Topband: Patience in ARRL 160 Contest

[Herb Schoenbohm]

I worked a whole bunch of Europeans in the 160 meter contest along with 
UA9's and even 4Z1UF who had a good signal. My pet peeve is that when I 
hear only a weaker stations prefix but miss the suffix and ask for a 
repeat and request for example "HB9 ?  AGN"  all I hear is the prefix 
before the suffix is in the noise.  The station knows i have the correct 
prefix and number but how do I get them just to send the missing portion 
which is crucial to completing the QSO?  Even if I send HB9??? they 
return with de HB9### and the process repeats.  If in such circumstances 
once the calling station realizes I have the correct prefix all they 
need do is send the two or three letters of the suffix several times.  
Resending the prefix is not helpful in high noise or qrm situation.  I 
have tried SFX? SFX? but many stations are confused by that and keep 
sending their whole call. So here is my advice in just difficult 
circumstance:

Do *not* repeat your whole call if the other station has the correct 
prefix and all they need is the remaining portion.  I just wish more 
stations on TB would do this as it would enable them getting in the log 
correctly and save time.  Time length of an opening to some parts of the 
world is everything in a crowded contest.  Why waste it?

73,

Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ





On 12/4/2012 7:11 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
> On 12/3/2012 8:26 PM, Augie "Gus" Hansen wrote:
>> as in "CQ TEST KB0YH", with about a 1-2 second loop delay. 
>
> I have NEVER found a CQ repeat interfal less than 2.5 seconds to be 
> adequate to actually LISTEN for callers, and I often use 3 seconds.
>
> I strongly agree with the need to keep CQs short.  I always have three 
> CQs programmed. The shortest, automatic on F1, is "TEST K9YC" The next 
> is "CQ TEST K9YC,"   and the longest is "CQ TEST K9YC K9YC."   I start 
> with the shortest, then the middle one, then the longer one when 
> things are slow and I need to beat the bushes.
>
> When a QSO is finished, it's TU, a long space so someone could tail 
> end, then K9YC. No "73, GL in the contest, no "QSL," "CFM,"etc.  If I 
> think there might be any confusion about callsigns, I'll use F5 (his 
> call) then F3 (TU    K9YC) at the end of the QSO.  All that extra crap 
> takes time, and when I'm in S&P mode, I'll tune past the guy who's 
> wasting my time with it.  I can average 80 Qs per hour in S&P mode, 
> but not waiting through that blather. :)
>
> I've contested with N6RO at his place.  He's a top scoring guy (he's 
> won SS nationally, doing it from the west coast), so I have a hard 
> time finding fault with him!  What Ken does is send YOUR call at the 
> beginning of an exchange, when in S&P mode. That's smart -- it makes 
> sure both guys know who's working who under crowded band conditions 
> when there can often be two stations running a few hundred Hz apart on 
> different coasts, and callers answering both.
>
> BTW -- another good way to make sure that the other guy is working 
> YOU, not someone else on your frequency, is to ask for a simple repeat 
> of  a short part of the exchange.  If he responds, you know he's 
> working you.
>
> As to "being weak" -- I strongly agree with N6RK's advice.  I'll add 
> this:  never send ANYTHING again that the other guy has copied 
> correctly. If he has your call, don't send it again. If he doesn't 
> have your call, send it until he does.  If he needs your report, send 
> ONLY the report, over and over again until he gets it.  If he asks for 
> confirmation of something, send R R R R R R, and nothing else. At the 
> end of QSO and I'm the S&P guy, I'll send TU TU TU TU if I need to let 
> him know I copied his exchange.  When your signal is "vapor" on the 
> other end, anything beyond the bare minimum confuses things.
>
> And QSK is a wonderful thing, especially if you're weak.  I don;t use 
> full QSK at 1.5 kW -- the vacuum relays wear out too often -- but I 
> always do at 100w or less.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
> _______________________________________________
> Topband reflector - topband at contesting.com