[CQ-Contest] HA: To cut or not to cut?

[Pete Smith N4ZR]

Thanks, John, but I really intended another point - that the 5-element 
numbers are inherently more intelligible, because of their degree of 
internal error-correction.  Of course, any system has weaknesses - 9 and 
zero (full forms) at the *end* of a serial number are a good example.  I 
use O, myself, for a leading zero, which people expect early in a 
contest, but T for 0 caused me to get more requests for fills than 
almost any other cut number this WPX.

73, Pete N4ZR
The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000


On 5/31/2012 12:15 PM, John G. wrote:
> It seems that T and N work as cut numbers in NA as most contesters here are
> familiar with those cuts, A a little less familiar.  The others would
> probably baffle almost all NA ops.
>
> 73 John AF5CC
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Vladimir Sidarau"<vs_otw at rogers.com>
> To:<cq-contest at contesting.com>
> Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 3:21 PM
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] HA: To cut or not to cut?
>
>
>> Cut numbers in Europe and NA are totally different animals. Widely used in
>> Europe, cut numbers are rather a headache if used in NA.
>>
>> A or (even worse) E as cut numbers mostly cause troubles or at least force
>> a
>> recipient to slow down and double decode the code received.
>>
>> N and T are a great tool to distinguish 9 from 0 if signals are weak. If
>> you
>> send 469 but you are asked for refill time by time sending you back like,
>> 46?, a single 46N (sent by a paddle) works in one go. But still, it works
>> better if your counterpart is located in Europe...
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Vladimir VE3IAE
>>
>> ---
>>
>> -----Исходное сообщение-----
>> От: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
>> [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] От имени Pete Smith N4ZR
>> Отправлено: May-31-12 8:23 AM
>> Кому: CQ Contest
>> Тема: [CQ-Contest] To cut or not to cut?
>>
>> There's nothing like a CW serial number contest to get you re-thinking
>> about
>> the use of cut numbers.
>>
>> For situations where first-time intelligibility is important, I think use
>> of
>> cut numbers probably costs more time than it saves.  Here's why:
>>
>> The basic Morse Code 0-9 character set has two important characteristics
>> - each number is five code elements long, and each one gives you two
>> chances
>> to copy correctly or confirm that you have done so. If you hear the first
>> dit of 1, or the last 4 dahs, then you know what the number is.  This is
>> because, with the regularity of computer-sent CW and the presence of "5NN"
>> as a signal to expect the number to begin at a certain time, you can often
>> infer from the length of the "lost" portion of a number what it must have
>> been.  Even if you only get the two dits of 8, depending on when you hear
>> them, you can have pretty good confidence that it was, in fact, 8, and not
>> seven with one unheard dit.
>>
>> How much time is saved by sending A instead of 1?  How much time is lost
>> by
>> responding to "AGN" or "NR?"
>>
>> Opinions?  I bet there are a few out there.
>>
>> --
>> 73, Pete N4ZR
>> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at
>> www.conteststations.com
>> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at
>> reversebeacon.blogspot.com, spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>> and
>> arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>>
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