fancy callsigns
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militaryoperator
I thought I'd gone back to the days of 2LO over the weekend.
What's with these fancy callsigns? Are peoples given callsign not good enough?
Bad enough they're re-issuing old timers calls, young voice on a G2 or early G3 call but now these.
Just can't see why. Must be getting old.
Ben G4BXD (don't even use my even older G8)
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ian hope (2E0IJH)
Please elborate, are you talking about short contest calls such as G3M, G8T, G8P, M6T etc?
Ian
M5IJH
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2020 at 9:20 PM
From: "militaryoperator via groups.io" <Military1944@...> To: "UKMicrowaves@groups.io" <UKMicrowaves@groups.io> Subject: [UKMicrowaves] fancy callsigns I thought I'd gone back to the days of 2LO over the weekend.
What's with these fancy callsigns? Are peoples given callsign not good enough?
Bad enough they're re-issuing old timers calls, young voice on a G2 or early G3 call but now these.
Just can't see why. Must be getting old.
Ben G4BXD (don't even use my even older G8)
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militaryoperator
Please elborate, are you talking about short contest calls such as G3M, G8T, G8P, M6T etc?
Ian
M5IJH
Oh, that's what they are. Well, I see now.
Yes, I guess Golf Three Mike is a vast saving in time over Golf Three Mike Tango Xray.
I'm obviously not taking this hobby seriously enough, hi.
Thanks for the pointer.
7, Be, G4B
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ian hope (2E0IJH)
This might explain better, https://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/information/scc.shtml
Ian
M5IJH
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2020 at 9:32 PM
From: "militaryoperator via groups.io" <Military1944@...> To: "UKMicrowaves@groups.io" <UKMicrowaves@groups.io> Subject: Re: [UKMicrowaves] fancy callsigns Please elborate, are you talking about short contest calls such as G3M, G8T, G8P, M6T etc?
Ian
M5IJH
Oh, that's what they are. Well, I see now.
Yes, I guess Golf Three Mike is a vast saving in time over Golf Three Mike Tango Xray.
I'm obviously not taking this hobby seriously enough, hi.
Thanks for the pointer.
7, Be, G4B
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Robin Szemeti - G1YFG
I actually think they are counterproductive. I have spent some time on weak contact with "3 character" stations trying to get the rest of their callsign.
On Mon, 5 Oct 2020 at 21:49, ian hope (2E0IJH) <ian@...> wrote:
--
Robin Szemeti - G1YFG
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ian hope (2E0IJH)
I know it's confused some M6/M7's we've taken out Contesting, But we've also often been queried about our Call sign M5IC,not many 2 letter M5's about. One of Ofcom's little funny spells when they gave them out, only should have gone to Clubs, but a few got accidentally issued to individuals, so they withdrew it completly.
Ian
M5IJH
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2020 at 11:08 PM
From: "Robin Szemeti - G1YFG" <robin@...> To: UKMicrowaves@groups.io Subject: Re: [UKMicrowaves] fancy callsigns I actually think they are counterproductive. I have spent some time on weak contact with "3 character" stations trying to get the rest of their callsign.
On Mon, 5 Oct 2020 at 21:49, ian hope (2E0IJH) <ian@...> wrote:
-- Robin Szemeti - G1YFG
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Paul G8AQA
I agree about them being counterproductive in VHF
+ contests. Too much time wasted checking them. May be ok on HF cw
contests.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Paul G8AQA
On 05/10/2020 23:08, Robin Szemeti -
G1YFG wrote:
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As a matter of principle, I think
"counterproductive" should be a matter for individual
contestants to find out. They should be free to make their own
decisions, good or bad, and then either reap the rewards or
suffer the consequences. That is surely one of the salient
features of contests. (And by the way, no-one is actually *compelled*
to waste time checking other people's short calls, except for
our own curiosity.) For my own part, on HF I noticed a huge
difference on changing from G3SEK to GM3SEK. Many operators
around the world who could easily grab a 5-character call were
asking for a repeat when it changed to 6. Elsewhere in the
world, I'm sure there is also a sense that the only people with
long callsigns are those who haven't bothered to upgrade to the
shorter callsigns that are readily available in almost every
other country, for everyday use. Therefore I'm very happy to GM3S available, at
least for such purposes as are currently allowed. On VHF/UHF
most people immediately say "Hello Ian", which suggests that a
shorter version of one's existing callsign can work well. 73 from Ian GM3SEK
On 06/10/2020 09:29, PAUL NICKALLS via
groups.io wrote:
I agree about them being counterproductive in VHF + contests. Too much time wasted checking them. May be ok on HF cw contests.
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steve G1PPA
I agree Ian
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When I use my scc most uk stations know its me On vhf/UHF I have EU stations saying oh short call nice and easy, in the 4 years I have had scc Probably had 5 or 6 ask for repeat, during busy contest I don't waste time looking people up I just log what I hear, scc works for me Steve G1PPA
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Andy
I have to agree with Ian. You should try having to live with an MM0 prefix and use Morse and then you'll know why getting shorter calls is a benefit. Also, any kind of different format call sign causes the weaker operators to make logging errors as the
call doesn't fit their preconceptions which gives them UBNs.
