A couple of weeks ago, I heard a guy call CQ. What made this signal memorable was the severe chirp. Since I knew the guy, I decided to answer the CQ and tell him how badly he was chirping.
As it turns out, he was using a tube transmitter that he had just cobbled together, and he knew he was chirping. This didn’t bother me one bit, as I knew the guy, and he was just having fun with ham radio.
This didn’t sit so well with one operator, though. Several times I heard this other guy send “LID.” Of course, he didn’t identify, which I think makes him more of a lid than the first fellow.
Drifting into QRM
Speaking of drifting, I was chatting with a guy the other day when another station popped up less than a kHz away. This wasn’t a big deal. Even though I could see the signal on my panadapter, the filters in the radio are so good, that it wasn’t interfering at all with my QSO.
That is until the other guy started drifting down towards the station. After a couple of exchanges, the guy I was in contact with said, “QRM now, so will sign on this one.” I don’t think that he realized that it was his drifting that actually caused the QRM.
Make someone’s day
A couple of months ago, I worked someone in Louisiana. I looked them up on QRZ.Com, and saw that even though they were licensed in July 2018, they had very few QRZ.Com lookups. Well, wanting to welcome them to ham radio, I sent them a QSL card.
Yesterday, I received a card back. It read:
Thanks for the QSL card. First that I have received! Finally got mine ordered. Hope to work again on CW.
How cool is that? I don’t send out QSL cards for every single contact, but when I have a nice chat with someone, or I think it could be their first QSL card, I’ll send one of mine. You never know when you’ll make someone’s day
I appreciate how much you do on a continual basis to welcome people into this field.
I have an Ameco replica tube transmitter kit I’ve assembled. I haven’t put it on the air yet, but it chirps, a little or a lot, depending on how you tune it up. I honestly find a little chirp on a CW signal charming. With a five watt signal just ragchewing (not in a contest or traffic passing situation), I don’t consider it being a LID having a little bit of chirp. It just says “I’m a happy little tube rig!” :-)
In a previous QSO, the same fellow also used an Ameco AC-1. It also chirped, but not as badly as his homebrew rig.
I agree with K3NG in finding a little CW chirp charming. Also requires a bit of thought before sending that last RST digit. Drifting on the other hand…not so much!
Got a nice QSL from “Radio Arcala”, OH8X, the Finnish station with the (now down) 330 ft. tower with 3el 160, 4el 80, 4x4el 40 meter beams. It has a picture of the tower on the front when it was up, with a notation of “in memorium”, then an explanation on the back with a nice history of the tower and its demise.
The QSL was for 3 contacts in various DX contests spread over several years. It was nice on their part to send out a QSL after this time, for contest contacts. I’m sure they had a few 10’s of thousands of contacts for each of those contests.
I always keep SASE’s at the W8 QSL bureau, and once every few months, I get an envelope with some nice DX cards.
If you do a Google search of Radio Arcala, you will see lots of pictures of the tower, and video of folks base-jumping from it, as well.
I really appreciate someone putting an insane amount of money and work into putting up an 80,000+ lb tower. See https://dx-world.net/oh8x-tower-collapse/ for a description of the tower collapse.
Radio Arcala really is impressive. I guess there’s not a lot else to do up in Finland during the long, cold winter.
I have an EF Johnson Adventurer transmitter with VFO. Quite a few years ago I used for a couple of QSO’s and was informed that my signal chirped. Several days later I received a bad boy card from an OO regarding the chirp. I have not used the rig since. A problem with set up is the VFO uses the transmitter’s power, but there is little if any voltage regulation and no buffer stage.
Regarding your working “someone” in Louisiana: when did someone become a plural pronoun necessitating the use of the plural pronouns them and they? You and I are of the same generation and I do not recall any of my English classes teaching us about a singular/plural switcheroo. I don’t wish to be critical, but I see so many grammatical writing errors these days, that reading becomes a chore. I like your blog. You often include words of wisdom.
Thanks for letting me spout off.
Well, just like amateur radio, language is always changing. In this case, many grammarians are now accepting the use of they as a singular pronoun in some cases, especially as a gender-neutral pronoun. Just as it is futile to rail against the widespread use of FT8 over CW, it’s also futile to resist this new usage. See https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/pronouns/gendered_pronouns_and_singular_they.html for more info.
I also don’t mind some chirp on someones signal and always answer any CQ with some chirp.. Most of the time it’s someone running homebrew QRP or vintage gear… I live in SE Indiana and answered one once and it turned out to be a gentleman running a homebrew 5 watt QRP transmitter in Idaho ! Blew me away when he stated what rig he was using. Of course he replied with a nice QSL card after receiving mine… Shame on any OO that sends a demeaning report to someone because of some chirp… as long as they are easy to copy, the CW signal does not have to be perfect to be effective…
Enjoy your blog !
73 de K9PLG