Posts Tagged ‘nonsense’
Broke the 100 confirmations mark today!
April 25th, 2016 | 
Author: 
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!
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!
If you think today’s pile ups are a zoo – just wait!
One of those things
that doesn’t make sense to me.
I am about ready to sit down and fill out the log sheet for the certificate for working K6JSS Golden Jubilee Stations. As I mentioned before, I’ve worked 47 of the 50.
Anyway, I am looking at the WAS map that the QRP-ARCI so graciously provided along with the log sheet. And I’m noticing something I don’t think I’ve ever really payed attention to before in all my 30+ years in the hobby. I’d bet good money that someone else noticed this before and that I’m just really slow on the uptake.
We start in the North East – Call section 1. Next we come down to New York and New Jersey – Call section 2. Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland – the Middle Atlantic states – Call section 3. The great South East – Call section 4. Now on to the Central Southern states – Call section 5. Out West to California – Call section 6. Up to the great North West and other Western states – Call section 7.
Sense the pattern? We started in the North East and we’re working around the perimeter of the country (more or less) in a clockwise pattern (more or less) – in numerical order.
So now, after the great North West, we move over to the Central Northern and Central states – Call section 0 ????? What happened? Why do sections 0, 9 and 8 seem to be backwards? We were working our way, nicely around the country in a nice numerical order and all of a sudden – chaos!
I’m sure there’s an excellent explanation. Any Amateur Radio history buffs out there that can enlighten me?
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!
