[CQ-Contest] Cut number advice

Jimk8mr at aol.com Jimk8mr at aol.com
Mon Nov 5 11:21:44 EST 2007


 
In a message dated 11/5/2007 9:54:18 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
gerry.hull at gmail.com writes:

I used  NN VT instead of 99 VT.   I got asked for a lot of fills.
I found  this strange... N for 9 is VERY common.  If I sent NN as
the fill,  they get it immediately.






Unlike the NN in 5NN, the SS check actually has to be logged.  So the  time 
you think you save by sending the short "NN" is lost as the guy on the  other 
end has to make the translation from "NN" to "99", find the "99"  keys, and 
then type "VT", all before acknowledging your exchange.
 
The guy on the other end also might have been tricked into thinking you had  
forgot to send your check, and were going straight to sending your section,  
which might have been NNJ or NNY.
 
Cut numbers made sense in the days of straight keys, where a long dash  saved 
a lot of carpel tunnel wear and tear vs. five separate dashes.  In  these 
days of machine generated CW, they make sense only where the numbers are  
meaningless, like leading zeros, 5NN or a zone number already known from the  
callsign.
 
 
73  -  Jim  K8MR
 



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