What is a QSO?
2018-01-17 08:20
Hi All, Some observations on how to have a QSO!
The necessary information to be exchanged in a QSO is:-
The stations callsigns, the signal reports and the names of the operators.
This last is not essential, but it does act as a check to see if the callsigns are correct.
Please give your callsign slowly and if conditions are not good, or the station you are calling does not speak the same language, give both the numbers and the letters using the "International Phonetic Alphabet and Numbers!"
With this you can have a perfectly "good" QSO with neither station knowing a single word in the others language, as long as you use the "Standard Procedure!"
Establish that you actually have a QSO before exchanging any further information.
If you are calling CQ, please give your callsign several times slowly and include your Country if needed.
This gives stations time to write down the details and adjust their antenna if needed.
Do not reply to a CQ call with a monologue on the weather and the station details etc., until you have established the basic QSO.
If a station asks you to repeat your callsign please do it slowly and several times.
Stay patient!
There maybe many reasons why they did not clearly get your callsign on the first try!
Once the basic QSO is in your log and you have established a "good" contact you can than give any additional information.
However, If a station is rare, or has many stations calling, keep to the basic information unless asked to add further information.
Remember many stations have only a limited vocabulary and may not understand any details beyond the basic QSO.
Holding a monologue about the "name of your dog" is not only likely to be not understood by the DX station, it will waste his time and upset other people waiting on the frequency for their chance to call.
If you are Rag-chewing with your mates you should allow for the fact that a station that is DX to you may only hear you for a limited period of time, so leave space between overs to allow them to call in!
If you have succeeded in your QSO to a DX station please QSY a decent distance up or down the band to give others a chance to work the weaker station without suffering problems from possible QRM! (More than 10 kHz if possible.)
Do not call DX stations that you see posted on the DX cluster unless you can actually hear them!
Do not keep calling if the DX station asks for calls from a specific area, unless you are in that area!
Do not spot stations unless you have actually heard them yourself, hearing another station exchange their callsign is not reason enough to spot them.
Only spot the station who is in "control" of the frequency, spotting stations just calling in is a waste of everyone's time!
I know that many of you are well aware of these things and do it naturally, but you are also aware just how many times these guidelines are broken or ignored!
Keep calling CQ leaving sufficient space between calls. Giving your callsign once and adding CQ or QRZ is not the proper way.
Listen After you have made a CQ call, people sometimes need quite a lot of time before they reply to a call.
Give them a chance.
If stations do not follow "Standard Procedures" remind them, however, educate them, don't get angry with them.
If a station is calling CQ on a frequency and a DX station returns to them DO NOT JUMP IN AND "STEAL" their QSO!
Brian. 30hs7103.
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