Before I could do CW QSOs I only used 60m SSB and some 40m SSB. Now I prefer CW QSOs to be honest but there’s a large number of UK hams who only do SSB and I feel I owe those people a chance to chase me because they always made and effort to chase me in the past. So I always try to fit some LF SSB into an activation to give those people a chance.
But I feel that doing 40m SSB is like juggling hand grenades because 20% of the activations will result in me meeting STUPID on the bands. I don’t like net operation TBH but I’d prefer to work in the WAB net where lots of people are listening to make sure all the QSOs are good. You may have to wait a few minutes till you get run down the net but operation is controlled such that your blood pressure doesn’t spike!
So yesterday when I QSY’d down from 17m CW to 40m SSB. It was all going well and I though maybe all the stupid people were stuffed full of turkey and not playing radio. But I was wrong. STUPID was out with vengeance.
A few calls came back to a CQ and I got the number and two letters of a call. It just so happens that there are 2 SOTA chasers with such a sequence in their calls. I called out of those calls but that station wasn’t calling it was the other one, the one who seems to be dimmer than a Toc-H lamp.
A few garbled exchanges took place thanks to QSB and QRM but we get to the crux of the QSO
Andy: I need your callsign (I knew who it was but I hadn’t heard the full callsign)
TocH: I’m not copying you your 4 3
Andy: Callsign? What is your callsign?
TocH: No, I didn’t get that report?
Andy: Callsign? What is your callsign?
TocH: I’n not really copying you what’s my report?
Andy: What the hell is your goddamned callsign?
TocH: Oh was that 4 and 4? Thanks for the QSO
Of course it’s been logged. Of course I’ve contacted TocH to tell him it wasn’t valid. TocH is having the same difficulty receiving emails as he was receiving me.
Now I meet STUPID on CW regularly.
Sending 10wpm faster than me, me asking for repeats and STUPID doesn’t slow down so we struggle.
STUPID calls over someone sending 73 etc. such that I don’t hear the 73 or the call of STUPID
STUPID ignores directed calls
STUPID keeps calling over QSOs (has to be deliberate so I will work STUPID to get rid of him)
But yesterday was the 5th time this particular station, TocH, had tried to have a QSO when they cannot hear me. What I don’t understand is just how stupid do you have to be to log such invalid and incomplete QSOs? If I was to log all the DX that couldn’t hear me I’d be #1 ARRL Honor Roll. But I don’t because I only log QSOs I’ve really had. I’m finding it hard to accept that these people honestly believe they can hear things that are not being said.
On the same activation, Rod M0JLA called in. Long slow QSB came calling and Rod could not hear me. He was 56-58 with me. But Rod is a proper gentleman and said “Sorry I just cannot hear you” and he abandoned the chase. And he didn’t log it. If only there were more like Rod on the air.
And the most annoying thing about many of those is that they aren’t actually capable of sending at that speed. They run their callsign together so I can’t make it out, they make lots of mistakes so have to keep repeating etc. They need to join the FISTS CW Club “Accuracy Transcends Speed”.
okay some of this reminds me of my BOfH days in tech, that said we tend to have very similar issues over here too…Chasers pouncing early (as in calling before I am past DE calling cq), amd folks sending way too fast. PPL wanna chase, but do not wanna be bothered??
I spent yesterday attempting to make a 2m beam ready for the 2m 70 cm SSB challenge but I did manage some chasing. It is equally frustrating as a chaser - not that I was chasing you on this occasion… I have a low noise QTH so I can usually hear quite a lot of what is going on and sometimes it is frustrating ..
Activator QRZ
Pile up follows
Activator picks out a station and calls it….
…. Silence….
Activator picks out the same call again and calls it
…. Silence
Activator QRZ…
Pile up including the called station
The activator goes to a different station… and the original station once again crashes over the top of the activator repeating the call a couple of times…
Then to ease things along a policemen appears - no callsign - “over Bert” and then just to top it off at the end of the QSO “That’s a good one”….
