This thread has been quite interesting.... I respect the station that can sit and rag chew on CW, I've tried it on one of the HF bands, and found it very demanding on the brain.
On 6m... If the band was open with more than one hop of SpE, I'll be chasing new grid squares, or DXCC countries. I do it on single hop SpE as well, but with more than one hop available, some real DX might also be available.. I think a lot of 'DXers' on 6m would be upset to hear a W7 on the band and not be able to have a quick QSO... I sure would be... That doesn't mean people can't be polite... I've heard and worked what I consider to be good DX (more than one hop SpE) and the DX station insisted on names as well as report... And, as he had a pile up, that's what he got with every QSO... now that's not unfair, it's just what the 'DX' wanted. In the large RSGB/IARU contest, even with the band going 'ding dong' I always try to pass over GM or GA on each QSO... does this slow the rate down...? maybe.... has it damaged to score? I don't think so, and we've won the contest 10 times in the last 13 years... Yesterdays DX from here was C56E, I've a short video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrCvY4OjZJ4 At the end of the day, it's a hobby... have fun, do what you enjoy... but remember the rest of us out there... :-) 73, Andy http://gd0tep.com -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Brett Howard Sent: 06 July 2010 06:12 To: Sandy Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] 6M CW Heck I guess I'll stop doing that... I've just kinda learned from listening to the bands. I'm finally getting my speed up fast enough that actually carrying on a QSO is possible. At 8WPM your RST, Name, QTH, RIG and ANT is a 30 to 40 minute conversation. ;) However at 13WPM I've been able to actually have conversations with people about the K3 find out that they've recently retired and what they used to do and well all sorts of fun stuff... (I'm referring to a 40 minute conversation that I had on 40 last night...) Then heck I ran into a guy the other day who was only about 20 minutes bike ride from here. We ended up having a 1.6 hour or so QSO. Both of our brains were going to mush by the end as we were both working hard for it but hey its fun! I'm by no means an old salt at the age of 29 but I do try to be polite and do find it fun to get into the longer QSO's via CW. I often find that SSB bores me for casual operating but I do find SSB interesting for contests. But anyway just wanted to let you know that your post has hit home with someone and I'll start sending my call a few times when answering a CQ... I usually figure that I want to try and get in there quick before their auto repeat kicks in.... Then if they need a fill we can always take care of that later. Guess I've been being rude all this time and had no idea. Sorry... ~Brett (N7MG) On Mon, 2010-07-05 at 16:13 -0500, Sandy wrote: > This phenomenon is not restricted to 6 meters! The same thing happens > on HF as well: people looking for "club" numbers, grid squares, > counties,etc., etc. The whole "contest" mentality has corrupted all the "old" and "polite" > methods of establishing a QSO when there are no contests at all! Also > the "Elmers" of today, aided and abetted by the ARRL, have all but > completely "eliminated" the normal calling protocols of yesteryear. > It isn't at all "unusual" to tune up and send a few "V's" and have > someone just drop their callsign on you just ONCE! As I now an "old > timer" in age and amateur radio, I "wonder" when this happens. Is > this chap calling me? Is he just testing? Even if you send "QRZ? de > W5TVW K" you may just get a callsign sent ONCE! Also people sending: "DE W4ABC" instead of calling "CQ". > "Newer" QRPers answering a CQ call just sending their callsign just ONCE! > There isn't that "all important" OPERATING section still published in > the "Handbook"! Guess the folks at ARRL thought they could make a few > extra bucks by publishing a special book dealing with that subject > that obviously everyone ISN"T buying! > I enjoy contests on CW doing QRP and usually these are limited to a > small segment of the CW sub-band, and they don't seem to be on every > weekend. 6 meters used to be a really "fun" band back in the "AM" > phone days, but I didn't figure it would be degraded to nothing but > "hello, goodbye" type contacts. > > Sorry for this, guess I sound like a grouchy "old fart" but where has > all the politeness gone? > > 73, > > Sandy W5TVW > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "WILLIS COOKE" <wrco...@yahoo.com> > To: "Jim Brown" <j...@audiosystemsgroup.com>; > <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> > Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 2:29 PM > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] 6M CW > > > I don't feel that way at all. A contact in which only grids are > exchanged leaves me with little satisfaction at all. I at least like > to exchange names and QTH. I get enough of the quicky QSOs with > contests. I don't need more on six meters or digital contacts. I know > I am out of step with the avant guarde, but I don't enjoy six meters much because of these quick exchanges. > Willis 'Cookie' Cooke > K5EWJ > > > > > ________________________________ > From: Jim Brown <j...@audiosystemsgroup.com> > To: "elecraft@mailman.qth.net" <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> > Sent: Mon, July 5, 2010 10:41:55 AM > Subject: [Elecraft] 6M CW > > On Mon, 5 Jul 2010 08:29:08 -0700 (PDT), Ken McGuire wrote: > > >I was frustrated at how slow the chats were on SSB (FM was even > >worse) - it seemed like they were wasting a perfectly good band > >opening ragchewing > > Yep. Same here. Often, an opening on any given path may be there only > long enough to exchange the grid and report. It's quite frustrating to > wait to call a station that was S9, then S7, then S5, then S3, then > fumes, while the time is filled with innanity. > > >When I turned down to the CW portion of the band, it almost sounded > >like a CW contest weekend. > > Yes. I've gotten to the point that I spend most of my 6M efforts on > CW, only tuning up to the SSB portion of the band when nothing is > happening on CW. And thanks in part to the proliferation of K3s, there > is a lot more CW activity than there was only 5 years ago. > > 73, Jim K9YC > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email > list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email > list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------- > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 9.0.830 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2983 - Release Date: > 07/05/10 01:36:00 > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email > list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html