Finding stations calling CQ can be a hit or miss affair. Think about it. If you’re using a conventional receiver, you have to hear the station calling just as you tune across the frequency and recognize the signal as a CQ. If you tune across the frequency while the station is waiting for a reply, you miss the CQ entirely.
This situation is exacerbated by the increased use of sharp filters. If you’re using a filter with a bandwidth of 500 Hz or less, you have even less chance of hearing a CQ. Back when receivers selectivity was as broad as the side of a barn, you’d hear several stations at once. While that may not have been ideal for working a particular station, it made finding stations calling CQ easier.
Well, with the IC-7300, you can have your cake and eat it, too. Let me explain.
Last night, I was calling CQ on 7028 kHz and wasn’t having much luck. In the middle of one call, I see a signal pop up on 7029. I couldn’t hear it, but I could see it. I tuned over to 7029, and sure enough, it was someone calling CQ. I replied, and we had a nice contact.
After using the bandscope for a while, you get to recognize signals that may be stations calling CQ. The trace on the waterfall last for about five seconds, and you don’t see any other station on that frequency. I guess that this technique may not work so well on 20m and higher, but on 40m and 80m, where you can generally hear both stations in a contact, it works quite well.
One thing that perplexes me a little is that CW operators seem to be using abbreviations less and less. The other day, for example, I was working a guy who seemed determined not to use abbreviations at all. He spelled out “Michigan,” for example, instead of simply sending “MI.”
Using abbreviations really is good operating practice. It allows you to say more in less time, and in the end, makes operating CW more fun. It’s not hard to learn the most common abbreviations, and using them appropriately says to me that you’re a good CW op.
Yesterday, I was working a guy in Boston who said that he was using an indoor vertical. I was kind of intrigued, so I asked him to describe it in a little more detail.
As it turns out, he was using a Buddipole (technically a Buddistick, since he was using it as a vertical). The counterpoise, he said, was coiled underneath a bed.
The signals weren’t that great, and there was a lot of fading, but he was able to get on the air, and isn’t that what it’s all about?