Topband: Proper Decorum On The "Gentleman's Band"...

[Eddy Swynar]

Hi Guys,

This morning, after calling a general "CQ" several times on an apparently vacant frequency, the passband of my receiver was inundated by someone deliberately sending a continuous string of rapid dots---pausing only long enough to see if the barrage elicited any response from me---and a terse "QSY"...

I make it a point to never commence calling CQ without first sending "QRL?"---twice---on the frequency. Likewise, I always limit my first call to a single "4x3" string, in case I may have missed someone, confirming that the frequency is in use. Why is it that some obviously seasoned operators on the band repeatedly ignore queries as to frequency occupancy, preferring instead to rudely pounce upon unsuspecting callers in a manner that would surely convince newcomers that the term "Gentleman's Band" is merely a quaint reference to a bygone age...?

Not everyone on 160-meters has a lap top computer glued to the ON4KST Chat Room while operating, and not everyone is a slave to the notion that DX stations must respond to each & every "CQ". If someone has the good graces to ask if it's alright to call a casual "CQ" on a frequency, why not respond just as graciously in kind with an "R", or a "TU", if indeed, it is not...? 

It takes so very little to uphold high Amateur standards, just as it doesn't take much to allow decorum to slip into the nether regions of the 11-meter band. Whether it's due to tradition, or some mis-placed perception of "quality", one certainly expects more from 1.8-MHz...

~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