A couple of days ago, I called CQ on 40m and 6Y5WJ came back to me. We weren’t ragchewing, but it wasn’t a “599 73” contact, either. Well, before we even sent our 73s, a bunch of dopey DXers piled on. First of all, 6Y5WJ is not rare DX. Second, even if he was, there’s no excuse to QRM the frequency even before we finished our contact.
Yesterday, I was on 30m, and heard a guy calling CQ. He wasn’t getting any replies, but I honestly don’t think he was even listening for them. After his call, he’d only wait a second or two, literally, before starting up again. I tried to break in twice, but then just gave up. He should have been able to hear me, too. His signal was S6 – S7 here.
I’ve had good success sometimes waiting 30 seconds or more after sending CQ. I think that waiting allows some guys to build up their courage to call you. Or, they say to themselves, “I’ll let him work a better operator.” But, when they don’t hear anyone else reply to my CQ, they’ll jump in.
If you’ve found yourself doing that, DON’T! Any reply to my CQ is a good reply.
I’m still chucking a bit over this one. On Monday evening, I was net control for our club’s Monday Night Net ( 8pm Eastern time on 146.96 MHz RF, W8UM-R via EchoLink). As I sometimes do, I announce the net on Twitter.
Well, one of my Twitter followers decided he’d check in. The only problem was that he had a very thick Southern accent, and that, coupled with the less than optimal audio quality of our EchoLink node, and my propensity for operating CW over phone, caused me to ask for his call three or four times.
You can imagine how embarrassed I was when I finally figured out who he was. When I mentioned that I had had some trouble with his accent, and that we had quite a different accent up here in the Midwest, he said, “Yeah. I kinda feel like I’m talking to someone in another country.”
So, there you go. Here’s another example of amateur radio enhancing international goodwill.
Rob W4ZNG says
“After his call, he’d only wait a second or two, literally, before starting up again.” There are quite a few of these ‘propagation beacon emulators’ roaming the PSK31 haunts too. What else can we do but move on?
Dan KB6NU says
You’re right. There isn’t much you can do. I’m hoping that if they read this, maybe they’ll re-evaluate their CQing practice.
Dave New, N8SBE says
Sounds like they were in ‘contest’ mode, where if you wait for more than a second or two between CQs, someone else will jump on your frequency and take it over.
He may also had a very narrow receive filter turned on (contest mode again).
Most folks expect these days (rightly or wrongly) that CW stations are spotted very close or right on top of each other (unless of course, there is a pileup, and the DX station has asked folks to spread out up the band). This puts crystal- or VXO-bound folks at a disadvantage.
There are QRP ‘watering holes’ where folks are used to tuning around a bit looking for callers. Otherwise, it’s a crap shoot if you can’t call back right on the CQ’ers frequency.
Jonathan says
Good thought! He might have been working split and forgotten…. Who knows what offset he was monitoring:)
Jeff, KE9V says
“Yesterday, I was on 30m, and heard a guy calling CQ. He wasn’t getting any replies, but I honestly don’t think he was even listening for them.”
Probably trolling the RBN. I’ve noticed a LOT of this since the advent of RBN. These guys aren’t interested in a QSO — they just want to see where all their signal is being copied. I think it’s a new hobby in a hobby — can a Worked ALL RBN be far behind? :-)
Dan KB6NU says
I didn’t think about that, but you’re probably right. Maybe I should sic the Official Observers on him.
Milton says
Hello, if CQ is called CQ it is for that they are sure that somebody listens to them or they can observe the propagation conditions, it is what I think, 73 Milton