Topband: Patience in ARRL 160 Contest

[Augie "Gus" Hansen]

On 12/3/2012 4:58 PM, James Rodenkirch wrote:
> ...
> "Signing" after the last sent call with a "test" removes all
> ambiguity.....

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the contact in the 160m contest. (I could have used a call 
from you in the SSB sweepstakes in which I missed a sweep by only UT.)

I offer an observation based on this most recent contest. When I came 
across your run frequency there were several stations calling you, so I 
waited for a clear shot. The first two callers immediately dropped in 
their calls while you were sending your callsign a second time plus 
TEST. I'm guessing you were not using QSK because you didn't stop 
sending. After a few attempts one of the callers finally got your 
attention.

There were just a few other stations holding run frequencies that gave 
their calls more than once in the CQ, and they had similar results. Most 
run stations used the same technique that I do, as in "CQ TEST KB0YH", 
with about a 1-2 second loop delay. And I always use QSK so that a 
caller can jump in at any time. This technique can increase your run 
rate significantly by reducing doubling and repeat requests.

Looking forward to the next test,
Gus Hansen
KB0YH