[CQ-Contest] [Skimmertalk] CW Open and the RBN

[Steve London]

Please define "insufficient space".

Here was the only CQ message I used: cq cwo n2ic

Exactly one character space between each element. YCCC SO2R Box Winkey
emulation used. Local, not remote operation.

I was repeatedly spotted as ON2IC.
Skimmer issue ?

73,
Steve, not ON2IC

On Sun, Sep 5, 2021 at 7:13 AM Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n4zr at gmail.com> wrote:

> I ran into an interesting phenomenon using RBN spots in the CWO. Several
> stations were repeatedly mis-decoded by the RBN, and I think the cause
> probably had to do with spacing.  I have BCC'd those I specifically noted,
> to avoid embarrassment, but here's the story:
>
> Stations that left insufficient space in a CQ between "CWO" or "TEST" and
> the start of their callsign were "rewarded" with spots for ON and OK or TN
> (for example) instead of their real N and K prefixes.  Stations that
> inserted slightly additional spaces between letters in their suffix (this
> seems to have been particularly prevalent with last letters like "E" and
> "I") found their callsigns truncated (with the last letter left off)'.
>
> If you think this might have been happening to you, you can test it by
> searching on the beta RBN web site for possibly truncated or expanded
> versions of your call.  You can even use a wildcard (*) at
> beta.reversebeacon.net/main.php to search for all the possible additions
> - some won't work because they result in imaginary prefixes.  Personally, I
> was delighted to learn that despite a lot of running, my call was not
> miscopied in this way by the RBN.  My CQs were all machine-sent, which may
> explain it.
>
> --
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> Check out the new Reverse Beacon Network
> web server at <http://beta.reversebeacon.net> <http://beta.reversebeacon.net>.
> For spots, please use your favorite
> "retail" DX cluster.
>
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