[CQ-Contest] How to Confirm a QSO

[Richard Ferch]

I'm not a phone operator, so perhaps I'm missing something, but how is 
"twenty-five" or "two five" shorter than "thanks"?

More importantly, though, I think that sending his exchange back to him 
opens up a whole new set of possibilities for misinterpretation. Suppose 
that when you say "twenty-five" or "two-five", he thinks he hears 
"thirty-five" or  "twenty-nine" or "zero-five" or ...? If he thinks you 
miscopied his exchange he is likely to come back with "no, no 
twenty-five twenty-five". Indeed, if he thinks you said "zero-five" he 
might even worry that you copied his call sign as KA1xxx and start 
repeating his call sign. Alternatively, if he somehow thinks you are 
repeating your exchange he will probably repeat his exchange, or perhaps 
ask you for a repeat. Meanwhile, other stations are calling you thinking 
your QSO was completed. The result is a bunch of QRM and wasted time.

A simple "thanks" makes it very clear to everyone that the QSO is over 
and you can both move on. Repeating part of his exchange suggests that 
the QSO is not yet over, possibly resulting in confusion. Similar 
comments apply to other modes.

73,
Rich VE3KI


HS0ZCW wrote:

> Here is how I confirm a contest QSO on SSB and the simple exchanges
> contests...
>
> Me...... JA1xxx 59 26....
>
> Him....  59 25 ....
>
> Me... 25 HS0ZCW
>
> I repeat his zone number and my call sign instead of saying Thanks or
> Confirmed, or I Got It or other useless info.
>
> Speaking a two digit number takes less time than Thank You and is a hell of
> a lot more useful.
>
> In that specific contest, those odd Russian zones are the only ones not
> automatically handed to you by automated computer logging programs, but my
> suggestion works on some other contests, too.
>
> And because there are still some people who need Thailand confirmed,
> I often say their call sign twice somewhere in the QSO in contests and
> always in regular contacts.