[RTTY] Dashes in Contest Reports

[Bill, W6WRT]

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:08:36 -0600, Peter Laws <plaws0 at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>By my count, that's 14 characters in the first instance and 12
>characters in the second.  So how does using the first one save time?
>It's 17% longer!  Also, since I'm sending 17% more characters,
>wouldn't there be a higher chance of some sort of interference
>stomping one of my bits?

REPLY:

Two answers:

Sending the first macro (without dashes) saves time overall by
reducing the number of requests for a repeat. It takes about 1/3 of a
second longer to send, but a repeat request would take far longer than
that. 

Second, when sending more characters, you reduce the chance of BOTH
characters being garbled, thus increasing the chance that at least one
of the exchanges will print correctly. 

It's a tradeoff - ask yourself which is more important: Saving 1/3 or
a second on transmit or increasing the probability that your macro
will print correctly? Myself, I opt for correctness.

Your call. 

73, Bill W6WRT