[RTTY] RTTY Cut Numbers

[Kok Chen]

One approach to an RTTY contest is to send a checksum with the exchange.

Even a single character checksum will be reassuring to a recipient of the exchange, especially if the checksum is computed over the entire exchange, thus includes the callsign of the recipient, if the callsign was also sent as part of the exchange.

Add a checksum, and gone are the days when you have to send "AA5AU 599 123 123 " or "AA5AU 599 OR OR " and instead just send something like "(AA5AU 123)X" or "(AA5AU OR)X", where X is the checksum character, which is just another Baudot character.  (You can even remove the newline character at the end of an exchange, HI HI.)

Or, "HNY 2016 DON (123)X", so the checksum only applies to the important part of the exchange.

Someone who is not using a compliant program, or who is using a real teletypewriter, can send a non-checksummed exchange.  Recipients who don't care can ignore that checksum character.

RTTY is a machine encoded/decoded data mode, why not take advantage of it?  We are basically today still using antiquated CW technology to send RTTY exchanges.

73
Chen, W7AY