Posts Tagged ‘Lids’
Broke the 100 confirmations mark today!
April 25th, 2016 | 
Author: NPOTA, that is:
I actually have about 1/2 a dozen more that haven't been confirmed yet. According to LotW, those stations have not uploaded logs since their activations. A few were a while ago, so I guess it's possible that maybe they won't.
While working a few today, it was extremely embarrassing and saddening to see so may out there have no clue on how to handle themselves in a pileup. Guys ..... YOU HAVE TO LISTEN!
Throwing out your call sign ad nauseum without taking a moment to listen is the number one earmark of lid-dome. Seriously, if you send out your call ten times without taking a breath, how are you going to know if the activator is calling you back? By the time you've stopped sending your call, the activator has worked someone else and is calling QRZ again (and everyone else in the pileup has taken note of your call sign - you can count on it!). DON'T BE AN ALLIGATOR! You know, all mouth and no ears! Throw out your call once - maybe twice max, and then open up those ear holes and listen!
Which leads to a second and related problem. If you can't hear the station you are trying to work, you have NO business sending out your call, in the first place. If you can't hear the station well enough to know that he's answering someone else - or worse, is in QSO with someone else; but you keep sending your call anyway ..... bad scene, man, bad scene. You've marked yourself as a QRM generator and no one likes those. Don't rely on the Cluster. Just because DX Summit says Joe Ham is on 7.034 MHz at NPOTA NP256 ..... if you can't hear him, then don't even try. It's a waste of your time and everyone else in the pileup is going to think you're an idiot.
Now everyone makes an honest mistake now and then, and that's OK, But you can tell when someone has no clue as to what they're doing. And frighteningly, it seems to be becoming more and more common.
It's OK to be excited and enthusiastic. It's not OK to be reckless or use poor operating practises. Use common sense, read the DX Code of Conduct and you'll be OK.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you call to send the very least!
I actually have about 1/2 a dozen more that haven't been confirmed yet. According to LotW, those stations have not uploaded logs since their activations. A few were a while ago, so I guess it's possible that maybe they won't.
While working a few today, it was extremely embarrassing and saddening to see so may out there have no clue on how to handle themselves in a pileup. Guys ..... YOU HAVE TO LISTEN!
Throwing out your call sign ad nauseum without taking a moment to listen is the number one earmark of lid-dome. Seriously, if you send out your call ten times without taking a breath, how are you going to know if the activator is calling you back? By the time you've stopped sending your call, the activator has worked someone else and is calling QRZ again (and everyone else in the pileup has taken note of your call sign - you can count on it!). DON'T BE AN ALLIGATOR! You know, all mouth and no ears! Throw out your call once - maybe twice max, and then open up those ear holes and listen!
Which leads to a second and related problem. If you can't hear the station you are trying to work, you have NO business sending out your call, in the first place. If you can't hear the station well enough to know that he's answering someone else - or worse, is in QSO with someone else; but you keep sending your call anyway ..... bad scene, man, bad scene. You've marked yourself as a QRM generator and no one likes those. Don't rely on the Cluster. Just because DX Summit says Joe Ham is on 7.034 MHz at NPOTA NP256 ..... if you can't hear him, then don't even try. It's a waste of your time and everyone else in the pileup is going to think you're an idiot.
Now everyone makes an honest mistake now and then, and that's OK, But you can tell when someone has no clue as to what they're doing. And frighteningly, it seems to be becoming more and more common.
It's OK to be excited and enthusiastic. It's not OK to be reckless or use poor operating practises. Use common sense, read the DX Code of Conduct and you'll be OK.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you call to send the very least!
Broke the 100 confirmations mark today!
NPOTA, that is:
I actually have about 1/2 a dozen more that haven't been confirmed yet. According to LotW, those stations have not uploaded logs since their activations. A few were a while ago, so I guess it's possible that maybe they won't.
While working a few today, it was extremely embarrassing and saddening to see so may out there have no clue on how to handle themselves in a pileup. Guys ..... YOU HAVE TO LISTEN!
