[RTTY] CR or QRZ: Seconds vs Minutes

[Ktfrog007 at aol.com]

Hi,
 
Some of this discussion is due to the divide between the so-called Big  
Guns and the little pistols.  The former are the top tier big stations with  
big signals and big ambitions, while the latter are smaller stations  with 
smaller signals and more modest ambitions.  In  addition, there are the Sunday 
afternoon contesters who jump in for fun and  maybe don't even know the 
rules.  Some don't even use macros for the  exchange.
 
The Big Guns get most of their Qs by running where cumulative fractions of  
seconds are important.  The little pistols rely more on S&P and think  more 
in terms of minutes.
 
I'm in the second category.  In the Roundup, my first four hour  rates 
were: 36, 35, 29, 28.  For the whole contest it was 27/hour.   The longest run 
was 31 Qs in 38 minutes.  For me that was good since my  overall goal was 
18/hour, but you can see where I get a different mind  set.   So, in direct 
answer to your question, I can maybe work three  more stations in 5.6 minutes, 
but that's not your point.  The question is:  how many you could work?  
Quite a few, I know.
 
I never thought much about this until I followed this thread.  I  certainly 
have never wanted to slow down any station, including my own.   
Consequently, I've tightened up some of my macros, but left some the same.   With my 
small signal I need to make sure my info (my call and the non-RST  part of the 
exchange) gets through.  I repeat more because of that.  I  let my 
experience guide me here and sometimes change my macros during the  contest as 
conditions change.  If I repeat info, it's because I  want YOU to get it right 
for your score's sake.
 
The friendliest I've ever been was in my running  macro:  W6XXX TU 73 AB1J 
QRZ
which I've changed to  TU W6XXX AB1J CQ
 
Dropping the 73 may speed me up, but it doesn't make me a better person.  
;-))
 
Under marginal conditions I often repeat my call in this macro.  
 
I appreciate the discussions on this reflector and want to thank everyone  
for all the Qs over the last couple of years.  I could kick myself for  not 
discovering RTTY long ago.  I only got into RTTY when they took  away the 
licensing CW requirement and I decided I'd better get into the 21st  century 
and get digital (baudal?).
 
Right now my biggest problem is digging out from a massive snow  storm.  
It's been snowing for 15 hours and is still coming down.  I  periodically go 
out to try to keep ahead of it and come back in looking like a  Yeti.  If you 
don't hear from me for a while, send out a big St Bernard  with some brandy.
 
73,
Kermit (aka Ken), AB1J
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 1/12/2011 5:09:05 P.M. GMT Standard Time,  
dezrat1242 at yahoo.com writes:

REPLY:

If you call CQ 2000 times in a contest, saving one  character gives you
an extra 5.6 minutes. How many more stations can you  work in 5.6
minutes? 

The very first RTTY contest I ever entered I  won CQ Zone 3. The second
place station was behind me by one mult or four  Qs. A lesson I never
forgot. 

73, Bill  W6WRT