Topband: Conditions last night

[Bill Tippett <btippett@alum.mit.edu>]

W8JI wrote:
>The YI9 wasn't very strong early, even when he was good at Bill's. While I
clearly heard him answer me, I missed my report on the early attempt. Later
on he answered again, and I missed my report again but this time from QRM
although I did hear him send "CFM" so I consider it a done deal.

        Part of the confusion about reports may have been that Kas sends
the cut number abbreviation "ENN" for 599.  If I hear someone give my
call correctly, that's enough for me and ARRL.  RST reports are not required
for DXCC.

        Regarding split operation, I am going to suggest several kHz to Kas.
That solves:

1.  QRM from the guys calling who really aren't hearing (...some even add 
RST's).
2.  Prompters who relay calls, RST's, "K", etc.  A most disgusting practice!
A fairly strong station in Europe was doing this last night to "help" Kas 
until
he began operating split.
3.  Close-in front-end overload, clicks, etc. that QRM the weak DX station.

BTW, the op (K2GL) at A61AJ was recently doing a very clever thing...he
was routinely changing his QSX frequency to eliminate the folks calling
who really were not copying him.  This works great on a relatively dead
band but would not work in all situations.

        I may regret saying this but here goes.  Guys who really cannot hear
should NOT be calling.  I wish I had made a recording because it would be very
embarrassing to the guys doing this, and I could easily name a list of 
people who
do it routinely.  What good is a DXCC total that is achieved by sending RST to
a station you cannot hear, and then waiting for someone else to tell you to 
"K"?
I just don't get it.  Rudi DK7PE, Dany F5CW (aka FT5ZB) and Dietmar DL3DXX are
masters at eliminating callers who really cannot hear either by sending 
"XXX?",
by listening on their own frequency for unwanted prompters and by an excellent
sense of timing.  Having operated from the DX side myself, it is fairly 
easy to
tell who is really hearing and who is simply "faking it".  I hope
everyone thinks about this before their next 339 and a prayer "QSO".
The unnecessary QRM we create is returned in kind by others attempting
the same monkey business, and that just slows things down for everyone.

        Like most everything else these days, moral values and ethics seem
to be in a perpetual state of decline...even in a hobby of all things.
I hope all of us will simply think about this and vow not to be a part
of the problem.  Enough said on this topic for another year...

                                                        73,  Bill  W4ZV 
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