[UK-CONTEST] AFS

[G3SJJ]

Exactly Stewart. To most us, it is just that, rhythm at any speed, and 
irritating if any part of the message is speeded up or down.

For 99.999999% of the time adjusting speed of canned messages is a waste 
and can work against you. The only exception is in something like CQWW 
CW and you are D4B or CT1BOH etc, operating for the full 48 hours at a 
sending speed of around 40 wpm. Then, speeding up 5NN or Test could 
bring you in a few more QSOs and mults, so you might just beat your 
competition. In those circumstance, after all the financial and physical 
effort of you and your support team, you will need to cut any corners 
you can, hence 5NNN etc. (I have read the various articles in ARRL 
National Contest Journal, they are probably available on-line.)

I would reckon in all other circumstances, speeding up would have a 
negative effect. Perhaps the only contest where there just might be some 
merit is IOTA, where the exchange is relatively lengthy. I know when 
operating at GU8D there was always the feeling when running CW that we 
were wasting our time and the caller's with a lengthy exchange, even 
when abbreviated to, for example, 5NN 2A8N EUAA4. Problem there is that 
unlike CQWW CW, many IOTA participants don't even know what "cut 
numbers" means, never mind being able to translate them at 30+ wpm.

I think the bottom line is, unless you are really, really certain that 
speeding up Test, 5NN etc is going to put you into an award winning 
situation then it really is of no use.

73 Chris G3SJJ


Stewart Rolfe wrote:
> To me morse is about rhythm at whatever speed it is sent and I find all 
> this speeding up and down stuff quite irritating - has anyone actually 
> worked out how much time is saved using this 'technique'.......or rather 
> how many extra contacts it produces?
>
> Just wondering.....
>
> Stewart Rolfe, GW0ETF
>
>   
Nick Totterdell wrote:
> Chris wrote
>
> "Two things I won't do - speed my callsign up on CW because it might
> deter callers who find it irritating and leave out my callsign in the
> "TU G3SJJ" / Thanks G3SJJ message because I want callers to know who I
> am. Everything else is fair game."
>
> I agree, Chris, speeding up your callsign would be a little
> counterproductive! Talk of "speeding up" is not appropriate; I propose
> that the way forward is to "slow down" the bits that people actually
> have to read (callsign and exchange - particularly in contests such as
> the Ropoco series) but to send the other "noise" (5nn, test, tu, beru,
> etc.) at normal speed. :-)
>
> Nick G4FAL