Save The Battery
What people do not realise is an activator uses a battery with limited life and has to do as many as is required so long winded ragchews should be saved to the end of the activation with gaps for any late comers, This is what some forget with excitement and no common sense used.
In reply to KD9KC:
Mike you sound like your are built like Paul Snr from American Chopper or the Hulk to carry a truck battery, water and FT2000D or similar radio across the Texan desert to a summit.
The majority of acitvators in the UK use a small battery from a moped or similar sized and the water problem has never been an issue as its alway wet here and from the photos they are of small stature.
It has been said elsewhere the activator is king therefore they do as they like, everyone agrees about friends being deployed but its the local who wants to know every thing from the colour of the shoe laces to when you had a hair cut . They may be the ones who runs the battery down preventing the contact with freinds home from deployment so that is where the balance is .
As you say its a hobby and can speak to whoever and whenever . Its a bit of common sense realy in that people who have been waiting to work the activator get the chance before the battery dies.
Regards G0TRB.
In reply to G0TRB:
It has been said elsewhere the activator is king …
Indeed it isn’t always that simple. There are certainly times when people will engage in more of a conversation than is welcomed. It is particularly frustrating if it happens before the summit is qualified. One does not wish to be rude or discourage new chasers. It is particularly embarrassing to dump somebody to give a chance to others only to be greeted by silence! It does happen.
In these circumstances a gentle interruption can be positively helpful. The activator can use it as an excuse to terminate the first QSO, or ask the new caller to stand by, as he or she chooses.
In reply to M1MAJ:
True, but a weak signal interruption is unlikely to succeed.
The battery situation can be exaggerated, of course. A set of high capacity NiMH batteries in the battery box of an FT-817 are good for a couple of hours on SSB, as is a 7 a.h. SLAB running an FT-857. A problem arises if an activator is doing more than one activation on one set of batteries or slab. Even so, it is solely up to the activator how he expends his power resources, if he wants to sit on a summit having a series of relaxed chats rather than 5 and 9, location, roger 73 qrz, that is his priviledge…and even the most persistant of long-over chasers can get the message if the activator is abrupt enough with them. We really cannot demand anything of an activator other than that his activations be valid under the rules, and the rules say nothing about ragchewing!
73
Brian G8ADD