[VHFcontesting] NA Contest Mode in contests....

[Marshall-K5QE]

Hello everyone...while testing our new FT8 station today, I noticed that 
a very large number of people were still sending the "funny little 
numbers".  Now I know that we are not in the contest yet, but I want to 
remind everyone that in the contest, we need GRIDS not +02.  I saw a lot 
of folks that were answering calls by sending K5QE K3XYZ +02 as their 
first transmission.  This it Tx2 if you are not using the contest mode.  
SO, I never got a grid from K3XYZ, because he never sent one.

PLEASE, PLEASE, please be sure to use the NA Contst Mode in the 
contests.  If you don't, a LOT of contacts will be fouled and a lot of 
points lost.  When one station uses the contest mode and the other one 
does not, the software does not handle it well and contacts do NOT 
proceed properly.

I would invite you to read an article that I wrote on this for ARRL some 
months ago.  The link is:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9l5oeiir4inn4x6/Contesting%20and%20Digital%20Modes.doc?dl=0

There is some dated information there as Joe has updated the program a 
bit since that was written, but the main points are still valid.  IN a 
contest, we need GRIDS.....please be sure that you are sending yours.

Thanks es GL in the contest....

Marshall K5QE