Assuming that a UK callsign will always be 5 or possibly 6 characters long is just poor operating. Plenty of other countries have variable length calls and it doesn't cause problems. If you want to see how poor some UK operators are, use a short call and
a club prefix and watch them struggle. The number of times my short club call sign, MS0TA, is logged as M0STA because the operator cannot cope with different prefixes or call lengths used to surprise me. Not any more, their problem not mine.
Andy
From: UKMicrowaves@groups.io <UKMicrowaves@groups.io> on behalf of Ian White <gm3sek@...>
Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2020 2:26 AM To: UKMicrowaves@groups.io <UKMicrowaves@groups.io> Subject: Re: [UKMicrowaves] fancy callsigns As a matter of principle, I think "counterproductive" should be a matter for individual contestants to find out. They should be free to make their own decisions, good or bad, and then either reap the rewards or suffer the
consequences. That is surely one of the salient features of contests. (And by the way, no-one is actually *compelled* to waste time checking other people's short calls, except for our own curiosity.) For my own part, on HF I noticed a huge difference on changing from G3SEK to GM3SEK. Many operators around the world who could easily grab a 5-character call were asking for a repeat when it changed to 6. Elsewhere in the world, I'm sure
there is also a sense that the only people with long callsigns are those who haven't bothered to upgrade to the shorter callsigns that are readily available in almost every other country, for everyday use.
Therefore I'm very happy to GM3S available, at least for such purposes as are currently allowed. On VHF/UHF most people immediately say "Hello Ian", which suggests that a shorter version of one's existing callsign can work well.
73 from Ian GM3SEK
On 06/10/2020 09:29, PAUL NICKALLS via groups.io wrote: I agree about them being counterproductive in VHF + contests. Too much time wasted checking them. May be ok on HF cw contests.
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Robin Szemeti - G1YFG
"
Not any more, their problem not mine." Except in a contest, when the loss of points is your problem, assuming you were doing it for the points and not just the fun. And same as Ian, in a busy contest I just log what I hear, I still use a paper log, not quite worked up to using Minos yet, but as mentioned, on a weak contact, when 95% of the "Gx" calls are longer, I personally find them counterproductive as I usually ask for a repeat, but as mentioned, that is up to the calling station to decide if they think it is working for them. Personally, I would not use one. Optimising your call maximum correct copy is an important part of the game for me, unless of course part of the reason for doing the contest is to get back your list of UBN's and laugh at the number of "poor operators" who have copied it incorrectly, but that's not my aim. "unexpected" calls are no problem on strong copy, it's only in weak/QRM conditions when it becomes an issue. I noticed I was often getting logged as G4YFG instead of G1 .. people were confusing the "F" of "Golf" with the "F" of "four" ... simply including a "Germany one" in the CQ call solved that one. Personally, my current assessment is that I would not use one, but if it is working for you, you go right ahead, each to their own. I've only logged one in the last handful of UKAC contests anyway.
On Tue, 6 Oct 2020 at 11:26, Andy <mm0fmf@...> wrote:
--
Robin Szemeti - G1YFG
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steve G1PPA
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Neil Smith G4DBN
Short calls really matter when you are doing a long high-rate HF
contest in run mode, but only when you can maintain a run rate
high enough to sustain a near-continuous stream of callers. If
you are working 300+ stations per hour like the top
single-operator contesters (some get over 400 - that is 9 seconds
for each completed contact), the extra 1.2 seconds to send my full
call phonetically on phone as compared with a phonetically-fast
short UK call means I could work an additional 30 stations in that
hour, assuming the supply is high enough. Assumes I send my call
once for every contact, which some don't. Even if the runs are
short, there is an advantage over a long call. The same applies
to the time spent transmitting when you are in search-and-pounce
mode. Similar thing applies in CW, also using cut digits and
sending "dit dahdit dahdit" at 50wpm for "599" saves enough time
to make it worth the risk of confusion. Allowing short calls for
UK stations levels the field a bit when you are competing
internationally. Running two radios concurrently in an HF contest with a short call, big antennas and QRO is an entirely different game than trying to drag some information out of EME-level fleeting aircraft reflections, where the contact might take 20 minutes to complete, although the number of times I've heard an A/S report coming back as "golf four delta bravo november five one zero...." then fade to noise, is definitely non-zero. Short calls might have been a help there. I used to enjoy HF contesting, but with synthesized voice and all the technology, it is just turning into video gaming. I logged the last couple of contacts in the last UKAC on paper
because of a PC glitch, and ended up with a UBN because I missed a
/P when I transcribed the contacts. I thought short calls couldn't be used in UKACs? Perhaps they can
be used but not make an entry? There is a list of calls issued and
the contests where they can be used at https://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/information/scc.shtml Neil G4DBN (I have never played a video game, nor have I ever seen Star Wars)
On 06/10/2020 12:06, Robin Szemeti -
G1YFG wrote:
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