Posted: 7/29/2014 6:44:18 PM EDT
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I need some CQ advice. Been at it a few weeks and I have had no problem returning someone elses CQ or busting thru a busy pile up if I stay at it a few minutes. However I've called CQ on several of the busy bands like 40/20/17 and stayed at it for a while and so far haven't had anyone return yet. Advice? |
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Quoted:
I need some CQ advice. Been at it a few weeks and I have had no problem returning someone elses CQ or busting thru a busy pile up if I stay at it a few minutes. However I've called CQ on several of the busy bands like 40/20/17 and stayed at it for a while and so far haven't had anyone return yet. Advice? Just keep at it. Sometimes it can take awhile.  Try finding a pileup or even just a station getting some attention and then positioning yourself above or below them...say 5kHz or so.
Other than that, just keep calling. You want your call to be long enough that someone can hear you and reply, but not so long that they get bored waiting for you to finish that they move on. I'll call for 10-15 seconds and listen for 5-10. Repeating for a few minutes. Then I'll move and give it a try somewhere else. |
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Quoted: Get a young lady with a sexy voice to call for you.  BUT, know how to work a split before you do.  Just keep trying. I actually look for stations that aren't getting a lot (or any) activity to respond to. I hate pileups. Since I'm new I'll stop and try a few times on a pile up if it sounds interesting. But 2-3 minutes is about tops. Speaking of the opposite sex. I did make a contact a few days ago with a female. I posted about it here, she's the managing editor of QST magazine. I talked to her for a few minutes and she was telling me about the centennial contest the ARRL is having and she was worth 50 points in it. Anyway I listened to the next few contacts. Geeze, it was almost worse than the internet. The next guy was from CA and sounded like a "surfer dude" and wouldn't get off really and was trying to impress her with his philsophy on life etc....it went on for a while. |
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Since I'm new I'll stop and try a few times on a pile up if it sounds interesting. But 2-3 minutes is about tops. Speaking of the opposite sex. I did make a contact a few days ago with a female. I posted about it here, she's the managing editor of QST magazine. I talked to her for a few minutes and she was telling me about the centennial contest the ARRL is having and she was worth 50 points in it. Anyway I listened to the next few contacts. Geeze, it was almost worse than the internet. The next guy was from CA and sounded like a "surfer dude" and wouldn't get off really and was trying to impress her with his philsophy on life etc....it went on for a while. Quoted:
Quoted:
Get a young lady with a sexy voice to call for you. BUT, know how to work a split before you do.
Just keep trying. I actually look for stations that aren't getting a lot (or any) activity to respond to. I hate pileups. Since I'm new I'll stop and try a few times on a pile up if it sounds interesting. But 2-3 minutes is about tops. Speaking of the opposite sex. I did make a contact a few days ago with a female. I posted about it here, she's the managing editor of QST magazine. I talked to her for a few minutes and she was telling me about the centennial contest the ARRL is having and she was worth 50 points in it. Anyway I listened to the next few contacts. Geeze, it was almost worse than the internet. The next guy was from CA and sounded like a "surfer dude" and wouldn't get off really and was trying to impress her with his philsophy on life etc....it went on for a while. A month or so ago I was spinning the dial and heard a lady's voice, so I stopped. N3KN was calling CQ and not getting any responses, so I did. We had a nice QSO and at the end she asked if I would spot her. I said, "Sure, but I don't know what that means." She walked me through it and within seconds there was a HUGE pileup. I didn't even know who I was talking with until later. |
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Are you using the correct phonetics for your call letters? Those cutesy made-up ones can be hard to understand, especially for the DX OPs.
