Components of CQ WW DX Contest exchanges?

[K7JG]

What are the typical components and sequences of CQ WW DX Contest exchanges?

As an infrequent (and slow) user of Morse Code working on improving, I'm attempting to recognize components. Knowing the required exchange, I'm also hearing for example something that sounds like 'test'.

Thanks.

73,
John K7JG.

[KB3LIX]

Exchange for CQ WW CW is simple.

RST & Zone

(RST is ALWAYS 5nn) and in my case, Zone 5

[K7JG]

Sorry about the misleading title, which I can't edit. I'm asking what else is commonly in exchanges besides the required core '5nn zone'.

For example, I hear 'test' frequently, which is likely a mistake on my part. What is it really? The presence of an 'sn' I can understand. :-)

[KB3LIX]

Test is just CW shorthand for contest.
Quicker than CONTEST....Much quicker.

[N2MG]

You shouldn't be hearing "test" as part of the exchange.  Part of a "CQ" maybe.  That said...


The classic CW shortcut for 599 is 5nn but sometimes speed demons shorten that to "snn"
Further, there's the use of "cut" numbers for the zone - like a "T" for a zero - which is very common.

So...maybe you heard "T4" for (zone) "04" ?  Was it a statesider giving the exchange?

[W5DQ]

You shouldn't be hearing "test" as part of the exchange.  Part of a "CQ" maybe.  That said...


The classic CW shortcut for 599 is 5nn but sometimes speed demons shorten that to "snn"
Further, there's the use of "cut" numbers for the zone - like a "T" for a zero - which is very common.

So...maybe you heard "T4" for (zone) "04" ?  Was it a statesider giving the exchange?

Since it appears you might not know much about CW shorthand (ie cut numbers), some other cut numbers commonly used:

Cut # = Actual Meaning
----------------------
A = 1
T = 0
N = 9
K = 1000 (in the case of power levels as part of the exchange - however not used in the CQWW CW test)

so a commonly seen exchange in the CQW CW contest might be  '5nn t3 t3' which is 5 9 9 (standard contest RST) followed by '03 03' which would be Zone 3 (western US/Canada). Much quicker to send 'T' than 'Ø'.

Also as mentioned, 'TEST' is just a shorthand for 'CONTEST' and is easy to hear I think. My ears listen for TEST rather then CONtest. In fact my ringtone on my cellphone is 20WPM "CQ TEST W5DQ" which I can hear in a noisy environment much better any other ringtone I've tried.

Gene W5DQ

[NQ3X]

There were some sending "ENN" for "599" as well.  (I was one, at least part of the time, while running.  ) 

Cut numbers are a huge part of contesting, especially for European stations, in my experience.  North American hams tend to only use cut "5nn" and "o5" or "t5".  I heard all kinds of cut numbers - and excessive code speeds - out of Eastern Europe.

Tangent - if you're blazing so fast that you have to fill every QSO, turn the damn speed down.  If you're the only person who can run at 50wpm, you're going to waste more time than you save by having to ask for fills every (or every other) QSO.  I ran at between 28 and 34wpm all weekend and seldom had problems.  If readability was suffering, I turned the speed down.  It surprises me that some of the most well-known callsigns in modern contesting were suffering from this.

Cheers,

Bob WP2XX

[W3HKK]

You're right!  50 HZ is entirely too close to operate.  Of course, he may not be hearing any/all of the stations  you do.  That's a dilemma on HF.  It's different from VHF. And there are no easy answers. 

If you are hearing stations 50 KHZ away, check the noise blanker and turn it off.   That's the usual cause of splatter for me, but admittedly during contests  a fair number of guys overdo the processing.  Receivers do a lot better job of rejecting adjacent channel interference that way.   Even attenuation ( the thingie that when pushed shows 6dB 12dB 18dB etc  or a fixed degree of  signal reduction can help reduce adjacent signal splatter.

Try to go with the flow.

[N3QE]

There were some sending "ENN" for "599" as well.  (I was one, at least part of the time, while running.  ) 

Cut numbers are a huge part of contesting, especially for European stations, in my experience.  North American hams tend to only use cut "5nn" and "o5" or "t5".  I heard all kinds of cut numbers - and excessive code speeds - out of Eastern Europe.

Just to set a good example: There is no need to send "05", "o5", or "T5". CQ zone for Eastern NA is simply "5".

Listen to good CW sprint style sometime. There is no need for cut numbers, there is no need for padding zeroes/"T"s before a number, and you will not find any better contesters than the sprinters.

Tim.