[CQ-Contest] Can a call be too short?

[Yannick (XV4Y)]

Hi,

I am neither an experienced CW op nor an avid contester.
I would also differentiate low-bands and HF, running or S&P.
However this is my experience with "different letters" and a "rare" callsign when I am calling not running.

I have the XV4Y callsign for one year.
I run 100W in a GP so my signal is never that loud. I usually send at speeds between 15 and 18 wpm.
On 20m and up, if he is an experienced op, 99% of the time the DX has my callsign right from the beginning.
The X is always good as is the Y. Perhaps the trailing dash help to "close the letter" and since they are 4 elements long, you cannot invent one more.
If S/N is not that bad, the V and the 4 side by side are easy to recognize.

Problems arise when the S/N get worst and when the operator is not expecting an XV to call (in contests, not expeditions for example).
They try to guess the callsign and even they have almost right at first, mix things up side down.
First people hear a U insteod of the V. The transform the 4 in 2 since XV2 is Saigon area and more callsigns were issued there.
2 and 4 are hard to mix but perhaps the V makes them think I was sending errors...
Second the transform the callsign in VK4Y or YX4Y or XV4YX because they think it is too short or too rare.

My own conclusions :
- strings of dits are bad because you can loose one in the noise and will never know if it was E5EIE or E5EH or E5HE...
- long letters (B, H, V, C, Q, Y, Z...) helps to have a good pace and makes guessing easier in the noise,
- trailing dashes are good and helps to distinguish the caracter spacing,
- 1, 9, 4 and 6 numbers are hard to get wrong,
- average power matters and so dashes are good,
- too short is not good for calling because people don't expect so short callsigns and want to add letters.

73,
Yan.
---
Yannick DEVOS - XV4Y
http://xv4y.radioclub.asia/
http://www.qslwatch.com/

> The best calls are short (of course), and with a lot of average power in the 
> suffix.
> 
> T, O, M, A, N, W, Y, and Q are all good.
> 
> Lot's of dits (like K0HB) suck.
> 
> 73, de Hans, K0HB