[UK-CONTEST] 5NN

[Paul O'Kane]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: " Ken Eastty" <ken.g3lvp at btinternet.com>

> Sending ever report as 5NN is a pointless waste of time,
> we may as well not send reports in contest exchanges.

It's not just the fact that the report does not vary that
is pointless - it's sending a "report" in the first place.

There are many reasons.  Here are two.

1.  No report of any kind is needed on QSLs for ARRL
    awards - including DXCC.

2.  Reports are not cross-checked in the big contests.
    You can't lose points for logging a "wrong" report. 
    They could easily be checked, but it will not happen
    - for the circular reason that it's not worth doing
    when nearly all reports are 59(9).

> What really annoys me is receiving a 5NN report from a
> Dxpedition when I would really like to know how my signal
> compare with other local stations.

DXpeditions are like contests - they're in the business
of dishing out QSOs as fast as they possibly can.  They
see QSOs as no more than the two-way exchange and
acknowledgement of callsigns (even if you never give
the DX station's call).

There has to be some standard acknowledgement, and 5NN
serves that purpose very well - no one pretends its a
report.  

If you hear a DXpedition calling CQ and getting no
takers, that's when they might be willing to give
something other that 5NN.  However, you may not be
welcome if you're a dupe. 

> I think I'm going to make a point of sending every 10th.
> report as something other than 5NN or maybe not send a
> report at all,

I've tried this (in CQWW, both SSB and CW). It doesn't
work, they will just log you as 59(9) - and not lose
points.  Some contesters get very indignant if they
think you're omitting reports to gain a competitive
advantage, or doing something to slow them down.

73,
Paul EI5DI