[CQ-Contest] [NCCC] DUMB CUT NUMBER

[Steve Harrisonusa]

> Steve, K0XP, wrote:
>
>>It's up to the RECEIVER to interpret what's sent as a power level.
>
>
>
>NO, NO, NO.  The responsibility for ALL communication FIRST
>resides with the Sender - in any venue (ham radio or not).

I agree with that; but I maintain that if the sender is unable to
"communicate" due to speaking or using language or abbreviations that
others cannot understand, it's up to the others to let the sender know
he's speaking gibberish. I can think of lots and lots of examples in real
life where this is commonly accepted.

>This is why software manuals and alleged 'Help' files have been
>notoriously dysfunctional - it all FIRST begins with the Sender.

That's right; and where those manuals don't make sense, it's up to the
reader to try to obtain clarification, wherever it may be available. (Of
course, most the time, authors of SW or such manuals now refer confused
readers to some "forum" if they have additional questions  ;o\  ;o\  ;o\

>We have too many selfish senders who aren't considering the
>consequences of their misguided thinking upon MULTIPLE
>recipients.  Period.

Entirely true: and if we receivers or readers don't let them know how
incomprehensible they are, they'll never know and so never change, right?

>NO, NO, NO.  It is FIRST the responsibility of the Contest Sponsors
>to stop the madness and cast some things in stone.

Sorry, but you know that's not going to happen.

>Sorry, but receiving a power level of AK or some other off-the-wall
>crap is not my responsibility to stop everything and try to interpret
>a misguided Sender's personal creativity.

In that case, simply send NIL NIL NIL SRI and move on.

Look at it this way: what if we were on phone, and the other guy's accent
is so dang heavy that you cannot understand one word outta five: THEN
whatcha gwan do? I know: yer gwan keep at him, asking him to repeat,
saying what YOU think he said and ask "QSL?? QSL???" until either of you
finally either give up or decide you understood each other.

So why should CW be any different?

>Contest Sponsors need to CLEARLY state WITHIN THE RULES what
>cut numbers are permitted for power level substitution purposes
>if anything other than traditional full numbers.

They're not going to do that for a lot of reasons, and we all know that.
In the first place, how are they going to enforce it? After all, they
can't even enforce SOA vs. SO-unassisted.

>The Contest Sponsors can solve this problem if they don't piddle
>around like with other issues they have historically either
>remained silent or continued to sit on the fence about.  Period.

Yes, but none of them are going to, except maybe some of the smaller
contests. Neither CQ nor ARRL will even raise an eyebrow.

OK, let's go back to the phone example I brought up above: do you REALLY
expect the contest sponsors to stipulate "All contest exchange is to be
conducted using perfect English."?????

Same difference, sorry, Locust  ;o(   (If it were not, I might still be
getting into a phone test now and then but I gave them up long ago as
accents kept getting heavier and heavier, people kept using speech
processors that distorted their natural voice, and all sorts of other
excuses.)

Steve, K0XP