[CQ-Contest] Thing that drive me nuts

[John Laney]

I agree with Kevan about not putting contest at the end of your CQ.  On 
phone, particularly if the CQer has a short call, I often think that 
"contest" is another phonetic for a letter in the call that I didn't 
understand.  If nothing is said after the call, I know the last letter 
in the call is the last letter in the call.

On CW, those of us who use full QSL often find ourselves calling the 
station before he has finished his final "TEST."  That really creates 
confusion when the staions are not using full QSK and don't know that 
they have just "doubled."  Let your call be the last thing you say or 
send in your contest CQ and there will be less confusion all around. 
Unless you are talking about a very small contest, there is no doubt 
that a CQ is actually a CQ contest.

We just completed CQ WW at PJ4A where our CQ call was just CQ pj4a pj4a. 
  My preference would have been TEST PJ4A PJ4A, but just calling
"CQ" and not "CQ TESET" doesn't confuse anyone at all in a major 
contest.  Adding "test" or "contest" after the call does tend to confuse 
the stations listening.

73, John, K4BAI.