heres my take on the subject AKA .02 worth...
>
>I got my call VY2MGY/3 [ /3 as I am in Ve3 land ] in 1998 especially for
>contesting and I am the first to agree
>with everyone that it is 1. a mouthful on SSB and 2. a handful on CW. I have
>been considering a 3x2 VE3 or VA3
>call for a while but in the last couple of years of contesting, with
>QRM/QRN, especially on 160 either LP or QRP
>[ yes QRP ] that if most people get either VY2 or MGY or even /3 they will
>immediately ask if it is VY2MGY/3 which
>makes it alot easier and faster for both stations and while just about
>everyone comments that it is a mouthful they also say that it is definitely
>unique and memorable. One station always makes a point to mention the
>Titanics callsign - MGY [ Thanks Dave ] which is why a picked that suffix in
>the first place. So am I between a rock and a hard place? I don't know but
>now its a case
>of an easier sounding call versus a call that most people seem to remember
>from previous contests.
>
>What do you think?
>
>I think I'll stick with VY2MGY/3 for a while anyway....
>
>See you all in the CQWPX SSB
>
>73 de Brian
>VY2MGY/VE3
>
>
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>     The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
>THE OFFICIAL FILM of WRTC 2002 now on professional DVD and VHS!
>        http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>CQ-Contest mailing list
>CQ-Contest at contesting.com
>http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest