[CQ-Contest] An Observation

[VR2BrettGraham]

Zuru Charrie Foul Rima Itary pointed out:

>Gentlemen, it came to my notice during the CQWW SSB Contest that it would 
>be a whole lot easier and quicker if everyone used the correct phonetic 
>alphabet and dropped the ''Guatamalas,Londons and Japans''
>
>The correct version if anyone would like to try it is as follows:-
>
>ALPHA  BRAVO  CHARLIE  DELTA  ECHO  FOXTROT  GOLF  HOTEL  INDIA  JULIET 
>KILO  LIMA  MIKE NOVEMBER  OSCAR  PAPA  QUEBEC  ROMEO  SIERRA  TANGO 
>UNIFORM  VICTOR  WHISKY  XRAY  YANKEE  ZULU

So Steve, how strong is Pluto II with you?

Choice of phonetics really doesn't matter out here when one is being
clobbered by the Akrotiri Woodpecker, mate... though some may
stand a better chance of being heard under such trying conditions &
"Guatemala" is one of them & not "Golf" based on my experience.

For those not being knowing, Pluto II is the over-the-horizon radar
system run by Her Majesty's Royal Air Force that jumps around
following the MUF & couldn't in the least be bothered about things like
ITU-RR when MUF to desired direction to illuminate falls within an
amateur band.  I don't know how the salt lake there sits in relation to
the shot to here, but this thing has obliterated the spectrum used every
time I've heard it & from personal experience anything salty is good for
RF.

The strong signal makes for very easy DFing & this OTHR is my
best DX DF yet (sad to say).  I'm about 500 km away from one
myself, so am keen to compare notes as although amateurs
world-wide - as well as myself - have a good grip on where this one is
coming from (40 & 80m woodpecker from Hainan), my local
telecommunications authority claims it cannot get a fix on it & has
yet to take up my offer to show them or even assist their
investigations for the benefit of amateurs world wide.

But back to your post.  There are other reasons for using different
phonetics & the first line of this reply is one of them - for many of
us, English is not our native tongue & some words are simply better
than others to be heard under trying conditions.

73, VR2BrettGraham