KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Operating notes: Basic operating procedures, last weekends QSO parties,
Maritime Radio Day

Posted: 15 Apr 2021 12:00 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


I hate to sound like a curmudgeon, but I would like to again encourage all
you new operators out there to learn basic standard operating procedures.
They became standard operating procedures for a reason. They really do make
contacts easier.

I bring this up now because more and more I’m running across operators who
don’t seem to know them or just ignore them. About a week ago, I worked a
relative newcomer to amateur radio. He replied to my CQ by just sending his
callsign one time. This was wrong on two counts:

Since he didn’t send my call sign, I didn’t know if he was replying to me
or not.

Since he only sent my call sign once, I didn’t get it all. There was a
burst of noise as he was sending his call, and I missed one of the letters
in his suffix.

In this case, the standard operating procedure is to send the other
station’s call three times, then “DE,� then your call three times. So, if
your call is W1ABC and you’re replying to my CQ, send, “ KB6NU KB6NU KB6NU
DE W1ABC W1ABC W1ABC.�
Last weekends QSO parties

Last weekend, I took part in four state QSO parties: Nebraska, New Mexico,
Georgia, and North Dakota. I only managed to work one station in NE, but I
did work at least two in the other contests. The Georgia QSO Party was by
far the most active. I managed to work 35 Georgia stations in a couple
hours of work.

This weekend, the Michigan and Ontario QSO Parties will take place. Listen
for me on 20 meters, 40 meters, and 80 meters. I’ll most be on CW, but I’ll
work some phone, too.
Maritime Radio Day

Last night, I had one of those great, unexpected experiences that sometime
happens in amateur radio. At about 11:00 pm (0300Z), I was thinking about
hitting the sack, but wasn’t quite tired enough yet. So, I decided to head
down to the shack and see what was happening on 40 meters.

The band was fairly busy with stations working the CWops CWT, but I noticed
a station on 7022 kHz calling CQ MRD. It wasnt real strong, but workable,
and when I heard the call sign—K6KPH—I decided that I had to work them. As
it turns out, MRD stands for Maritime Radio Day, and it is held annually on
April 14, the day that the Titanic sank in 1912.

For those of you that dont know, K6KPH is the station of the Maritime Radio
Historical Society. The station is located on the site of the the historic
ex-RCA coast station KPH, which is now part of the Point Reyes National
Seashore, part of the National Park Service. Heres a cool video of the
station.

After working K6KPH, I heard II3IQW calling CQ MRD on 7020 kHz. I was
actually copying II3IQW better than I was copying K6KPH, so working them
was easier. Ennio, the operator of II3IQX, was commemorating IQX, the
coastal radio station at Trieste, Italy. Theres a short, but interesting
history of this station on the II3IQX QRZ page.

The post Operating notes: Basic operating procedures, last weekends QSO
parties, Maritime Radio Day appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.