[RTTY] RTTY Contest Operating

[Don Hill AA5AU]

I just have a couple comments here.

First on #2 in regards to seeing your callsign at the end of the RUN exchange such as:

AD4TJ 599 001 001 AD4TJ

As Ed mentioned, and I do the same, if I believe it is necessary to put the call at the end, I will. Normally I don't, but at times I will. In last weekend's WPX RTTY contest, I saw at least two RUN stations send me a report like this:

599 034 034 AA5AU

I thought it was pretty clever actually. It fulfills what David sees as being necessary in his #2 comment. It kind of reminded me of the first time I saw someone put CQ at the end of their CQ message. I don't know if I'm going to change my RUN exchange message to this but I did find it interesting. I like seeing my call at the start of the message because it tells me right away the report is for me. Then again, I'm not so sure that is necessary.

On David's point #3, I send the serial number twice in my RUN exchange message and 3 times in my S&P exchange message:

RUN: AD4TJ 599 001 001

S&P: 599 001 001 001

In the S&P message, there is no need to send the RUN station's callsign. And notice that the S&P report is actually shorter than the RUN report.

73, Don AA5AU

-----Original Message-----
From: RTTY [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of David Tanks via RTTY
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 2:29 PM
To: RTTY Reflector
Subject: [RTTY] RTTY Contest Operating

Hello all. I have a couple of pet peeves to voice:
1. Some operators do not send the RST report that is required of some, not all, contests. I work them anyway, even though they are clearly breaking the rules to save milliseconds off of each contact


The 2016 CQ World-Wide WPX RTTY Contest
February 13-14, 2016
" IV. CONTEST EXCHANGE: RST report plus a progressive contact serial number starting with 001 for the first contact. Note: Multi-Two and Multi-Unlimited entrants use separate serial number sequences on each band. ".
2. Sometimes, there is an extended time period from when I send my call to a running station to the time that he sends my call with the report; before he starts sending the report, I have figured he hasn't heard me and send my call again. When the software finishes, I hear the running station sending a report; however, they have not set up their exchange to send the caller's call at the end of it, so all I see on my screen is " 599  123 123 " . Now, is he replying to me, or has someone snuck in there with me? Who knows? All I can do is stand by until the running station again sends the exchange, with the calling station's call displayed at the beginning. It seems a waste of time to not include the calling stations's call at the end of the exchange. 3. With excellent band conditions and signal strengths, an exchange of " AD4TJ 599 123 " may be sufficient. However, how many timjes does that happen? If just a little something interferes, then the serial number only being sent once is not enough. And, at that, sometimes they don't even send my call, just 599 123. Are they answering me, or someone else? 

I would appreciate hearing from the experienced RTTY contestors on what they think is proper, concerning these items.
73, David AD4TJ
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