73,

Rob K9AIM

Just one question I always thought that when turning over the converation that you would use [KN] instead of [K].

[K] being an invitation to any station to transmit
[KN] being an invitation to a specific station to transmit.

Keep up the great blogging

73 de KA9KQH

Keith Williams, W6DTY, is my father. He died in 1986.

I’m glad to see that his article is still of use. It might be better, however, if you listed the authorship of your version as:

by Keith S. Williams, W6DTY
adapted by Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

That would avoid any confusion about authorship. You are clear in this blog, but sometimes things get excerpted without the full story.

Thanks,

Douglas Williams

Thanks for your comments.

I’m not sure I agree about it being rare to hear CQs. I hear and respond to CQs nearly every day (as well as frequentyly calling CQ myself). I do agree that it would be a good idea to encourage more people to call CQ, especially on “dead” bands. Just because you don’t hear anyone doesn’t mean that propagation is bad.

As for “de,” I’m still in favor of using it, especially when establishing contact. It gives the other operator a little bit of a heads-up that what’s to follow is my call sign.

As for how many times to repeat a callsign when establishing a contact, I think the key is to gauge band conditions. If conditions are poor, a 3×3 certainly may be warranted. If band conditions are good then I’ll use a 2×2.

I’ll stick to my statement that it’s never good practice to send a call only once when establishing contact. The other operator may be distracted, or there might be some QRM, and that will cause him to miss part of the call. If you only send his call once, and he misses it, he may not be sure that you’re calling him. If you only send your call once, he may not copy it properly. Either situation can cause confusion.

Good job. I was thinking about doing such an update myself (one of my GUPs — great unfinished projects).

A couple of comments:

* About calling CQ – these days it is rare to hear a CQ (except during a contest). If anything, people need to be encouraged to call CQ. Years ago, I certainly know what the original author was talking about, but it rarely happens any more that people call CQ without listening.

* Do we really use “de” that much any more. In contests or quickee DX contacts, you almost never hear it. If it is implied in context, you won’t hear it.

* When replying to a CQ, the 3×3 format is pretty much obsolete. it used to be important when operators were rock bound, since you might have to tune 5 or 10 kHz (or more!) to find a station replying to your CQ. It’s more normal to hear either a 1×1, 1×2 or just to have the calling operator send his callsign without any prosigns.

73, Bill

I think you’re right about using kHz instead of kilocycles/s. I’ll change that. I’m not so sure you’re right about OM, though. I hear it a fair amount, and quite a bit when working DX stations.

73, Dan

73,
Ned, W8VFM