Like any contest, correctly copying the other guy’s callsign is essential to getting point credit for the QSO. In WPX RTTY, copying the callsign incorrectly will not only lose credit for the QSO, but also result in “an additional penalty of the QSO point value for the contact.” (WPX RTTY Rule XIII. C. 3.). Callsign accuracy is heavily weighted in the rules and we’ll emphasize repeating callsigns in our optimized exchanges, up until the point that both callsigns have been acknowledged.
All modes of the WPX contests all involve an exchange of serial numbers, and accurately receiving and effectively sending these sequential numbers is necessary to earn QSO credit. In WPX RTTY, you’ll lose point credit for the QSO — but not get any penalty beyond that — for incorrectly copying a serial number. Note that unlike many other contests for which your logger may be able to prefill the CQ zone, or a history file may provide a prefill for name and state, there is no prefill ever available for a serial number. This guarantees that if you’re on for the WPX contests in any mode you’ll be putting in more effort than in a prefill-oriented contest.
In addition to the call and serial number, the WPX exchange also requires an RST report (e.g. 599). Although our contest software assumes an automatic 599 for every QSO, the RST is a
