[RTTY] RU macros - my views

[David Levine]

"The lost CQ", if it means the run station not adding "CQ" at the end of
their CQ macro, it's my #1 item.

Eg:
CQ RU XX1XX XX1XX

vs

CQ RU XX1XX XX1XX CQ

As an enthusiastic S&P'er I run into this over and over throughout the
contest as I tune the dial and just catch XX1XX XX1XX and don't know if
they are calling CQ or calling the CQing station. So I (S&P'er) and they
(RUN) stations need to wait or, as the contest runs on, I just send my call
anyway. Almost always, they were the RUN station and come back to me. But
there are 10-15 secs of wasted time for both of us that could be avoided if
a simple CQ was just added to the end.

I guess if that's my biggest concern, it's a good day and I have really
nothing to complain about!

K2DSL - David



On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 11:58 AM, iw1ayd - Salvatore Irato <iw1ayd at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi all.
> Phil you are absolutely and undoubtedly right.  Let me and us smile a
> little bit around it. As it seems that having had on hands all that best
> practices paper about RTTY & Contesting leave a lot of us still in doubt to
> experiment more and more. I think that what you have seen is just somebody
> coming out with new ideas and testing it. Could we smile a bit around this?
>
> Well, maybe some strange answer here pictured have they root in the small
> number of macro buttons ... some loggers, you know ...
>
> I'd also seen a lot of strange things happening over and over looking at
> the used on air macros. (Unfortunately I could not see all mines from a
> third party perspective, so I must exercise my writing with cautions ...)
>
> The last WAE a lot of Western operator, mean more than a handful over
> thousand QSO's, broken into the QSO  "answering" at their first step with
> the exchange. I have to hold on the line, maybe you know why.
> Often Eastern operators start theirs answer with such things like short
> ASCII art prints. Fully of dots and parentheses, sometimes also asterisks.
> That's a great flavorful add on, isn't?
> There are other samples from other places, Martians?
> The lost CQ at the end. The TEST start forgotten and replaced by the
> Contest name when not required by the rules. The use of the "-" instead of
> spaces in between letters (often is preferably a better composition of the
> two like 599 - 000 - 000 - ). Exchanges with a lot of inexpensive CR/LF  -
> sometimes several of those, at the end, but also doubling it at the start,
> of every macro string. Not to forgot the DE, the BK, the SK placed as
> stones where are not needed ... all those things and several others are
> quite normal practice. It doesn't matter, I should pray for myself, I know.
> One of the worst thing, but it is my personal view, is when I ask NR? or
> STATE?  I get back  the complete full exchange at least the 99% of times. I
> know my call, I know the 599, I would like a lot to have back just the
> exchange data field content, that holy number or string whatever is it.
> Maybe repeated some more time than just two or one again. But, please, not
> the obvious bricks. Why not? I am just asking for it ... isn't? NR? JUST
> NUMBER? But AGN AGN doesn't give better results ..
>  What to say about those good guys that send in 599 EXCH 599 EXCH ... is
> the 599 so important out of it is almost ever required? Do I need to take
> so care of it to have it two or more times?
> Last but not least, this is most often and Eastern operators feature ...
> IW1AYD IW1AYD DE XX#YYY XX#YYY XX#YYY ...
> Well I know what it is, maybe. Not having such confidence on response
> timing at the call of any other station they erroneously think that taking
> the whole time of the universe could give better result.
> I have the same syndrome, I admit, usually in the last hour of any
> contest, when tired and S&P usually on 40m for US calls.
> Time to time I also fire two time MY2 trowing my stone in the pile. Take
> the good timings when tired and everytging seem in a hurry isn't so easy.
> But best results are when I am able to fire my MY2 (BTW, {TX}{CRLF}{MYCALL}
> {MYCALL} {RX}) depending on the 2/3 things that rules at the time. But I
> must perceive those rules, there is just some US operator or I am competing
> also with another from somewhere other place. Do I listen the other
> callers? etc. etc.
> But usually I get those IW1AYD IW1AYD DE XX#YYY XX#YYY XX#YYY anytime in
> the contest.
>
> Last but not least, timings to ask a repeat. Out of how to ask a repeat,
> as I often RUN. It's a nightmare when clock ticks flow after I send in my
> exchange as the first and there is the silence. A silence often so noisy
> that the headphones start orbit around my poor head. I often start my
> HISCALL and REPeatRAPPORT (*). ... or only the second macro of those.
> With weak signals it pay usually, at fringe band times. But sometime I
> have to use the ESC key to sto my starting TX as I perceive a late answer
> ... late, subjectively, is more than 5/7 seconds.
> I would need a secondary keyboard with just the ESC key for the left hand.
> Like tose big red emergency pushbutton ... preferably working in a reverse
> way. If I left hand push it everything is OK. If a leave the left hand the
> TX will stop or will never start.
>
> I am pretty sure that several other of us may have several other example.
> But I still hope that there will be a Contest where the committee will
> force the exchange to be XX#YYY please copy 599 ### ###. I empathize a lot
> and I am delighted when I get such answer thinking to an old gentleman
> there in the shack that'is really willingly to get my call into his log.
> That's wrong AFAIK, I see please copy no more than one time in two years
> ... but it is much better that those PeSKy <:-) macros I could watch flown
> each day on air. JT modes, on that side, are much better.
>
> Hope not to have been too hard on those. All aren't do bad ... but often
> all those wrong things are mixed together and there is no time to hold on
> as to stay on track ... but also this is a contester exercise, isn't?
>
> Hope that this poor exercise will fill some more water holes about the
> subject matter. But at least also some of you are laughing, I see. Just
> happy to have reached, so hard, the end here?
>
>      HNY lately but sincerely.
>
>           73 de iw1ayd Salvo
>
> *) often I get question on what that macro label means: REPRAPP ... Both
> guest operators and also usual operators, at IQ1RY, look at it as a small
> and furry animal. It's that unclear? REPeatRAPPort
>
>