CW Callsign Weight - Does it really matter?

[WN9HJW]

I'm referring to the so-called callsign weight, which gives a relative measure of how long it takes to send your callsign. A calculator for this is here: http://www.radioqth.net/cwweight.aspx

The callsign weights of my call and previous calls are:

NN4RH 50
AI4CB 54
KG4WNE 62
WN9HJW 78

So for example this means that it would take about 56% longer to send WN9HJW than NN4RH.

OK. But does that really matter? If so, under what circumstances? Does having a shorter callsign give any advantage in a ragchew or casual conversation? I doubt it. How about contests?

Maybe in a DX pileup? Well, maybe. But there are so many other factors - propagation, power, antenna gain, skill at anticipating the frequency that the DX will be listening at, etc... - does having a shorter callsign really make you any more successful?

Does anyone think that having a longer callsign might be an advantage in any circumstances?

Just something I was wondering about and wondered if anyone had any strong opinions about it either way.

[A71AN]

I am not sure if this unit is correct or wrong.

My calls

A71CW 70
A71AN 60

[W0IS]

I weigh in at 48. The lowest you can get in Zero Land is 38. The lowest you can get in the U.S. is AE5E or N5EE at 28.

Frankly, I don't think it's that big a deal. When you get a call like mine, with a lot of dits, it's easy to mistake it as "IH". That's probably less likely to happen with a call with a greater "weight".

[K0RGR]

I think there are other factors. At 66, K0RGR is much longer than my old call, WF0H (56) and N6FF (46). N6FF was by far my best CW call, but it was horrible on phone, as was WF0H. I find that the 'K' and the two 'R's in my call get through really well on both CW and phone.

[K9XR]

I weigh in at 48. The lowest you can get in Zero Land is 38. The lowest you can get in the U.S. is AE5E or N5EE at 28.

Frankly, I don't think it's that big a deal. When you get a call like mine, with a lot of dits, it's easy to mistake it as "IH". That's probably less likely to happen with a call with a greater "weight".

Sometimes I think the "swing" of a call is more important than the size of it. The main thing I have learned over the years is that having a "K" on the end of your call can create a whole new problem on CW, especially in a high speed, high volume sitiuation. It just doesn't work in a contest or when chasing DXpeditions. You should see some of the qsls with botched calls i used to get.

[NE3R]

NE3R = 38

It is OK - makes it easy to send. Advantage? I don't know, don't contest seriously.

73 de Joseph Durnal Ne3R

[N0NB]

N0NB is 50, my old call KA0RNY is 76.

It was a consideration when picking a new call and I like the rhythm of each character starting with a dah.

[K7MH]

If nothing else, a shorter callsign will lessen the chance of someone getting the call incorrectly logged and the QRM or QSB being a problem in a pileup. Just less information to transfer.
Biggest difference is on phone with phonetics.

[K0HB]

For CW contesting it is commonly accepted that a call ought to be short (fewer number of characters) but more importantly have "high average power" in the suffix, and that "repeated character" suffixes are very desirable. Thus a call ending in TT, for example would be more desireable than one ending in EE. Suffixes like mine (HB) containing many dits are more likely to be mis-copied, since the dits seem to get lost in the noise.

Thus calls ending in TT, MM, or OO are considered more desirable than "dit laden" suffixes like HB, IS, EI, SH, etc.

[W6ONV]

I was 68 with KC5NWR and improved to 60 with W6ONV. Not sure it really helps my CW