I know what you mean concerning the pile-ups when activatin WFF.
I did Skiddaw and Lake District in august at the same time and sometimes it really gets to your nerves when people keep calling because " they know you ". The italians are specialists at that. You have to stay in control or otherwise they will drown you, hihi. Working by numbers is a solution but even then it is no garantuee but at least it gives the weaker stations a chance to work you.
At present I have come to a point where a few stations are on my black list; this means I will not work them anymore, whatever. One station started swearing at me because I did not come back to him after he called me 3 times. His loss.
SOTA CW pile-ups are, in the main, reasonably well behaved. You will always get the over-enthusiastic chaser who sends over everyone else, but this is mainly due to poor reception or inexperience. A normal pile-up of about 30 chasers is usually worked through in about 30 minutes and most chasers are known and recognised.
The activator can have a great influence on the pile up by adjusting his operating procedure to match the situation. If there are 30 chasers calling and the activator insists on sending double calls, the SOTA reference and his name every single over then the waiting chasers will get restless and attempt to get ahead of the queue or face a one hour wait.
However, the addition of WFF to the alert or CQ is a sure fire way in increasing the chasers two or three fold, which may be the intention of the activator, but as a SOTA chaser I view the ensuing display of up to 100 stations all fighting amongst themselves with great distaste. I do not want to be a part of it and would rather forgo the points than be associated with such behaviour.
Well said Roy. But then you did throw your call into the zoo yesterday - and possibly got worked by me first time. Your suffix is worth a few S points on CW.
Correct Tom - I waited until you had moved from the mad-house on 14012 KHz to the relative sanctuary of 14058 KHz and you were also my first UK SOTA activator contact on 14 MHz. Many thanks !
No Tom, he has one of these Gates MW50A units down the bottom of the garden. Only way to explain how dididit dididit didididit cuts through the pileup!
Gates Equipment Archive MW50A uses 4CX-1500s as drivers and 4CX-35000s for the output. I think it needs more than 1 of Richard’s PP3 to power it though!
(Bah, another dreiky wet Sunday, so no activations today!)
SOTA CW pile-ups are, in the main, reasonably well behaved. You will
always get the over-enthusiastic chaser who sends over everyone else,
but this is mainly due to poor reception or inexperience. A normal
pile-up of about 30 chasers is usually worked through in about 30
minutes and most chasers are known and recognised.
The activator can have a great influence on the pile up by adjusting
his operating procedure to match the situation. If there are 30
chasers calling and the activator insists on sending double calls, the
SOTA reference and his name every single over then the waiting chasers
will get restless and attempt to get ahead of the queue or face a one
hour wait.
However, the addition of WFF to the alert or CQ is a sure fire way in
increasing the chasers two or three fold, which may be the intention
of the activator, but as a SOTA chaser I view the ensuing display of
up to 100 stations all fighting amongst themselves with great
distaste. I do not want to be a part of it and would rather forgo the
points than be associated with such behaviour.
73
Roy G4SSH
I totally agree with you, Roy, Going through a SOTA pile-up is more fun than a WFF one.
Indeed. And this is one of the main reasons why removing offending callsigns from the Database will have little effect. Most of the “offending callsigns” are not on the Database to begin with!
156 QSOs in six fairly short activations in GI two weeks ago is testament to the standard of operating discipline and manners when dealing with a SOTA pile-up, as opposed to a general 20m one or WFF pile-up. Our own participants already operate really well in my experience.
Ultimately I reckon there is only one way to improve the experience of handling a big WFF pile-up - and that is improve my own operating by doing more and more of it! Next time I get opportunity to dwell on a summit and play radio, I will call CQ SOTA first, and CQ WFF afterwards (if a WFF reference is applicable). And see what small changes I can make to my operating to improve my handling of the pile-up.
One thing I learned on Saturday was that a QSY from 14.012MHz to 14.058MHz helped matters considerably.
I was a SWL for 16 years before I got my license and I have probably heard most types of operating techniques being practiced during large pileups.
One system that seems to work (although not like by some who are working the DX station as it means they have to wait and be patient and the size of their antenna and power they are running no longer matters) is the number system staring from calls with 1 in the call and working your way up this way at least you can hear some of the callers and it puts you in absolute control, you talk to station you have asked to talk to and immediately identify the ones that don’t play by the rules so they can be ignored plus it gets rid of the impatient ones.
May be worth a try as an experiment for the WFF when it get too chaotic.
I agree that the numbers system works well, but from my point of view it has a serious disadvantage. The operator starts at zero or one, and works plenty of stations before moving on, but seems to get tired as the numbers progress, and by the time it reaches me, an 8, he tends to work just two or three and moves on to 9! I have been frustrated in this way many times in 6 metre pile-ups!
In reply to G8ADD:
No I don’t think we want to encourage working by numbers, or even worse ‘LIIIST’ operation in SOTA. But awareness of pileup cracking techniques and discipline wouldn’t go amiss.
I might try the numbers system in a future big pile-up. I would start from 5 though, or work down from 9. What is the concise way of announcing a QRZ for only a certain number on CW? Problem is that the pack starts calling you after “QR”, without listening for any other thing you are asking for!
In reply to M1EYP:
If you have a pack calling you there’s no need for a QRZ? or even your callsign (occasionally). Just send NR 9 or wharever at the end e.g. r tu nr 9? or de M1EYP/P nr 9.
In reply to G3YMC:
I tend to agree with Dave here. Working by numbers is an intensely frustrating exercise for chasers thus potentially making the unruly behaviour worse (and we don’t need DQRM in SOTA).
If (and only IF) a different practice is needed to manage the pile, then this is the time to think about split operation. After all, it’s easy to do in a relatively small bandwidth on CW and a great way to exercise that narrow filter.
When I go on CW I tend to find that most callers come from Germany. I try to spread the love about by working a couple of German stations, then go further east HA/OK/Balkans then a few Germans then west LX/ON/F etc. I think that’s better than just numbers for the simple reason that if you have a 0 call the chances of the DX ever getting to you is slim. They often go 1…9 and forget about us 0’s
I always start at “0” then “9” and then come down to “1” by that time and with my cw speed a lot of “2” or “1” stations have gone: lack of patience hihi
I agree with Marc that SPLIT operation can impove the situation a lot.
I also have experience with my own WFF activations (6).
SOTA activators usually are running at QRP levels into relatively low mounted wire antennas. Their signals are weak and very soon will be lost into a small pile up. The WFF chasers do not hear well (or at all) the activating station and they can’t follow the instructions.
I found impossible to manage WFF pile-up without working SPLIT.
When the situation calm down than the activator may continue to listen on his transmiting frequency.
It’s a good aproach first to work SOTA chasers, and later to continue with WFF. When the pile-up grow up, than go for SPLIT. Working with NUMBERS is only solution in cases with exraordinary bad pile -up, or when the activator has not enought experience.
