FW: [RTTY] Re: Contest Happenings??

[Dick Kriss, AA5VU]

The following is a copy of my reply to Bill, W5WRT, this morning. I did not
realize at the time he had posted it to this RTTY reflector.  Please do not
jump Chen, W7AY, because of my experiment.  I noticed some operators sending
the ACKs of the report mid way into the contest so I changed the W7AY
contest macros to use the %X function. From the early reflector comments I
though sending the ACK for a number only contest like the Sprint was
appreciated. 

I am a newbie to contesting and learn from W6WRT and others in each contest.
I will tighten up the exchanges and ditch the %X ACKs for the next contest.

Dick- AA5VU

------ Forwarded Message
From: "<Dick Kriss>" , AA5VU <aa5vu at arrl.net>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 10:28:49 -0600
To: <dezrat1242 at ispwest.com>
Subject: Re: [RTTY] Re: Contest Happenings??

On 1/26/05 8:58 AM, "Bill Turner" <dezrat1242 at ispwest.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 24 Jan 2005 22:07:08 -0600, Dick Kriss, AA5VU wrote:
> 
>> One new item added to cocoaModem by W7AY was the
>> %X macro that would respond with the received report.
> ___________________________________________________________
> 
> If I understand you correctly, the %X macro would REPEAT my report
> back to me?  Please, never never do this during a contest.  During a
> ragchew is ok, but during a contest it is too easy to misinterpret it
> as YOUR report, not mine.  All I need is an acknowledgement, not the
> actual report.
> 
> If I have misunderstood your meaning, please forgive.


Bill - W6WRT, 

About half way through the BARTG Sprint I tried out the new %X cocoaModem
macro function and it seemed to work good.  I tried it in both CQ and S&P
modes.  In the S&P mode I would respond to a QRZ with

DE AA5VU AA5VU

The calling station would usually send my call and a number (555) three
times and my one and only response was

N5UWY/9 TNX 555 UR 181 181 181 de AA5VU

No additional response was necessary. I could have tightened the macro by
deleting the UR but wanted to separate the ACK from his report so they would
not be confused. Nobody seemed confused by my response and from the
reflector comments most seemed to appreciate the ACK.

In the CQ mode my response to a station would be

N5UWY/9 QSL 555 ES TNX
QRZ de AA5VU

This could have been shorted to

N5UWY/9 QSL 555 TU
QRZ de AA5VU

I was under the impression (at the time) that most liked to see an ACK of
their report for a number only exchange contest like the Sprint.  I agree
ACKing a 599 would be a waste.

BTW, Chen, W7AY, did not include the %X command function in his suggested
cocoaModem contest macros.  I added the %X function to my contest macros
exchange mid way through the contest to try it out the new function.

Thanks the comment and I will exercise care in the use of the %X command in
the future.  Short exchanges are better and I will try to tighten mine up
for the next contest.

Like I mentioned in the reflector posting the problem I had was with people
sending number reports with no spaces or dashes. (1811811818 or 181-181-181
or 599-181181) The simple space and CRs are good and really help.

I hope to work you in the next one and appreciate you taking the time to
write. After action comments are good as we all learn something in each
contest.


73 de Dick - AA5VU


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