[CQ-Contest] 3 and 4 letter contesting callsigns

[Ron Notarius W3WN]

Well Tim, I have to disagree with you on the EE5E call.  I got a big kick out of that, when it was in use.  It certainly stood out, especially after the first time one worked it.  

(And it's probably a good thing that E5EE or E5E wasn't in use in the same contest, or things might have gotten REAL interesting... )

I was sorry to hear that there'd been some complaints, post-contest, after the call had been used a few times (I see it in my log from 2007 - 2012).  But, maybe, one of the new 2x1 licensees will get it -- and use it -- soon.

73, ron w3wn


-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Shoppa <tshoppa at gmail.com>
To: cq-contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Tue, Feb 18, 2020 12:02 pm
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] 3 and 4 letter contesting callsigns

Often in a near-zero-beat pileup, it's the longest often 2x3 callsign that
gets pulled out. WN4AFP is the perfect example.

I don't understand why 1x1's are so popular in England. There must be some
special licensing rule? Maybe it's like how multi-ops in France end up with
TM calls? I would think a slightly longer "well-known" personal callsign
would win every time over a special call that not's in SCP. I've speculated
in the past at the value of having a "well-known callsign" and would bet
it's 3 to 6dB among the best ops at the other end. Even in WRTC where the
ops are not using SCP of course they have a huge knowledge of the world's
most common calls. Then again... I've also operated at M/M's and had folks
come back to "W6LPL" or "K3LPL" without any bells ringing in their head
that hey maybe it's a well known call instead.

Then there was the world's shortest callsign... EE5E... sent at 50 WPM.
Whoever thought that was good for a contest was nuts. Then again if you're
99% running and SO2R or SO3R and for interleaving purposes you need the
briefest callsigns then maybe it's worth the craziness.

Tim N3QE
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