[CQ-Contest] Broken hardware or lazy ops?

[Charles Morrison]

> From: Matt Clauson N0QXW <n0qxw at n0qxw.net>
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Broken hardware or lazy ops?
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> 
> Hello, all.  I've really started to get more into contesting, so you'll
> probably be hearing me more on the air as time goes on.  This was my
> first RTTY contest, and I noticed a wierd idiosyncracy.  I'm not certain
> what to make of it.  Let's look at the following exchange (other
> callsigns redacted to protect the guilty):
> 
> K1ABC:  CQ CQ NAQP DE K1ABC K1ABC NAQP CQ
> N0QXW:  N0QXW
> K1ABC:  N0QX BILL BILL VT VT N0QX
> N0QXW:  N0QXW NOQXW K1ABC MATT MATT MT MT K1ABC DE N0QXW N0QXW
> K1ABC:  N0QX TU QRZ DE K1ABC
> 
> As you can probably guess, my name isn't Martin and I don't live in
> Texas, like the legitimate N0QX does...  Although I wish him lots and
> lots of contacts.  I'd think that my hardware is putting out bogus
> audio, but let's look at another busted contact from this weekend:
> 
> W4XYZ:  CQ TEST CQ TEST DE W4XYZ W4XYZ TEST
> N0QXW:  N0QXW N0QXW N0QXW
> W4XYZ:  N0QX WARREN WARREN AL AL N0QX
> N0QXW:  N0QXW N0QXW N0QXW W4XYZ MATT MATT MT MT W4XYZ DE N0QXW N0QXW
> W4XYZ:  WN0QX QSL TU DE W4XYZ QRZ?
> 
> I guess the lesson here is to not give my exchange information until I
> get my callsign returned to me correctly.  Anyone else experience
> something similar?
> 

Matt, 

Combination of a couple of things.  Rtty software will highlight a call in
one of two ways depending on your settings.  It will either highlight
everything following the de, ie: de xx1xxx the entire string will be
highlighted.  Dave, K6LL has posted that he turns this off, because if you
get static, you'll get de xx1xxalkdadfjf then once the space at the end is
obtained, the entire string will highlight the call.  

The second way is the SuperCheck partial.  Which is apparently your case.
N0QX's call either comes before yours in the SuperCheck Partial database, or
your call is not included at all.  RE: K4GMH and K4GM.  The "attentive
operator" will pay attention when receiving a call and if a call is received
twice whereby K4GMH is sent, but only K4GM is highlighted, he will make the
manual change.  Writelog for instance does this all the time on several
calls, and this exact issue comes up each time.  There's really not much you
can do about it except like you said, reiterate that your call is N0QXW if
they send N0QX.  Its really the other sides fault, as they should pay
attention and not just grab the first thing that's highlighted.

As stated, contact Mike, K4GMH, he gets this every contest.

Charlie
KI5XP