[RTTY] Cut Numbers Revisited

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

> I had one station in Ohio (I won't give his call) that was sending a
 > report of TOO 9h. When I asked his State he kept repeating 9h.

Those weren't CUT NUMBERS - your decoder was in the wrong LTRS/FIGS
shift.  Check the top two rows of the keyboard to see the relationship
between 1/q, 2/w, 3/e, 4/r, 5/t, 6/y, 7/u, 8/i, 9/o and 0/p ...

> I was just about ready to send him a NIL (Not in Log) response in
> the contest when he sent me OHIO. Nobody should have to spend time
> when running or S&Ping to try to figure out what somebody is sending.

If you do any serious amount of RTTY you learn to recognize when the
shift is wrong and translate yourself.  Several of the better programs
will do the conversion automatically if one uses shift-click or
hovers the mouse in the correct area of the screen.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 1/7/2014 4:12 PM, DickT-W0RAA wrote:
> I am somewhat mystified why RTTY contesters send TOO for 599 in a RTTY
> Contest or 5NN.  Are they
> saving anything (characters or time)?
>
> I had one station in Ohio (I won't give his call) that was sending a report
> of TOO 9h.  When I asked his State
> he kept repeating 9h.  Finally he sends OHIO.  This was the RTTY RU contest.
>
> I looked him up on QRZ and dropped him an e-mail and mentioned (politely)
> that a 9h was a little confusing
> and that he may not be aware that he was sending CUT numbers.  I suggested
> he check his program (I suspect
> he was using N1MM and had a box checked to send CUT numbers).  He replied in
> an e-mail "OK".
>
> I was just about ready to send him a NIL (Not in Log) response in the
> contest when he sent me OHIO.  Nobody
> should have to spend time when running or S&Ping to try to figure out what
> somebody is sending.  It breaks
> the rhythm in a contest and slows things down.  I guess I'll just have to
> learn that OH is 9h.  Duh!!!!!  I wonder
> what the CUT number is for FL or AL or LA, etc, etc?
>
> It would be great if all of these hotshot ops would drop the cut numbers and
> send just plain English.
>
> SOAPBOX OFF.
>
> Dick
> W0RAA
>
> _______________________________________________
> RTTY mailing list
> RTTY at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rtty
>