Throwing out your call sign ad nauseum without taking a moment to listen is the number one earmark of lid-dome. Seriously, if you send out your call ten times without taking a breath, how are you going to know if the activator is calling you back? By the time you've stopped sending your call, the activator has worked someone else and is calling QRZ again (and everyone else in the pileup has taken note of your call sign - you can count on it!). DON'T BE AN ALLIGATOR! You know, all mouth and no ears! Throw out your call once - maybe twice max, and then open up those ear holes and listen!
Which leads to a second and related problem. If you can't hear the station you are trying to work, you have NO business sending out your call, in the first place. If you can't hear the station well enough to know that he's answering someone else - or worse, is in QSO with someone else; but you keep sending your call anyway ..... bad scene, man, bad scene. You've marked yourself as a QRM generator and no one likes those. Don't rely on the Cluster. Just because DX Summit says Joe Ham is on 7.034 MHz at NPOTA NP256 ..... if you can't hear him, then don't even try. It's a waste of your time and everyone else in the pileup is going to think you're an idiot.
Now everyone makes an honest mistake now and then, and that's OK, But you can tell when someone has no clue as to what they're doing. And frighteningly, it seems to be becoming more and more common.
It's OK to be excited and enthusiastic. It's not OK to be reckless or use poor operating practises. Use common sense, read the DX Code of Conduct and you'll be OK.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you call to send the very least!
I actually have about 1/2 a dozen more that haven't been confirmed yet. According to LotW, those stations have not uploaded logs since their activations. A few were a while ago, so I guess it's possible that maybe they won't.
While working a few today, it was extremely embarrassing and saddening to see so may out there have no clue on how to handle themselves in a pileup. Guys ..... YOU HAVE TO LISTEN!
Throwing out your call sign ad nauseum without taking a moment to listen is the number one earmark of lid-dome. Seriously, if you send out your call ten times without taking a breath, how are you going to know if the activator is calling you back? By the time you've stopped sending your call, the activator has worked someone else and is calling QRZ again (and everyone else in the pileup has taken note of your call sign - you can count on it!). DON'T BE AN ALLIGATOR! You know, all mouth and no ears! Throw out your call once - maybe twice max, and then open up those ear holes and listen!
Which leads to a second and related problem. If you can't hear the station you are trying to work, you have NO business sending out your call, in the first place. If you can't hear the station well enough to know that he's answering someone else - or worse, is in QSO with someone else; but you keep sending your call anyway ..... bad scene, man, bad scene. You've marked yourself as a QRM generator and no one likes those. Don't rely on the Cluster. Just because DX Summit says Joe Ham is on 7.034 MHz at NPOTA NP256 ..... if you can't hear him, then don't even try. It's a waste of your time and everyone else in the pileup is going to think you're an idiot.
Now everyone makes an honest mistake now and then, and that's OK, But you can tell when someone has no clue as to what they're doing. And frighteningly, it seems to be becoming more and more common.
It's OK to be excited and enthusiastic. It's not OK to be reckless or use poor operating practises. Use common sense, read the DX Code of Conduct and you'll be OK.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you call to send the very least!
You can’t work ’em if you can’t hear ’em.
The snow plows came through to clear our street. Even so, they never really plow the entire street. They clean it up for sure, so that you can travel safely down the road, but there's always that snow plow residue on the sides of the street. So, until the snow melts substantially, I can't park on the street, as I usually do, there's just not enough room to park and still have space for other cars to get by. That means I have park in the driveway. Since I generally get home last, I have to get up and move my Jeep when my wife Marianne has to leave for work at 5:00 AM (I've mentioned - she's a nurse).
So this morning, after moving my car for her, I made some coffee and headed down into the shack. I had about a half hour before I had to shower, shave and get dressed for work. I figured that maybe, just maybe, I'd hear K5P, as this is their last day on the island, I believe. And sure enough, there they were on 80 Meters, calling CQ! And from the rate they were answering stations, you could tell they were listening for ATNOs - stations they had never worked before (which would have been me!).
