My recommendation:
-- sign something after every QSO.
Some observations:
1. Receiving "?" and working dupes is not unique to DX stations running
pileups and not signing their calls. I operated W3LPL on 40m. A handful of
times the CQ message would be sent, no one would answer, but I would hear a
"?". Everytime I bothered to send my call again the station would melt away
(obviously a dupe).
Having been guilty of this myself in the past, I know exactly what has
happened: Someone S&Ping tunes in just in time to catch the last fraction of
the call, and wants to tease out the rest.
New policy (takes some training): If no one answers with a callsign, just
punch the CQ button again (if running).
2. Strangely, the failure of a DX station to sign their call seems more
endemic to phone contests, where time is less of an issue. Some DX operators
claim that not signing the call keeps the phone pileup manageable... but they
must be oblivious to the crows which cluster around the frequency yelling
"Caw... Caw... What's your caw?". If the pileup is too large, there are many
other remedies (move frequency, reduce power, talk faster, call districts,
etc).
3. Concerned about time on CW (or phone)? Drop the pleasant "TU" and just
use your call to wrap up the QSO. Send it faster if you want (it's not as
friendly, but people will decode it eventually and a fast callsign is better
than not signing at all). And a quick callsign is a great tool in
synchronizing the pileup. Keeping the pileup synchronized minimizes the
number of people who are transmitting on top of the DX station, reduces
confusion, and keeps the rate up.
And it's pretty amazing how fast one can go. I have had rates of over
360/hour on phone, signing in phonetics after every QSO "Papa Juliet Nine
Juliet Romeo". (Of course, I spent two weeks working license plates in
traffic jams before the contest, just to increase my ability to rattle off
QSOs automatically and not get tongue tied.)
4. For dreadful calls, at least sign a part of the call: "3DA" instead of
"3DA/WB3AJQ" after every QSO will give a big hint to most listeners. Sign
the full callsign every 3rd QSO.
5. Not the DX station? Tuned into a pileup and the center of attention has
not signed his call? Don't send a mere "?". Dump in your callsign! When he
comes back to you, DON'T send him the exchange right away. Instead,
innocently ask for his call: "CL?" He will send it, because now he is hooked
for completing the QSO.
When you hear the callsign, if the station is a dupe, just disappear
quietly from the frequency. The DX station, if he hasn't figured out that
you're a dupe already, will waste some more time trying to get your exchange.
And, of course, if the station is not a dupe, you can now complete the QSO
by sending your exchange.
If enough people did this, the DX stations would be more rigorous about
signing their callsigns often!
-- Eric
K3NA, alias W3LPL, W4BVV, W3FA, F6BEE, YK0A, TM2Y, 4U1ITU, 3D2XX, PJ9JR,
P42E, VK9NT, VK9LT, AH3C/KH5K, FO0XX, S79WHW, BY1PK, OH0MM, and a few other
calls necessitating a little pileup management...
>From rglisson@america.net (Rick Glisson) Thu Feb 23 04:11:54 1995
From: rglisson@america.net (Rick Glisson) (Rick Glisson)
Subject: Where is EM2I
Message-ID: <199502230411.EAA17042@america.net>
OK, I give up. Where is EM2I this year? ARRL DX CW contest.
Tnx all, Rick N4XMX, CU in the CQ 160M SSB, SEDXC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--Rick Glisson, N4XMX rglisson@america.net Atlanta, GA.
>From barry@w2up.wells.com (Barry Kutner) Thu Feb 23 00:41:08 1995
From: barry@w2up.wells.com (Barry Kutner) (Barry Kutner)
Subject: C6AHE (K3TLX op) ARRL DX CW Score
Message-ID: <0eay1c1w165w@w2up.wells.com>
lvn@fox.gsfc.nasa.gov (Larry Novak) writes:
> 2. My new pet peeve: guys who jump into a pileup and send ? ? cl?
>
> some reason they have big signals.
>
> 3. Second pet peeve: dupes. I must have had 200 dupes. I saw a post
Larry - I don't recall your modus operandi of the contest, but these two
comments would lead me to believe you weren't signing your call
frequently enough. I would think most of the reflectorites do not enjoy
listening to someone send 599100 QSO after QSO without an ID.
Particularly when they jumped on a packet spot (and want to make sure the
spotted call was correct!) and want to get back to the run freq ASAP.
Of course, I could be wrong... 73
--
Barry N. Kutner, W2UP Usenet/Internet: barry@w2up.wells.com
Newtown, PA Packet Radio: W2UP @ WB3JOE.#EPA.PA.USA.NA
Packet Cluster: W2UP >K2TW (FRC)
.......................................................................
