As a keen CW operator for a good number of years (most of them QRP) I find in recent experience operating from summits that breaking through a pile up for a summit to summit contact is quite difficult given that most shack bound chasers are running much more power. (I only run 5W portable). The usual QRP techniques are
1 Send QRP several times, does not work in these circumstances, nobody cares!
2 Wait till the pileup thins out, a potentially dangerous practice on a summit.
3 Do some other frequency, disappointing given that summit to summit contacts are generally highly prized.
What seems to be needed is a call to alert the other summit operator to the callers summit location and maybe even create a gap in the pileup. On Phone “SUMMIT TO SUMMIT” usually does the trick and on CW some use S2S but this does not stand out and is easily mistaken for SOS with potentially dangerous consequences
What would be useful is a Q code group to clarify the situation.
The obvious choice would be QSS and looking through a good number of listings it is unallocated for amateur use.
Other services use it as “I will transmit on……” followed by a frequency and in our case as the calling station should be QSYing after the contact our use would not be outside the spirit of the thing. This would also ease the pileup somewhat as some chasers would move after the QSYing station.
There are precedents for the slight change in meaning of Q codes over the years so what do people think?
QSS = Summit to summit
It may be best avoided on 5Mhz due to the peculiar nature of the allocation.
What do you think?
73
Rob
G4RQJ
Sorry that neither my German or French is good enough to post in them and if international interest is there perhaps someone could do the honours. Thanks
I’ve never yet found this as a problem, either as the calling station or the called station. With careful timing, the use of /P (or the word “portable” on phone) seems to have almost magic properties! Once heard, it usually guarantees a quick QSO.
However, I’m not a fan of people that send /QRP. I find it a pointless waste of time and effort, given that their signal is already bound to be weaker, and I steadfastly refuse to acknowledge their use of it in my reply!
73 de Les, G3VQO
edited to say: you still appear to be in a time warp, as my reply is earlier than your question!!
An interesting suggestion for the use of the hither too (officially) unused Q Code QSS. However, as many ex military operators may tell you, we used to use this Q Code (unofficially of course) to mean ‘Quit Sending S**T’ so maybe it wouldnt be appropriate.
The habit of signing /QRP, whilst used possibly legitimately outside Britain, is not a legal suffix under our license and should never be encouraged.
Unfortunately I am at a loss to suggest an alternative.
Here in my formative CW days, I am finding that I am getting through the pile-ups for S2S contacts quite easily. Perhaps it is my QRS and the /P tagging onto the end of my callsign!
If activators would, at the end of any QSO maybe send “nw QRX for any /P only” if any s2s they could dive in, if not the activator could just carry on as normal.
The habit of signing /QRP, whilst used possibly legitimately outside
Britain, is not a legal suffix under our license and should never be
encouraged.
Unfortunately I am at a loss to suggest an alternative.
Glyn…GM4CFS (frequent recipient of QSS!!!)
Glyn, I have been reading through my BR68 (something we should all do from time to time, if only in the hope that some of the more opaque verbiage might suddenly become lucid!) and I cannot see anywhere where /QRP is forbidden. On the other hand I gave up this practise when I realised it didn’t make my signal any stronger!
Brian the BR68 does not specify what is forbidden but what is permitted ie /P, /M, etc. The issue of /QRP was raised by the RSGB with OFCOM some years ago and the answer from them was quite clear NO.
For those of us who have their Lifetime license and have thus consigned our BR68 to the recycling bin, the situation is subtley different; the Licence itself does not permit the use of any suffix, but in the Notes to the Licence it states you “may use” /A,(sense of deja vu here!),/P, /M, or /MM which probably implies that you “may not” use anything else.
(I note that thankfully although no longer compulsory, everyone still seems to be using the suffixes)
This can be achieved by the activator taking charge of the pile-up and
calling for “/P ONLY PSE” at intervals and so providing a
clear path.
73
Roy G4SSH
In reply to G4SSH:
I like this idea and is a very civilised response; I will endeavour from now on to try and remember while activating to call for any /P & /M stations ( mobile stations tend to move out of range and I know Steve and I have been frustrated on a number of occasions that we have been unable to work a summit as we have moved too far away despite a reduction in speed or the lack of a suitable stopping place) during the course of working the pile ups :o). If anyone hears s2s or mobiles I have noticed that they do tend to say that they have heard XX/P or XXX/m calling; but that could just be me with my faithful backing crew (GW0DSP and M3PXW) when I am activating.