[CQ-Contest] Cut number advice

[Steve Harrisonusa]

> 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.

I was one of those who got "bit" by your "NN". The problem was that you
were too weak to actually hear the "NN"; and also, I just didn't expect
anyone to be using cut numbers in the SS exchange; never heard anyone else
using them. Had you sent "99" instead, and QSB took out one or two bits, I
very likely would have still copied it correctly. But it didn't take  a
very long QSB-hit to take out the "NN" to where I couldn't be certain what
I'd heard.

>... then there are the other guys who send 006 as the serial number!
>Every leading zero is a waste of bandwidth, cut or not.

Agreed. However, sometimes, that happens when you don't set up your
logging program correctly and you're loathe to just stop to go try to
figger it out. The guys who sent leading zeros, obviously, had just gotten
started and so giving them the benefit of the doubt, they very likely just
didn't want to stop right then and there to figure out what they'd done
wrong in their setup.

Steve, K0XP