Thought I would jump in. First Scott, as you know, KB4KBS is a handicap in itself. Do whatever it takes to earn and get a 1X2, 2X2 or 2X1. While getting vanity calls in the 4^th district is hard – if you can, try for one that does not end in a dit. My latest problem is the dit on the end of my last “G” is getting missed by some skimmers and reporting me as N4GM. I am starting to dislike skimmers a lot…..

I’m with Lee. In your situation, never send an exchange until the guy comes back with your correct call. Keep at it as long as it takes. The fact that you come back with only your call and no exchange tells the other guy he has it wrong.

I’m also with Lee on speed. I can copy calls and exchanges at 50 WPM, but I don’t. I have my speed settings in 2 WPM increments, some of the best contesters set up in thee WPM increments. I spent 30% of my time at 31 WPM, probably 60% of my time at 29 WPM, and the last 10% hand keying with a keyer I have in parallel with the computer at speeds down to 15 WPM. Under really tough conditions I was at 15 WPM on 160 at times. Also, there was tremendous backscatter and multipath on 10 and 15 at times (sounds like echos). There you may need to slow down a lot to get your call through.

When I can tell the other guy is really struggling with the front or back of my call, I will send that part alone several times: N4GG, GG, GG, GG. That usually does the trick and I will probably cut the speed down when I have to do that.

If you were logged wrong on the other end, you get the Q and the other guy gets a busted call which includes loss of the Q for him plus a penalty for him. You are fine.

Lee has had the problem most of us have with domestic Qs. The other guy may not log you. This is poor sportsmanship and a long story unto itself.

My best advice – slow down.

73,

Hal N4GG

On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 7:24 AM , Scott Straw <scottstraw@mindspring.com> wrote:

One thing that I noticed during CQWW this past weekend is a worrisome number of times that my call was repeated back to be as KB4KBH, not the correct KB4KBS. At 30-35WPM-plus, that fourth dit somehow mysteriously seemed to appear in my transmission.

I know it wasn't op error at my end; N1MM did ALL of my sending at that speed (a transmission rate dictated by the CQ-ing station, not by me).

Why send so fast if your experience shows folks have a problem with the S? I spent most of the weekend varying between 29 and 31 wpm according to N1MM. The other alternative is to slightly slow down the sending of the last letter, say by 2 or 3 wpm if it proves to be a problem for some.

My SOP was to send my call until recognized, then to send a signal report, my CQ zone, and then my call once again (599 {EXCH} * for those who understand N1MM macros).

That's a problem. If the station thinks he's got your call right, once he's heard the exchange, he's on to the next QSO. If you must send your call to let him know that there's a problem, do it before the exchange - no, not procedurally correct historically, but a necessary modification for the contest.

If I heard them recognize me wrong, I would patiently send my complete call again until they sent it correctly. Alas, I fear I may have missed one or two.

Just make sure your callsign is sent back to you correctly before you send the exchange. Once you send the exchange, the Q is done.

So, for the small fraction of stations that heard the phantom extra pip and logged my call wrong, I suppose I'll get a NIL, right?

I reckon. If they have a U+1, the CQWW software may let you slide. I don't know what their policy is these days. I do know that I've been penalized by the CQWW committee for a QSO with a US MM station that the US MM didn't log. I lost a double mult and they got no penalty for being lids.

73 de Lee
--
Lee Hiers, AA4GA
www.aa4ga.com