[RTTY] dashes vs. no dashes

[Bill Turner]

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

At 02:45 PM 12/31/2005, Chuck Brudtkuhl wrote:
>Well, its been awhile since I've participated in RTTY contesting but 
>am really puzzled as to why everyone is requesting a sig rpt of 
>(e.g.) 599 04 vs. 599-04.  If my recollection is correct, we'd 
>always include dashes to avoid sync errors or some such.  My 
>recollection is that I'd be cursing those that used spaces, vs. 
>those that used dashes.  Someone bring me up to speed?
>


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Actually, it's just the opposite. NOT using dashes helps with sync. 
With UnShift On Space enabled, the default in nearly all TNCs and 
software, whenever a space is sent, the transmitter also sends a LTRS 
character. When the receiver gets the space, it also resets itself to 
LTRS mode. So in an exchange such as 599 TX TX TX the RX resets 
itself three times, once for each space. Whenever the QRM/QRN is 
heavy, this is a huge help keeping both rigs synchronized.

The only thing dashes does is speed up the transmission because the 
extra LTRS character is not sent. You pay the price though, in more 
requests for repeats.

73, Bill W6WRT