[CQ-Contest] How frequent to ID? Every QSO? No way!

[Bill Coleman]

On Jan 18, 2005, at 5:18 PM, VR2BrettGraham wrote:

Quoting N6AA from 1998:
> At around the 3k Q/weekend level, there are moments where being
> economical with my call will help, but the vast majority of the time 
> this
> is not the case.  Note the prefixes of those calls.

The thing is -- someone of Dick's calibre is probably right. There are 
times when being economical with the call will help the rate for 
EVERYONE, not just the leader of the pileup.

But those great operators aren't the problem. The great operators may 
have an intuitive sense of when to send their call, perhaps delaying 
one or two, or even three contacts OCCASSIONALLY, in order to work 
stations one after the other.

Unfortunately, great operators are few. What's more common (and we 
certainly complain about more) is the operator who doesn't send his 
call for 3 to 10 QSOs, and who instead sends "QRZ?" repeatedly -- 
negating any advantage there would be in being economical. And then, 
when you finally do get through to this guy and ask him to repeat his 
call, he gets all huffy about it.

I'm afraid these LIDS are much more common than the great operators. 
And that's why there ought to be a rule that everyone has to ID.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
             -- Wilbur Wright, 1901