[CQ-Contest] "Test" At End of CQ

[Chris Plumblee]

There must be a convention (that's the nice thing about standards...there
are so many of them). I've always used "Test Mycall" in my CQ message. If
I'm in a contest with a short 2-letter abbreviation (like SS or NAQP or
Field Day) I generally add CQ at the beginning, so "CQ NA MyCall." However,
I hear people using a number of permutations. Sometimes people send their
call twice. Sometimes they send their call first. I think if one way was
demonstrably better that people would naturally gravitate towards it, but
it depends on education to some degree.

As a corollary to Jim's complaint, I see the following in contests
sometimes. I think it comes from a desire to avoid ambiguity (what if
someone tunes by just as I'm sending my call, can they tell that I'm the
CQer?) but it's much more common to have people waiting to call who already
know who my call. It's likely they'll jump the gun and call after I send my
call while my PTT is still asserted, and I will miss their prefix. On
balance, I think the below is bad practice.

--test W4WF

--K9YC

--K9YC 5nn 1234

--5nn 2345

--tu W4WF *test*

73,
Chris W4WF

On Mon, Jun 1, 2020 at 9:15 AM Stan Stockton <wa5rtg at gmail.com> wrote:

> So when you are S&P and you tune across someone in time to hear them send
> their call sign one time do you call them or not?
>
> If not, and they actually called CQ, do you wait for them to work whoever
> does call them and call when they are ready for another one?   If you do
> call I guess you risk causing QRM to the guy you thought you were calling
> as he tries to copy the guy who he was calling.
>
> Not sure this is same category as "Please Copy"
>
> TEST K5GO or K5GO TEST
>
> On Sun, May 31, 2020, 10:59 PM Jim Brown <k9yc at audiosystemsgroup.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I don't know where this practice came from -- perhaps the guys who came
> > up with "Please Copy?" Both are time-wasters, and "test" at the end of a
> > CQ completely throws off the rhythm of answering a CQ. If you need that
> > "test" to tell you it's time to call, you need to go back to contesting
> > school!
> >
> > 73, Jim K9YC
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> >
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-- 
Chris Plumblee
407.494.5155