>From H. Ward Silver" <hwardsil@seattleu.edu Thu Feb 23 04:37:10 1995
From: H. Ward Silver" <hwardsil@seattleu.edu (H. Ward Silver)
Subject: KH6RS ARRL DX Score
Message-ID: <Pine.3.07.9502222030.D23871-c100000@bach.seattleu.edu>
Hi all! Had a truly great time on Maui using the Maui RC club call,
KH6RS. It sounds so good at 38 wpm. I got very few requests to send it
slower. If no other big Oceania scores show up, it's a new continental
record by more than a factor of two. It was especially nice to have the
reflectroids say "Hi". Even FOX, when he wasn't necking with Laurie ;-)
ARRL DX SUMMARY SHEET
Callsign Used : KH6RS
Operator : N0AX
Category : Single-Op, Low-Power, All-Band
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults
__________________________________________________
160CW 32 32 96 10
80CW 177 171 510 40
40CW 912 910 2724 56
20CW 645 642 1923 55
15CW 847 840 2514 56
10CW 469 467 1401 52
__________________________________________________
Totals 3082 3062 9168 269
Final Score = 2,466,192 points.
High Points -
1) A full-size, 3-element Create 40-meter yagi at 70-feet on a windmill
tower, perched on the edge of a 300-foot cliff. I sat on 7050 for 3.5
hours Saturday night working everybody everywhere. Absolutely amazing
for 100 watts.
2) Fresh papaya and "pog" during the morning openings while watching for
whales out in the ocean.
3) A 184-hour on 15 Saturday morning. The packet spots caused a series of
"explosions", all managable only by turning down the RF gain until only the
big dogs got through. Sorry about that, little dogs!
4) 10-meters! Let me repeat...10-meters! I expected to have to drag
mults up from 15 for ESP QSOs. Eau contraire! 52 mults including mucho
New England Yankees and a couple of VE1/9. Thank you propagation gods!
5) Having enough sausages left over at the end on Sunday afternoon to
share with AH6AZ and AH6EE. Boy, did those taste good!
Low Points -
Wait a minute, I'm thinking...
1) Big, Big QRN on 160 and 80, both nights. After I worked the loud folks
on Friday night, Saturday was a total washout. This is not usually a
problem in KH6, I'm told, but a very large storm about 1000 miles to the
NE just obliterated both bands. With 100 watts, powering through is not
an option. The plus side to this is that I pulled the plug about 1AM
local time and snoozed until 15 got busy. I was much fresher and able to
keep up the rate all day, probably gaining more than was lost due to the
static.
2) A fairly substantial spider waltzed up the *inside* of the shack window
at about 10PM Friday night. Ick! Off went the flip-flops and on went the
tennis shoes. It was a distraction, to say the least. No additional
arachnids were spotted, though.
3) The site runs off of 4 huge 440AH batteries which run a 100 watt effort
for a long time. However, on Sunday they got low enough to where the
TS850 started getting pretty spastic. Thanks to those who informed me
soon enough to get the generator back to charging 'em before I hurt sumpin'.
4) The ants got into my lemon sandwich cookies...damn!
Equipment and Stuff
160-meter shunt-fed tower
80-meter delta loop
40-meter 3-el Create yagi on 70' tower
20-meter 4-el and 5-el yagis
15-meter TH7
10-meter 5-el yagi
TS-850 and IC-735 backup
Laptop 486 PC running TR-LOG
1 ea. 300' cliff over salt water
Cooler fulla good Hawaiian stuff to munch on
Mahalo for all the QSOs...Aloha!
73, Ward N0AX
>From Randy Thompson <k5zd@iconics.com> Thu Feb 23 05:40:00 1995
From: Randy Thompson <k5zd@iconics.com> (Randy Thompson)
Subject: W1KM ARRL CW Score
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.950223003728.29856C-100000@genesis.iconics.com>
Talked to Greg on the phone this evening. Here are his results from the
ARRL CW weekend.
W1KM, Single Op, High Power
160 47/29
80 430/69
40 875/84
20 1008/85
15 616/63
10 42/24
----/---
Total 3018/354 = 3.2M
Looks like #3 unless K1ZM is higher.
Randy Thompson, K5ZD
---------------------------------------------
Note new address (9 Dec 94): k5zd@iconics.com
---------------------------------------------
>From Gary Schwartz <garyk9gs@solaria.sol.net> Thu Feb 23 06:27:53 1995
From: Gary Schwartz <garyk9gs@solaria.sol.net> (Gary Schwartz)
Subject: 160m and 80m frequency allocations?
Message-ID: <Pine.3.02.9502230053.E4725-b100000@solaria.mil.wi.us>
I know someone (W7??) used to maintain a list of Amateur Frequency
allocations for 160M and 80M. Any one remember who this was?? Any idea
if it is available via ftp from somewhere?
73 Gary
**********************************************************************
# FROM THE "HOLE": THE RF DIODE / / / #
# / / / #
# GARY SCHWARTZ K9GS / / / #
# INTERNET: garyk9gs@solaria.sol.net /======/=======/ #
# PACKET: K9GS@WA9KEC.WI.USA.NOAM / /| / #
# SNAIL MAIL:W328 S8072 HICKORY NUT LN. / / | / #
# MUKWONAGO, WI 53149 / / | / #
# USA | #
# 73 and keep your stick on the ice #
#********************************************************************#
>From willis@lsil.com (Marc Willis) Wed Feb 22 17:04:52 1995
From: willis@lsil.com (Marc Willis) (Marc Willis)
Subject: W6REC ARRL CW TEST Score
Message-ID: <9502221704.AA08657@sks-n68.scrd>
Dwaine and myself hacked out this score.