They were decently loud - about 559 with QSB on 3.530 MHz with QSB. Even so, this was the best I've heard them throughout the entire DXpedition. I put the KX3 into "Dual Watch" mode, so I could figure out where they were listening, and then I fired up the KXPA100 to 90 Watts and jumped into the fray.
Then some idiot proceeded to come onto their QRG (the frequency they were transmitting on) and began to send an non-ending string of S9 dits, totally obliterating them.
"You can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em."
Sigh.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
So this morning, after moving my car for her, I made some coffee and headed down into the shack. I had about a half hour before I had to shower, shave and get dressed for work. I figured that maybe, just maybe, I'd hear K5P, as this is their last day on the island, I believe. And sure enough, there they were on 80 Meters, calling CQ! And from the rate they were answering stations, you could tell they were listening for ATNOs - stations they had never worked before (which would have been me!).
They were decently loud - about 559 with QSB on 3.530 MHz with QSB. Even so, this was the best I've heard them throughout the entire DXpedition. I put the KX3 into "Dual Watch" mode, so I could figure out where they were listening, and then I fired up the KXPA100 to 90 Watts and jumped into the fray.
Then some idiot proceeded to come onto their QRG (the frequency they were transmitting on) and began to send an non-ending string of S9 dits, totally obliterating them.
"You can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em."
Sigh.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
You can’t work ’em if you can’t hear ’em.
The snow plows came through to clear our street. Even so, they never really plow the entire street. They clean it up for sure, so that you can travel safely down the road, but there's always that snow plow residue on the sides of the street. So, until the snow melts substantially, I can't park on the street, as I usually do, there's just not enough room to park and still have space for other cars to get by. That means I have park in the driveway. Since I generally get home last, I have to get up and move my Jeep when my wife Marianne has to leave for work at 5:00 AM (I've mentioned - she's a nurse).
So this morning, after moving my car for her, I made some coffee and headed down into the shack. I had about a half hour before I had to shower, shave and get dressed for work. I figured that maybe, just maybe, I'd hear K5P, as this is their last day on the island, I believe. And sure enough, there they were on 80 Meters, calling CQ! And from the rate they were answering stations, you could tell they were listening for ATNOs - stations they had never worked before (which would have been me!).
They were decently loud - about 559 with QSB on 3.530 MHz with QSB. Even so, this was the best I've heard them throughout the entire DXpedition. I put the KX3 into "Dual Watch" mode, so I could figure out where they were listening, and then I fired up the KXPA100 to 90 Watts and jumped into the fray.
Then some idiot proceeded to come onto their QRG (the frequency they were transmitting on) and began to send an non-ending string of S9 dits, totally obliterating them.
"You can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em."
Sigh.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
So this morning, after moving my car for her, I made some coffee and headed down into the shack. I had about a half hour before I had to shower, shave and get dressed for work. I figured that maybe, just maybe, I'd hear K5P, as this is their last day on the island, I believe. And sure enough, there they were on 80 Meters, calling CQ! And from the rate they were answering stations, you could tell they were listening for ATNOs - stations they had never worked before (which would have been me!).
They were decently loud - about 559 with QSB on 3.530 MHz with QSB. Even so, this was the best I've heard them throughout the entire DXpedition. I put the KX3 into "Dual Watch" mode, so I could figure out where they were listening, and then I fired up the KXPA100 to 90 Watts and jumped into the fray.
Then some idiot proceeded to come onto their QRG (the frequency they were transmitting on) and began to send an non-ending string of S9 dits, totally obliterating them.
"You can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em."
Sigh.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
"QRL?" – please !!!!!
I did go out to the Jeep during lunch today, and no, the bands were NOT dead. But before I go there, I must digress.
I was involved in a 2X QRP QSO on 14.060 MHz with Tom, KC9RXI in WI. He was about a 449 to me; and I'm sure I was no better to him, but we were having a QSO. I'm sure at times, that to people who may have been listening to the frequency, that it sounded like it was dead.
It wasn't.
All of a sudden, out of the blue, another QRPer started calling CQ/QRP on frequency! The call will be omitted to prevent embarrassment (but it is forever burned into my brain). Not so much as a single, solitary "QRL?"