Back in the post-spark gap ages when I operated 'phone, I'd call CQ three times, nn-Meters, this is Whiskey-four-xxx, Whiskey-four-xxx, Whiskey four-xxx. I would repeat the sequence twice, then listen for about 15 seconds. Toss in your state if it's one with few hams. HINT: A CQ from Wyoming, Montana, or Alaska will usually wake the dead. On CW, I call CQ three times, send DE, then repeat my call twice. I repeat the sequence twice, then listen. After two sequences, I only send it once. It takes patience, especially if there's not much activity. The bands may be wide open, but it no one is transmitting, naturally nothing is heard. I usually call around the DX, SKCC, and FISTS calling frequencies. Sometimes after the first call, I'll have several answer at once -- a mini-pileup. They're sitting there listening while doing something else -- building a transmitter, balancing the checkbook, looking at porn on the computer. You get the idea. You can get a pretty good idea where the upper bands are open to by using beacons. The call letters are sent in CW, but if your station clock is set to the second, you can tell which the stations are by the times that they transmit. Each station sends its call at 100 Watts, then a series of long dashes at 100, 10, 1, and 1/10th Watts. You'll be surprised at how many times you'll hear that 1/10th Watt dash. The power of QRP, especially when using CW. |
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I know that I will often ignore a CQ from someone in the states, under the assumption that they are looking for someone farther away than where I am (i.e. they want Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctic,the moon, etc.). When I hear, "CQ for anyone," I will respond. That could be just me. |
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Quoted: I know that I will often ignore a CQ from someone in the states, under the assumption that they are looking for someone farther away than where I am (i.e. they want Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctic,the moon, etc.). When I hear, "CQ for anyone," I will respond. That could be just me. That's possible. I really forgot that the first contact I made was a guy calling CQ anyone. |
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That's possible. I really forgot that the first contact I made was a guy calling CQ anyone. Quoted:
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I know that I will often ignore a CQ from someone in the states, under the assumption that they are looking for someone farther away than where I am (i.e. they want Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctic,the moon, etc.). When I hear, "CQ for anyone," I will respond. That could be just me. That's possible. I really forgot that the first contact I made was a guy calling CQ anyone. Yep, I'll finish my call with "calling any station anywhere" |
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You can get a pretty good idea where the upper bands are open to by using beacons. The call letters are sent in CW, but if your station clock is set to the second, you can tell which the stations are by the times that they transmit. Each station sends its call at 100 Watts, then a series of long dashes at 100, 10, 1, and 1/10th Watts. You'll be surprised at how many times you'll hear that 1/10th Watt dash. The power of QRP, especially when using CW. Good info, especially about the beacons, Frank_B. I didn't know that. Thanks! 
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| Keep in mind that you need to call CQ long enough for someone to come across you while scanning, stop the scan, go back to your frequency, then hear and write down your call sign. Most will even listen to see if you are calling straight up CQ, or CQ DX, etc. All that takes a bit of time, so don't be afraid to call CQ for a good 30 seconds straight. |
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Keep in mind that you need to call CQ long enough for someone to come across you while scanning, stop the scan, go back to your frequency, then hear and write down your call sign. Most will even listen to see if you are calling straight up CQ, or CQ DX, etc. All that takes a bit of time, so don't be afraid to call CQ for a good 30 seconds straight. Sure do love that "Speech" button on my ICOM 7100. |
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My 2 cents - Say your call just as much as you say CQ, and use the standard phonetics like you already mentioned you do, slowly, crisply, and clearly.
The ones that say CQ over and over for 30 seconds and then give their call once or twice while mumbling it kill me. I'm not sticking around another 30 seconds to try and copy their call again. Also, make sure your mic gain and processor are set right. Weak audio will keep people from calling you too. |
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I responded to a CQ today on the extra portion of 20m. I had heard him talking to one guy just before so I went ahead and punched in his callsign. He CQ'd a few times and I wanted to be clear that I wasn't stepping on someone. So I gave my callsign and added my /AE at the end. He came back and said come back when you don't have to use /AE and then kept calling CQ and said any station, anyone CQ CQ anyone without /AE. What a dipshit. I should have written it down. His bio page was how much in demand he was for living in WV and he wanted some ungodly amount to mail a QSL card in the US. |
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I responded to a CQ today on the extra portion of 20m. I had heard him talking to one guy just before so I went ahead and punched in his callsign. He CQ'd a few times and I wanted to be clear that I wasn't stepping on someone. So I gave my callsign and added my /AE at the end. He came back and said come back when you don't have to use /AE and then kept calling CQ and said any station, anyone CQ CQ anyone without /AE. What a dipshit. I should have written it down. His bio page was how much in demand he was for living in WV and he wanted some ungodly amount to mail a QSL card in the US. Wow. Sounds like a guy not worth talking to! |
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Quoted: Wow. Sounds like a guy not worth talking to! Quoted: Quoted: I responded to a CQ today on the extra portion of 20m. I had heard him talking to one guy just before so I went ahead and punched in his callsign. He CQ'd a few times and I wanted to be clear that I wasn't stepping on someone. So I gave my callsign and added my /AE at the end. He came back and said come back when you don't have to use /AE and then kept calling CQ and said any station, anyone CQ CQ anyone without /AE. What a dipshit. I should have written it down. His bio page was how much in demand he was for living in WV and he wanted some ungodly amount to mail a QSL card in the US. Wow. Sounds like a guy not worth talking to! Yeah I pretty much figured that out. Damn guy looked like a hippie freak with a duck dynasty beard going on in his bio pic. |
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I responded to a CQ today on the extra portion of 20m. I had heard him talking to one guy just before so I went ahead and punched in his callsign. He CQ'd a few times and I wanted to be clear that I wasn't stepping on someone. So I gave my callsign and added my /AE at the end. He came back and said come back when you don't have to use /AE and then kept calling CQ and said any station, anyone CQ CQ anyone without /AE. What a dipshit. I should have written it down. His bio page was how much in demand he was for living in WV and he wanted some ungodly amount to mail a QSL card in the US. Dipshit indeed. ...Just spin the dial and move on...and WV is "in demand"? 
