[CQ-Contest] Should we drop 'CQ TEST'?

[Ben Coleman NJ8J]

A few weekends ago, there were 3 different overlapping (time-wise) 
contests going on with a World-works-World format, where, for the 
stations who weren't in the sponsoring country, the exchanges were 
identical.  Since you don't *have* to work stations in the sponsoring 
country, calling 'CQ TEST' can get potentially confusing.  If you're in 
a non-sponsoring-country and you respond to a 'CQ TEST' from a station 
also in a non-sponsoring-country, which contest are you actually 
participating in?  It's quite possible that you think the QSO counts for 
one of the contests, and the other station thinks it's for a different 
contest.  I can see this leading to NIL penalties because he has the QSO 
logged in one contest, and you have it logged in another.

Perhaps we should be discouraging the use of 'CQ TEST' unless for a 
major contest (CQ DX, CQ WPX, IARL, etc) where there's not much doubt 
which contest you're participating in, and prefer contest-specific CQs?

Ben
-- 
Ben Coleman nj8j at benshome.net
Radiating from Bedsprings Brigade Manor