Having just returned from operating at V31AO, I have a few comments on these
two subjects which may have a bit different perspective than much of the
dribble I have been reading here on these subjects, particularly the unID
issue, if there is an issue. V31AO operated most of the time using 100 watts
because the amp blew up early on followed soon after by the mult station,
followed by the 80 and 160m antennas. Needless to say, we were not too loud in
many cases.
Be aware that when the much of the time, we were running at a rate of 200-300
QSOs per hour or 3-5 per minute. At the same time, we were often the subject
of massive pileups in which it was often hard to pull out more than one or two
letters of a calling station. Often, I would ask for "PL" or "K5Z" or whatever
and get called by ten stations who were clearly not the one I had asked for.
All this did was make me take longer to get the call I was seeking and delay
the calling stations from working us. Believe me, in most cases you guys were
loud so that was not the problem. It was separating the calls from each other.
When this happened, as a matter of principle, I would tell the other station to
wait and refuse to work him until I worked the station I had called. Sure,
that hurt me but hopefully it made the offending station feel a bit stupid
about what he was doing.
Another problem that this practice caused. Because our signal was often not as
loud as the pileup, the station we replied to did not hear his call so he did
not answer, requiring us to send the call and exchange again. That too took
time and slowed down the process for both me and you.
A number of times it appears that stations would just keep calling for no other
reason than to show someone in the pileup how long they could keep this up.
Dumb, guys, just plain dumb!
Now for not IDing. I, personally, try to ID every 3 or 4 QSOs when I have a
run going. FOr those steeped in math, that means sending my call every 30-45
seconds. One would think that would be often enough but not to some impatient
people. Like the guy who decided he had nothing better to do than repeatedly
send "CALL" or "ID" on top of the pileup. That surely helped the situation.
Or the guy who decided to just see if his ALPHA would send for two minutes with
the key down. It did but I still managed to work around him. How about the
M/M who did not have the patience to wait for one QSO to get a call but jumped
into the pileup requesting "CALL" just after I had sent it. Now, I know he had
the call on his bandmap but that did not deter him. Shame.
Now, you guys who think there is no reason for not sending the call, count the
time it takes to send "5NN&" with the time it takes to send "V31AO". Yup, it
takes almost twice as long. Even if you add a call to "5NN7" it is usually
shorter than "V31AO". It does save a significant amount of time to not send my
call every QSO. Remember, the fast I work stations the faster you will get a
QSO so use some common sense.
BTW, I would often pick out part of a second call when I was listening to a
call. So after finishing the QSO with the first station, I would send the
partial of the second station. True, no ID but does it work, yes.
As to the idea of monitoring the stations and DQing them if they don't send
their call every time, that is pure BS. Imagine policing the police and who is
authorizing them to do so.
So what to do if someone does not ID for two minutes. If you do not have RBN or
a bandmap, listen to the zone and see if you need it. If not, go somewhere
else and come back. He will probably still be there. If not, he is probably a
serious contester and you will run into him later on.
SO, there is my two cents. Use some sense, boys, and we will alll work more
stqations.
73,
Dennis, K2SX/V31SX/V31AO
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