1186 Q's x 241 Mults ~ 856,000 points Multi-single High Power.
Dwaine Ausherman W6REC, Marc Willis KN6SO
>From Bob Patten <z002816b@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us> Thu Feb 23 12:33:10 1995
From: Bob Patten <z002816b@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us> (Bob Patten)
Subject: MFJ-432 DVK
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9502230719.B8962-0100000@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us>
I picked up the new MFJ-432 Digital Voice Keyer at the Tropical Hamboree
on Feb. 6. Saturday evening, Jim-K1ZX, Jeff-WC4E, and I played with it
some in the NA Sprint. Jeff suggested I do a report on it after
seriously using it in a contest. The following weekend was to be the
revival of the Florida QSO Party after being off for several years, so I
scrambled to complete a few mods to make the MFJ-432 practical to use...
MFJ was reluctant to supply a schematic, so I poked around with a
multi-meter to find a few points to tie into..
I use both CT and NA for my duping/logging during contests. Both support
a DVK via the printer port. To interface to the port, I installed five
Radio Shack reed relays, P/N 275-232 inside the back panel sandwiched
between two pieces of perf board and secured with tie wraps. Four of
them were used to push the message buttons. The software manuals show
the proper port pins to use to supply five volts as each of the first
functions keys are pressed. These, of course, are used to activate the
coils of each of the relays, and the relay contacts parallel the DVK's
message buttons.
I hate VOX! The fifth relay was used to close the PTT line so I could
leave VOX turned off. During my earlier "poking around", I found that
pin 5 of U2 remained at +5 volts as long as any message was being sent.
This voltage was used to feed the coil on the fifth relay, and it's
contacts went to the PTT line at the mike jack, and ground..
Lastly, to eliminate dragging around a wall xfmr to power the thing (and
battery didn't seem like a practical alternative), I tapped into the +8
volts that my Kenwood TS-430S supplies from the mike jack and connected
it to the positive side of the battery snap through a 1N4148 diode.
The mods all worked like a champ. The box sat to the side of the desk
completely unattended and all operation was from my 386SX-25 notebook.
During the Florida QSO Party, I asked several "known contesters" for a
critical report. In every case, they "couldn't tell the recorded from
the live voice". Several hours later, I had accumulated 620 QSO's and
still had a voice... I'm very happy with the MFJ-432 and look forward to
using it in a "real" contest - like the ARRL DX Phone in March...
CU in the contests (CW still my best mode though, hi)
Bob Patten
bobpatt@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us
>From Richard Riley (G0JFX)" <RRILEY%ESA.BITNET@vm.gmd.de Thu Feb 23 19:34:58
>1995
From: Richard Riley (G0JFX)" <RRILEY%ESA.BITNET@vm.gmd.de (Richard Riley
(G0JFX))
Subject: REF French Phone Contest
Fellow contesters!
(...here we go again.....)
I appreciate this may not be on your "MUST-DO list" this coming
weekend, but if CQWW 160m gets dull...do listen up for us...slogging
away for the REF Phone contest for 36 hours!
The rules (for stations outside: France, French overseas territories and
DA1/2) are to be found in QST (a recent one!) and RadCom (Feb).
For those without a copy...here are the basics:
Date/time:
0600Z Feb 25 to 1800Z Feb 26
Mode: "phone" Bands: 80-10m
Categories:
single-op single band
single-op all band
multi-op all band
Valid QSOs:
French stations, including overseas territories and DA1/DA2 (French
military stations).
Exchange:
RST and serial report.
Valid QSOs:
1 point for QSOs within own continent
3 points for QSOs outside own continent
Multipliers:
(per band)
- French Metropolitan Departments
(there are 96 including Corsica's 2A and 2B)
- DA1 and DA2
(FFA: French Forces in Germany)
- French Overseas Departments and Territories (within DXCC list):
(DOM/TOM: FG,FH,FJ,FK,FM,FO,FP,FS,FT,FW,FY)
- DXCC countries (excluding F,TK and DOM/TOM see above)
- F6REF/00 (this REF station counts as an extra mult)
Scoring:
Multiply the total QSO points by the sum of all multipliers.
Certificates:
Europe:
- top single-op (with at least 100 QSOs)
- top multi-op (with at least 250 QSOs)
and then for each other continent:
- top single-op (with at least 50 QSOs)
- top multi-op (with at least 100 QSOs)
........................................................................
I hope this is clear..
I do have a copy of the complete rules (and thus for stations within
France, FFA and DOM/TOM)....but they're in French...
73 et a bientot!
Richard Riley
G0JFX/F5VCO(@F6KBF this weekend)
-----------------------------------
email: rriley%esa.bitnet@vm.gmd.de
packet: G0JFX@N0ARY
|