Bitter pills again or "You're calling well" – III.

We have already read a lot on the pages of the few "really" amateur radio magazines about what we should have, What is good, necessary or what, on the contrary, we must not and what we must completely avoid on the band.

However, listening to the bands every day, everyone has to immediately come to a conclusion, that many operators seem to have "missed school", when the aforementioned was discussed. Unfortunately, this also applies to many, proudly bearing on their breasts, OK badge.

I wrote as much a few years ago on the pages of a radio amateur periodical, and the situation was very serious at the time! However, everyone has to come to a conclusion when turning on tcvr at KV, that the situation has not improved in any way since then /how it could, when the behavior on the bands has not improved and good operators are somehow no longer born…/ on the contrary, the situation is completely tragic. During, when not only with us, but also in other countries amateur radio organizations and individuals passionately haggle with each other for the preservation of CW in tests, many are not even ashamed of themselves, let alone for a colleague, or a friend, who made a shoe and bluntness and “dumb” manifests itself more and more massively in operation at KV. How not, when the operator skill acquired over many years of operation initially in the lower class and gradually climbing up to the highest target is now limited to merely passively handing out powers without the need to know anything, know or. to prove it in any way! The result is the issuing of the highest grades in the country / why do we still call it that…?/ and the so-called. “for merit” operators without knowledge of demanding DX operation, racing or so shaken CW!

So if you don't want to appear in the leading places of the so-called. blacklists of some top operators or DX-expeditions, you will also have to adhere to the following few principles :

1) If we do not know the DX-station call sign or frequency exactly (or. way) how he listens – n e v o l a m e ! Let's avoid the popular "up…, lsn…" etc. to our address. Playing cops on the DX station frequency will then cause more confusion and interference, than utility!
2) If we call already in pile-up, we give our own brand max. 2x at once ! Everything else disturbs everyone involved all the more, if we can't work QSK.
3) If we called, we give it, what we received, n i c v í c ! If this is only a report, we will not forward e.g. name, even if we were in a DX location we could hear S9+20 dB. This is because we robbed one station of the possibility of connection.
4) Each band has a so-called. DX-windows, consisting of several kHz, usually at the very beginning of the bands. They are intended exclusively for DX operation ! In the 40m band, we will definitely not use EA6 on the frequency 7.002 kHz. It is difficult to know how many stations from other continents we have prevented from receiving EU stations. The specific 160m band is divided into many narrow sectors of DX traffic. At one o'clock in the afternoon we can tune in to 1832kHz with OK1, but since dusk we have nothing to do with such a QSO there!

5) If we live in Prague or another big city and we don't have good equipment ( and there is definitely no better factory tcvr with 100W power and vertical ), is the CQ call very problematic and debatable! Industrial interference is huge, zero income conditions and questions like “QRL ?…" or "and use?…” are absolutely worthless in this case. We will find out how many stations from other continents broadcast below us and we have made it impossible to listen to them in the EU ( from own experience) except from the justified anger of others on our frequency listening !! Finally, the probability of connection with DX from the desired direction is almost zero. So if we want to give CQ e.g. towards club members, of which we are members etc. should be preceded by a careful verification of the frequency or. possible operation on it and immediate interruption of CQ at any sign of signal below us must be a matter of course. The use of a perfect QSK is then a must here.

6) If we produce a weak signal ( it's mostly always, if it is a bare 100W tcvr with a replacement antenna) or if we work QRP, we call in pile-up until the onslaught of strong stations. They usually use these 6 (and more)-the. direction systems or. full-size verticals for the lower bands and outputs of around 2kW. Probability, that we call at this time is more than minimal.
7) We only ship so fast, as fast as we can 100% to receive and to give, without a single error. What is it to us?, that we are driving at speed 150 zn./min., if we correct ourselves after every other word and the opposite station is more confused by our session, the longer it is ! It's a bigger shame than, precise CW beads in tempo 80 zn./min.

So much and much more could be written. All policies are general policies, however, the more valid e.g. na 160m, where DX operation is even more demanding, above all, on patience and knowledge of the possibilities and conditions of dissemination. However, it is not necessary to "fudge" anything and over-research…head use, common sense and decent behavior overwhelmingly wins.
Many DX wishes

Petr, OK1RP