TBH I don’t think that 40 is worse than 20 (although the band policemen don’t appear as much on 20m)
I have tried shouting at the radio (at home) but I find that making a cup of tea quite beneficial, and on a summit I’m usually so busy trying to manage the activation with Woody joining in I don’t have the spare mental capacity to get frustrated…
Anyway - Yesterdays learning point as I assembled the driven element…. Epoxy Resin doesn’t cure at 3C so the carefully assembled antenna fell apart as I lifted it up and the still very soft glue fell out. MK2 is now on a radiator….
It’s not just 40m. I have had stations in Europe complete an entire QSO, from answering my CQ to saying 73, without me even speaking. Truely amazing.
It seems that when I have a regular method of working a pile-up, some stations use this to mimic an actual QSOs, hoping that if I was continuing my normal QSO pattern, I would hear their well-sequenced responses and add them to my log.
it isnt just 40 Andy, seems to be all the bands…. had some awful QSOs on 2M today, tell them you are a 5/9 then ask them “whats your name for the log"?…. “you are 5 9 fifty nine”…. “yes thanks for the 5/9 whats your name for the log?” “you are 5/9..73!” ??? so how can i be a 5/9 if you cant hear me ask your name?? idiots!
Thank you for the chase yesterday Paul, I had a couple of oddities yesterday in the pile-ups but nothing too frustrating for me.
I had somebody disappear from the pile up when I didn’t pick them first, even though I called them up later with their suffix which was all I got from the pile up.
I generally announce that I will work all the pile up.
Possibly they were tracking more than one activation at a time and got a nibble on the other one - there are often several targets to chase at any one time and a keen chaser may be queuing for two or more on different bands with different rigs.
Why was he calling if he couldn’t hear you? Hope it wasn’t a case of he’d seen the spot, couldn’t hear but he’d call anyway and maybe the voices in his head would QSP what you were saying?
Dunno, but it happens, and not just with UK hams. Last week there was an OE on 20m working a string and then went QRT. 10min later an EA called him several times then gave him a report! I heard this because I moved across and was reading something on the reflector while the rig gave a noise background.
… or, if the band’s being variable, your signal may have sunk into the noise and they can’t at that moment hear you. Last couple of days I’ve heard a few activators only briefly, and called when they were louder. If I don’t get an answer to my call I may wait to try again, but if the activator fades into the noise too deeply (or the pile is too busy) then I’ll move on…
So why is the problem I see always with the same 4 or 5 UK stations? It’s always the same few who can’t hear but continue to log QSOs that didn’t happen.
The sun is cracking the flags though it’s still below 0C in the sun at 1040Z… time to grab something quick before the snow comes at New Year.
As much as it goes against the grain of our hobby I know some Activators who have a ‘naughty list’ and will not work certain people unless they are struggling to qualify a Summit.
I don’t understand it either. But it happens to me too. Only a couple of “regulars” in my case.
Nope, not playing that game. I’ll work anyone.
Now this could be contrversial… maybe seen as rewarding bad behavior, but I will sometimes quickly work the people who are calling over others simply to get rid of the disruption. I don’t want to encourage people to do the wrong thing. But sometimes it just ends up making the activation runs smoother if I just get them cleared out of the way. I’ll be interested to hear if there are other strategies?
When you are sitting on top of a hill freezing and watching the sun disappear anything to clear the chasers as quickly as possible has to be legitimate. The only alternative is to pull the plug but that punishes the good guys and gals who are patiently waiting their turn.
I only have one I will avoid if possible! its a north wales based M3 station, who doesnt know the meaning of a quick QSO! its a fine if you are on the summit for a few hours, but if you are grab and go operating as i often am, i wanna work the pile as quick as I can!
Having activated 5 times in the last week (I know I was trying to make a target, which I am happy to say I achieved), one thing that has really annoyed me is chasers, tuning up their antenna on my frequency. This is made worse as I always activate with headphones!
It doesnt take a lot of effort, to tune up a short distance away and then come in for the QSO.
