On 3/13/00 2:05 PM, Ron Stordahl at ron.stordahl@digikey.com wrote:
>I don't even rank in the competition, but I don't need 3 seconds to listen
>for a reply to my CQ. I would guess a reasonable time would be 1.5 seconds.
I think it depends on the contest and the propagation at the time.
Let's assume that you use the repeat CQ when there are no outstanding
callers. (Otherwise, you'll call QRZ, your callsign, or just plain work
the next guy calling)
In some contests, callers may be timid to call. At the recent ARRL DX CW,
I noted a number of cases early, early Sunday on 20m where callers would
wait 1-2 seconds before sending anything. In this case, a short listening
time could be detrimental, and might scare off callers.
If you are SO2R, you might like the short listening cycle. The extra
noise generated by the primary radio can make it difficult to hunt on the
second radio.
It also may depend on your sending speed. At NQ4I's recently, I noticed
that I preferred a 3.5-4.0 second wait on a CQ, but Rick would set around
3.2 seconds. My sending speed is about 26 wpm, compared to Rick's roughly
32 wpm, and that makes a difference.
But the most annoying thing is to have the auto-CQ go off when you hear
someone calling. For that reason alone, it may be nice to have a longer
delay. If you want a shorter delay, activate the keyer manually.
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@radio.org
Quote: "Boot, you transistorized tormentor! Boot!"
-- Archibald Asparagus, VeggieTales
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