[RTTY] Buffer Follow-up and P38 Question

[Richard Ferch]

I agree with Jim.

It's true that, assuming everyone is using USOS, 599 123 123 takes a bit
longer than 599-123-123. The difference is less than one second. However, as
Jim points out, the extra shift characters make it more likely that the
station on the other end will receive the exchange as sent without having to
do anything extra to decipher the wrong case. If that first FIGS character
is lost to noise, the guy on the other end only has to lose a fraction of a
second thinking about what to do to completely wipe out the time advantage.
And some stations, especially these days with lots of newbies on RTTY, will
simply ask for a repeat. The cost of even one repeat every five or ten QSOs
will overwhelm any advantage you get from the slightly faster exchange with
dashes. In general, anything you do that slows the other guy down means on
average that the overall QSO takes longer, even if your end of it is faster.
To me that implies that a few extra shift characters and spaces between
elements of the exchange will probably pay off in a higher overall rate.

My 2 cents' worth (2 cents Canadian is barely worth 1 cent US these days,
though!).

73,
Rich VE3IAY