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LIDs like him really piss me off. He belongs on 14.313
I know some hams tease the no-coders from time to time, just as we ARFCOMers do '13ers. but some of those hams are serious about it. To be honest, I think we have a better group of CW OPs now since they've learned CW because they want to, not because they have to. |
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I finally got someone to respond to CQ late last night/early this morning. He was in Brazil and I got his callsign and he parroted mine back to me. It broke down shortly after that due to communication issues. I had a real difficult time understanding him talk except when he purposely slowed down to give his callsign phonetically, he was really fast with a touch of accent. I'm guessing he was having equal or greater difficulty understand my accent which is a mix of a TX draw and coon ass. But at least he answered. Edit - just sat down and I got a response from Cuba. 3rd time I've worked the guy in a couple of weeks, this was the 3rd band. |
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Gotta be careful with that combo of Texas drawl and coon ass. The FCC forbids encrypted communication on Ham radio, and I believe that combo may just qualify! I want to hear you QSO with someone from Aroostock county Maine sometime.
Like someone else said, that's DX in everything but distance. As for the lid in WV, Hogsiper, put THIS on your QRZ page. There is someone out there charging out the ass for a QSL card from 'exotic' West Virginia. I'm running a sale! Stateside: FREE with SASE DX: $1 USD and SAE Be the first kid on your block to put a genuine exotic WV QSL card in your collection for less than half off! Act now!! Operators are standing by!! (As for the twenty cents, a lot of DX stations will still send $2 out of habit and make the difference up.) |
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I want to hear you QSO with someone from Aroostock county Maine sometime.[img]http://www.ar15.com/images/smilies/icon_smile_big.gif[/ I grew up in Northern Maine. I don't sound like your typical West Virginian. If hogsniper doesn't take your verbiage then I just might.
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I grew up in Northern Maine. I don't sound like your typical West Virginian. If hogsniper doesn't take your verbiage then I just might. Quoted:
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I want to hear you QSO with someone from Aroostock county Maine sometime.[url]http://www.ar15.com/images/smilies/icon_smile_big.gif[/ I grew up in Northern Maine. I don't sound like your typical West Virginian. If hogsniper doesn't take your verbiage then I just might. raysheen, you're another. Put this on your QRZ page. As for the lid in WV, Hogsiper, put THIS on your QRZ page. There is someone out there charging out the ass for a QSL card from 'exotic' West Virginia. I'm running a sale! Stateside: FREE with SASE DX: $1 USD and SAE Be the first kid on your block to put a genuine exotic WV QSL card in your collection for less than half off! Act now!! Operators are standing by!! (As for the twenty cents, a lot of DX stations will still send $2 out of habit and make the difference up.) ETA Get other WV hams to do this.
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I think I have stumbled onto an approach that works. I enjoy DX but I really rather talk to someone than just get a log entry. So tonight I did "CQ CQ CQ callsign calling X band, CQ DX calling CQ DX anyong who just wants to talk - not looking for just log entries CQ CQ" I did that for a while when it quieted down around midnight here and in the next 3 hours I got 4 contacts. All 4 were DX and 3 of them I had an enjoyable conversation just talking. One guy was really interested in life in the south and when he found out I had a forestry degree we talked about that for a while. He was really intrigued. He works for Erricson the phone company in Sweden so he really had no background in forestry. Just odd but effective. |