Yes, I am sure that both Tom and I were weak, but we WERE in the middle of a QSO. Coming on to a frequency, plopping yourself down and commencing to call CQ without asking is just - arrgh! And to top it off, the CQer was calling CQ DE WXXXX/QRP !!!! I'm sorry, but QRPers, above all Amateur Radio ops, should know better. No excuse - period. If he had sent "QRL?" waited for a bit AND THEN had started calling CQ on top of us, I may still have been annoyed, but I would have thought to myself, "Well, he just didn't hear us."
Unfortunately, while Tom was trying to talk to me, I had to transmit "QRL. PSE QSY". He immediately QSYed (so he was able to hear me!), but at that point I had lost what Tom was trying to say. Shortly after that the QSB went off the Richter scale and the QSO came to a premature end. The "meat" that I could have copied was drowned out forever by needless QRM.
A bit after that debacle, I went to 12 Meters and tuned around for a bit. I heard 7QAA in Malawi quite loudly. He was loud enough to work - even QRP. I don't think I broke the pile up, as again there was a lot of QSB. If I had more time (lunch hour was running out) I'm pretty darn certain I would have worked him. This time I had the patience - I ran out of minutes.
So , even with the G4 geomagnetic disturbance, Malawi was coming in the best I've heard them so far. Go figure. Luckily, the station will be on the air until early April and I'm taking a vacation day on Friday. I just may make it into their logbook yet!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
I was involved in a 2X QRP QSO on 14.060 MHz with Tom, KC9RXI in WI. He was about a 449 to me; and I'm sure I was no better to him, but we were having a QSO. I'm sure at times, that to people who may have been listening to the frequency, that it sounded like it was dead.
It wasn't.
All of a sudden, out of the blue, another QRPer started calling CQ/QRP on frequency! The call will be omitted to prevent embarrassment (but it is forever burned into my brain). Not so much as a single, solitary "QRL?"
Yes, I am sure that both Tom and I were weak, but we WERE in the middle of a QSO. Coming on to a frequency, plopping yourself down and commencing to call CQ without asking is just - arrgh! And to top it off, the CQer was calling CQ DE WXXXX/QRP !!!! I'm sorry, but QRPers, above all Amateur Radio ops, should know better. No excuse - period. If he had sent "QRL?" waited for a bit AND THEN had started calling CQ on top of us, I may still have been annoyed, but I would have thought to myself, "Well, he just didn't hear us."
Unfortunately, while Tom was trying to talk to me, I had to transmit "QRL. PSE QSY". He immediately QSYed (so he was able to hear me!), but at that point I had lost what Tom was trying to say. Shortly after that the QSB went off the Richter scale and the QSO came to a premature end. The "meat" that I could have copied was drowned out forever by needless QRM.
A bit after that debacle, I went to 12 Meters and tuned around for a bit. I heard 7QAA in Malawi quite loudly. He was loud enough to work - even QRP. I don't think I broke the pile up, as again there was a lot of QSB. If I had more time (lunch hour was running out) I'm pretty darn certain I would have worked him. This time I had the patience - I ran out of minutes.
So , even with the G4 geomagnetic disturbance, Malawi was coming in the best I've heard them so far. Go figure. Luckily, the station will be on the air until early April and I'm taking a vacation day on Friday. I just may make it into their logbook yet!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
LIDS_CW
Whilst twittering / tweeting / wasting time on twitter (delete as applicable) I came across a group @lids_cw . This is an informal twitter based group of CW and low impact data mode fans in the UK that seem to have their heads screwed on. The idea behind it is that the group encourages general radio chit chat then suckers you into having a go at CW.
Morse is not something I decided I wanted to do when I started out in radio, Hence the G7 callsign (For those unsure, G7’s in the 1990’s were VHF only because we couldn’t be bothered with CW. Hence the 19th Century rules at the time kept us away from HF as were weren’t proper or some such daftness). But over the years I’ve hankered after at least one QSO in CW. I’m only browsing, for research purposes, I wont be giving up VHF officer!
