[UK-CONTEST] CQ Calls - a plea

[Ken Eastty]

Darrell,

The point that I'm  trying to make is that very few people calling CQ in 
V/UHF contests or at other times
give their location in any way. I suggested that a simple geographical 
location is more useful
than transmitting a four letter/two figure reference.  The whole of the 
locator
needs to be copied for the information to be really useful. However it 
seems that
I made the mistake of assuming that most people would know where UK 
counties & major cities are.

Working a DX station is easier, we know roughly which way to point the beam
towards France Germany etc. but another G station might be in the same
square but 100kM away and can be difficult to copy if both stations are 
in the
null of the others beams (especially on 70cm).

Including the name of the county or nearest major city (not small town 
or village)
in the CQ call makes getting the beam on approximately the correct 
heading quick & easy
(assuming basic knowledge of UK geography but see above!)
With the slow pace of V/UHF contests including the general location AND 
Locator
shouldn't be a problem certainly better than CQ CQ CQ cq cq.....QSB into 
the noise.

In case anyone still hasn't got the point I can find beam heading given 
a locator
but generally that means keying it into the PC or referring to a map.

73...

Ken

G3LVP


On 10/07/2011 16:59, Darrell G0HVQ wrote:
> But surely that's the beauty of squares...you don't need to *know* 
> anything, yiu can work it out from the info given e.g. if you're in 
> IO82 and you hear somone calling from IO85 or IO86, you know to beam 
> north; likewise if they're in IO80, you beam south (the last bit of 
> the locator isn't going to make that much difference unless you have a 
> very big, sharp beam).
>
> How many cities, towns and villages in the UK? I wouldn't have a clue 
> where 99% of them are.
>
> 73
> Darrell
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Eastty" 
> <ken.g3lvp at btinternet.com>
> To: "Ray James" <gm4cxm at yahoo.co.uk>
> Cc: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2011 5:01 PM
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] CQ Calls - a plea
>
>
>> Thanks Ray,
>>
>> Even after all this time (how long?) I can find Scares on the map but
>> have no idea what the locator might be for the Mull of Kintyre.
>>
>> As for remembering  the locator/beam heading of every one you work on
>> V/UHF as someone suggested
>> sounds like something that only a candidate for Master Mind might do!
>>
>> 73...
>>
>> Ken
>>
>> G3LVP
>>
>> On 10/07/2011 09:49, Ray James wrote:
>>>
>>> --- On Tue, 5/7/11, Ken Eastty<ken.g3lvp at btinternet.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> I miss the days when the actual location was required as
>>>> part of the
>>>> exchange, that could be a real challenge with some groups
>>>> being really
>>>> inventive with their location  (15km W of Scares -
>>>> Where the .... that?)
>>>
>>> A look at the VHF Contesting page at www.qsl.net/gm4cxm may give you 
>>> a clue Ken.
>>> Chris will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong but I believe we were 
>>> asked to change that particular one!
>>>
>>> 73 Ray GM4CXM
>>>
>>>
>>
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>
>