[RTTY] Two NA Sprint Questions

[W0MU Mike Fatchett]

And the key to know who's frequency it is in sprint is by the way the
exchange should be done.  

Example:

Me:  CQ NA W0MU W0MU CQ NA

ED: W0YK W0YK

ME: W0YK W0MU 1 MIKE CO   His call then my call says W0YK called W0MU 

ED: W0MU 12 ED CA W0YK    Having ED's call at the end makes it obvious that
W0YK will be taking over the frequency.

ME:  TU QSY....  I might drop the QSY.  I thought is was nice touch and
helps to tell the world W0MU is departing.  Mixed about this.

Now not everyone follows this same pattern so you have be listening.  I
missed out on a few contacts because I was not sure who was taking over and
I had worked one of the two stations.

Mike W0MU

"A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may
never get over." Ben Franklin
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Muns [mailto:w0yk at msn.com] 
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 4:15 PM
To: 'W0MU Mike Fatchett'
Cc: 'reflector, rtty'
Subject: RE: [RTTY] Two NA Sprint Questions

Regarding 'CQ' at the end of the Sprint S&P Exchange message, W0MU writes:
> I am on board.  I don't think I had the CQ at the end of my message.  
> I tried to look but I forgot to save my key file in N1MM and what I 
> was using is gone.

Well, I'll confess that I've had the 'CQ' at the end of my S&P Exchange
message for the last few Sprints and I don't know what I was thinking.
Clearly, I wasn't thinking.  I've been doing CW and SSB Sprints for decades
and should know better.  I lulled myself into following the RTTY practice
from other messages of putting the 'CQ' at the end but overlooked the fact
that the Sprint S&P Exchange message is not the end of the QSO.  Despite
this error, it has worked reasonably well on RTTY because in the past few
stations have been quick on the uptake.  I almost always heard enough of the
'TU' or 'QSL' or 'QSY' to be certain the other station had my exchange.
However, now that RTTY contest QSOs are clickin' along like CW, we need to
be careful about old RTTY practices.

> I would also like to ask that stations please only send the exchange 
> information once.
> 
> I can understand the number maybe twice but not the whole exchange.
> 
> I was QRP 5 watts and I sent my exchange once.  On 80 I had to send a 
> few more repeats but overall I was not asked for many fills.

This is a good testimonial for reasonably short exchanges.  Like other
things in contesting, though, "it depends" on the particular situation.  If
I sense that the other station is not copying me well, I may repeat the
exchange just to give the added assurance of clear copy.  Also, this is more
important the first time you work a station in the Sprint because subsequent
QSOs usually have the prior (stable) exchange info come up in the logger.

Ed - W0YK