Sunday at 16:00hrs GMT see’s their net on 40m. I listened in and attempted to decode what was beeping through the speaker an got the occasional character. I cheated a bit and used HRD to decode some more of the text and fill in the gaps. It wasn’t until I let slip on Twitter I was listening in I heard my callsign being called by MW0IAN. Fortunately I had no way of returning the call (otherwise we might still be at it exchanging signal reports now!).
For those of us who struggle with CW but are too scared to admit it, there are others like you. For those of you who had the 5wpm RSGB cassette and never got further than ‘it’,’meant’,’mine’ and ‘nineteen’ but fancy spending hours listening to bleeps but secretly want to have a go. Watch out LIDS or Less Involved Data Society as it’s known will get you. Keyer at the ready for next Sunday. Snails will be faster.
Some common sense, please!
After working the QRP Fox Hunt last night, and over time working a bunch of DX and a lot of the W1AW Centennial WAS stations, and other pile up causing stations - I really have to wonder what goes on in the minds of some people. It seems like when there's some kind of quarry to be had, whether it be a QRP Fox, a DX station, or a W1AW/XX station - common sense goes right out the window and sheer insanity takes its place.
Take for instance last night. I was trying to work Steve WX2S on 40 Meters who lives about 18 miles from me. Ground wave was strong enough that he was about a 229/339. The advantage was that not only could I hear him, but I could also hear the stations that were calling him. I ended up not working him, but even so, it was a unique opportunity to observe.
Steve was working split from the beginning and he was handling the pile up deftly. But I was left shaking my head, because so many times - all through the hunt, people continued throwing out their calls while Steve was engaging another station! I sat there, kind of dumbfounded. There was Steve, sending out "559 NJ STEVE 5W" to whomever, and all the while there were stations sending out their calls, over and over and over, without so much as taking a breath!
So here's the deal......if you can't hear the quarry well enough to realize he answered someone other than yourself - then why the heck do you continue to throw your call sign out there in the first place? Obviously, if by some miracle, he actually came back to you - would you be able to hear that well enough to realize it and complete the exchange? Something tells me ........no.
Part of pile up discipline (on the part of the chasers) is to realize when you have a legitimate shot. But in any case, whether the quarry is 229 or 599 on your end, don't you think it would be a lot wiser to send your call maybe twice at most and then take a break to actually listen?
Listening. That seems to be a dirty word in the minds of a lot of folks.
Look, I know we all make mistakes and I've made my fair share, too. No one is perfect, and I can understand forgetting to turn the "split" function on or some other such thing. But deliberately sending your call over and over and over in the vain hope of somehow scatter-gunning the target is really just inexcusable, and rude and inconsiderate of your fellow Hams.
As always, this is just my humble opinion. Your mileage may vary.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Take for instance last night. I was trying to work Steve WX2S on 40 Meters who lives about 18 miles from me. Ground wave was strong enough that he was about a 229/339. The advantage was that not only could I hear him, but I could also hear the stations that were calling him. I ended up not working him, but even so, it was a unique opportunity to observe.
Steve was working split from the beginning and he was handling the pile up deftly. But I was left shaking my head, because so many times - all through the hunt, people continued throwing out their calls while Steve was engaging another station! I sat there, kind of dumbfounded. There was Steve, sending out "559 NJ STEVE 5W" to whomever, and all the while there were stations sending out their calls, over and over and over, without so much as taking a breath!
So here's the deal......if you can't hear the quarry well enough to realize he answered someone other than yourself - then why the heck do you continue to throw your call sign out there in the first place? Obviously, if by some miracle, he actually came back to you - would you be able to hear that well enough to realize it and complete the exchange? Something tells me ........no.
Listening. That seems to be a dirty word in the minds of a lot of folks.
Look, I know we all make mistakes and I've made my fair share, too. No one is perfect, and I can understand forgetting to turn the "split" function on or some other such thing. But deliberately sending your call over and over and over in the vain hope of somehow scatter-gunning the target is really just inexcusable, and rude and inconsiderate of your fellow Hams.
As always, this is just my humble opinion. Your mileage may vary.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
