Starting a QSO via a
directed call. There are two main ways by which a QSO can begin, one
is via a directed call and one is via monitoring. A directed call is
where one amateur calls another amateur individually, such as
"N3XYZ from K3ABC". In such a case, K3ABC is looking for one
particular individual, N3XYZ. It generally is not an invitation for
anyone other than N3XYZ to return the call. If N3XYZ doesn't answer
the call, K3ABC may just clear off by saying "K3ABC clear",
or may clear and listen for other calls by saying "K3ABC clear
and listening". The "and listening" or "and
monitoring" implies they are interested in hanging around to QSO
with anyone else who might be listening at that time.
"Listening" and "monitoring" don't mean you are
listening to somebody else's conversation, they mean you are listening
for other people who may want to call you to start a new QSO.
Likewise, just saying your call by itself with nothing following it is
meaningless. If you were to say "N3XYZ", people listening
wouldn't know if that means you were monitoring for calls, whether you
were testing, or whether they missed the callsign of a party you were
calling. Be concise, but be complete.
Starting a QSO via a
monitoring call. If the repeater is not in use, simply stating your
callsign followed by "listening" or "monitoring"
implies that you are listening to the repeater and are intersted in
having a QSO with anyone else. Calling CQ on a repeater is generally
not common, a simple "N3XYZ listening" will suffice. There
is no need to repeat the "listening" message over and over
again as you might do when calling CQ on HF. Once every few minutes
should be more than sufficient, and if someone hasn't answered after a
few tries, it probably means there is nobody around. If someone is
listening and wants to QSO, they will answer back. Avoid things like
"is anybody out there" or "is there anybody around on
frequency"; it sounds like a bad sci-fi movie.
Joining a QSO in progress.
If there is a conversation taking place which you would like to join,
simply state your callsign when one user unkeys. One of the stations in QSO, usually the station that was
about to begin his transmission, will invite you to join, either
before making his own transmission or afterwards. Don't interrupt a
QSO unless you have something to add to the topic at hand.
Interrupting a conversion is no more polite on a repeater than it is
in person.
Interrupting a QSO to make
a call. If you need to make a directed call to another amateur but
there is already another QSO going on, break into the conversation by saying "Call please,
N3XYZ". One of the stations will allow you to make your call. If
the station you are calling returns your call, you should quickly pass
traffic to them and relinquish the frequency to the stations who were
already in QSO; don't get into a full QSO in the middle of someone
else's conversation. If you need to speak with the party you call for
a significant length of time (say, more than 15 seconds), ask them to
either wait until the current QSO has cleared, or ask them to move to
another repeater or simplex channel to continue the conversation.
Roundtables and
"Turning it Over". When more than two amateurs are in a QSO,
it is often referred to as a "roundtable" discussion. Such a
QSO's usually go in order from amateur A to amateur B to amateur C ...
and eventually back to amateur A again to complete the roundtable. To
keep everyone on the same page, when any one amateur is done making a
transmission, they "turn it over" to the next station in
sequence (or out of sequence, if so desired). Without turning it over
to a particular station when there are multiple stations in the QSO,
nobody knows who is supposed to go next, and there ends up either
being dead silence or several stations talking at once. At the end of
a transmission, turn it over to the next station by naming them or
giving their callsign, such as "...and that's that. Go ahead
Joe." or "....and that's that. Go ahead XYZ." If it's
been close to 10 minutes, it's a good time to identify at the same
time as well, such as "...and that's that. N3XYZ, go ahead
Joe."
Although D-Star equipment
transmitts callsigns, JCDUG requests that users also perform voice
IDs. By FCC regulations, you must always identify at 10 minute
intervals and at the end of a transmission. If you are making a test
transmission or calling another party, this is a one-way transmission.
Since it has no "length" as there is no QSO taking place,
you should identify each time you make a call or a test transmission.
When identifying yourself and another party (or parties), or when
making a directed call, your callsign goes LAST. "N3XYZ,
K3ABC" means that K3ABC is calling N3XYZ, not the other way
around. There is no need to identify each time you make a
transmission, only once every 10 minutes. You do not need to identify
the station with whom you are speaking, only your own callsign, but it
is generally polite to remember the call of the other station. Avoid
phonetics on FM unless there is a reason for using them, such as the
other station misunderstanding your callsign. When phonetics are
needed, stick to the standard phonetic alphabet.
Demonstrations.
From time
to time, an amateur may want to demonstrate the capabilities of
amateur radio to another non-amateur. The typical way to do this is to
ask for a "demo" such as "N3XYZ for a
demonstration." Anyone who is listening to the repeater can
answer them back. Usually telling the calling party your name,
callsign, and location is what they are looking for, not a lengthy
conversation. Someone doing a demo may ask for stations in a
particular area to show the range of amateur radio communications,
such as if the calling station is in the Poconos they may ask for any
stations in south Jersey or Harrisburg areas, which is more
interesting than demonstrating that they can talk to someone in the
same town as they are in.
Signal Reports.
If you are
unsure how well you are making it into the repeater, DO NOT kerchunk
the repeater. Any time you key up the repeater, you should identify,
even if you are just testing to see if you are making the machine.
"N3XYZ test" is sufficient. Do not use the repeater as a
"target" for tuning or aiming antennas, checking your
transmitter power, etc. Use a dummy load where appropriate, or test on
a simplex frequency. If you need someone to verify that you are making
the repeater OK, ask for a signal report such as "N3XYZ, can
someone give me a signal report?" "Radio check" is a
term most often used on CB, "signal report" is what most
amateurs ask for.
Language.
Aside from some of the techno-syncracies
inherent in amateur vernacular, use plain conversational English. The
kind of English that would be suitable for prime-time television, not
R rated movies. Avoid starting or encouraging conflicts on the air. If
a topic of conversation starts to draw strong debate, change the
subject. Avoid "radio-ese" lingo whenever possible. CB has
its own language style and so does amateur radio, but the two are not
the same. Amateurs have "names", not "personals".
Although many new hams have graduated from the CB ranks, let's try to
keep CB lingo off the amateur bands. When visiting a new repeater,
take some time to monitor before jumping in to get a feel for the type
of traffic and operating mannerisms of that particular system. Some
repeaters are very free-wheeling in that there are people jumping in
and out of conversations constantly. Others primarily have directed
calls on them and discourage ragchewing. Others are member-exclusive
repeaters. Listen before you talk, when in Rome do as the Romans do.
Emergencies.
If there is a
QSO going on, break into a conversation with the word
"Break" or "Break for priortity traffic." DO NOT
USE THE WORD BREAK TO JOIN IN A QSO UNLESS THERE IS AN EMERGENCY! All
stations should give immediate priority any station with emergency
traffic.
Malicious Interference.
If
there is malicious interference, such as kerchunking, touch-tones,
rude comments, etc. DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE IT! Continue the QSO in a
normal fashion. If the interference gets to the level where it is
impossible to carry on the QSO, simply end the QSO as you normally
would.
Power.
Use the minimum
power necessary to complete a QSO. However, the minimum power
necessary doesn't just mean you are barely tickling the repeater
receiver squelch. If someone says that you are noisy, increase power
or relocate or take whatever measures you can to improve your signal.
Continuing to make transmissions after being told your signal is noisy
is inconsiderate to those listening. The amateur radio manufacturers
continue to come up with newer, smaller handheld radios, many with
power levels well under a watt. Many new amateurs start out with a
handheld radio as their "first rig". Although convenient,
they aren't the most effective radios in terms of performance. Without
a good external antenna, operating a handheld radio indoors or inside
a car is going to result in a lot of bad signal reports.
