[CQ-Contest] ID vs no ID

[Toivo Hallikivi]

Hello,

After reading numerous posts about stations not ID:ing frequently enough in
contests I got puzzled why no-one has suggested asking the running station
for his call. When I do S&P in a multi-op or SO2R and end up listening to a
running station that doesn't ID in a decent time I just send "CL?". If this
makes me a LID, so be it. "Decent time" here depends a bit on the situation
- how many callers, how fast he's running the pile-up etc. Anyway, IMHO, it
shouldn't be more than a minute or so. If his zone indicates that you need
him or for some other reason you feel the need to work him before knowing
his call sign send your exchange as "CL? 5nn xx". If he is rude enough not
to ID after that then it's your decision whether you want hang around for
the ID or just move on. Unfortunately some people tend to abuse this. Every
now and then I get a "CL?" after having signed my call 10 seconds ago.

I do not agree with those demanding ID:ing with every QSO. When running I
try to ID after every 3 QSO's with a few callers or after 4-5 QSO's when the
number of callers is higher but I almost never ID after every QSO when I
have more than one caller. E.g. if I have two of more callers, work the
strongest guy first, why would I now send my call and invite more callers
with potentially stronger signals to compete with the weaker guys that have
already waited for a while? This would not only be frustrating to the small
pistols trying to work me but one of these weak guys could also be a double
multiplier and making him giving up on me would hurt my score as well. I
understand that this approach is probably not applicable to West Africa or
the Caribbean with endless pile-ups but here in the North every QSO counts.

Just hope everyone will use common sense here and the ID:ing frequency will
not get regulated by contest rules or smth.

73, Toivo, ES2RR