Radio Stuff
I was tuning around two weekends ago on my KX3 QRP transceiver listening to all the crazy activity around the ARRL CW Sweepstakes contest. CW (Morse code) contests are a wild affair for someone whose maximum effective speed is around 13-15 words-per-minute. These contest guys are sending at speeds of 25 WPM and up. Still, once one becomes familiar with the standard contest exchange, it is possible to pick up what is going on by listening to a station for two or three passes.
So I was tuning around and heard an extremely strong signal on 40m. I tuned it in so that my KX3 could decipher the Morse for me, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but the callsign of David Sumner, K1ZZ, the Chief Executive Officer of the Amateur Radio Relay League, the chief ham radio organization in the USA. I had met K1ZZ in person at the Dayton Hamvention earlier this year and I became very excited to work him live on the radio. Unfortunately, having never participated in a Sweepstakes before, I wasn’t aware of the complex nature of the requisite exchange for a valid contest contact.
David was sending at about 26 words per minute, but I thought I was getting the jist of his transmissions, so finally I called him with my piddling 5 watts of power into a random end-fed wire. Imagine my excitement when he came back to me! All I got out of his transmission was my call, his call, a signal report of 599 (aren’t they all?!?) and a bunch of other numbers.
When he turned it over to me, I was so nervous, I was making all kinds of mistakes with the built in paddles on the KX3. I’m really not used to sending so fast, but I gave it a go, reporting his 599 signal (an HONEST 599, I might add!) and then ended with my province, ON for Ontario.
He responded with a query (I understood the question-mark), so I repeated what I had sent. After a couple more go-rounds, he finally slowed down and sent, “OK.” I returned a "TU" meaning "thank you."
That’s when it occurred to me that perhaps I should look up the exact required exchange for this particular contest. I did so on the internet and was shocked at the complexity of the exchange! No wonder David was confused! I was sending none of the information he was looking for. Was supposed to be my response is as follows:
The serial number of the contact in this contest, starting at 001.
Precedence - in other words, the category of station I was operating, in my case QRP, 5w or less.
My Call Sign, VE3CMM.
Check - the last two digits of the year in which I was licensed (2010).
ARRL Section (in my case, Ontario South).
So, I should have been belting out the following to Dave Sumner, K1ZZ:
001 Q VE3CMM 10 ONS
This is the most complex contest exchange I have ever come across, but apparently it is modelled on the standard ARRL radiogram, which is something I am acquainted with from my previous incarnation as a ham in the 1970s - 1980s.
Well, all I could do was laugh and shrug my shoulders. It may not have been a valid contest exchange, but I HAD worked K1ZZ, and there was no doubt about it!
The voice contest took place last weekend, but I had the in-laws in to visit and really had no chance to get on the air.
Maybe next year!
So I was tuning around and heard an extremely strong signal on 40m. I tuned it in so that my KX3 could decipher the Morse for me, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but the callsign of David Sumner, K1ZZ, the Chief Executive Officer of the Amateur Radio Relay League, the chief ham radio organization in the USA. I had met K1ZZ in person at the Dayton Hamvention earlier this year and I became very excited to work him live on the radio. Unfortunately, having never participated in a Sweepstakes before, I wasn’t aware of the complex nature of the requisite exchange for a valid contest contact.
David was sending at about 26 words per minute, but I thought I was getting the jist of his transmissions, so finally I called him with my piddling 5 watts of power into a random end-fed wire. Imagine my excitement when he came back to me! All I got out of his transmission was my call, his call, a signal report of 599 (aren’t they all?!?) and a bunch of other numbers.
When he turned it over to me, I was so nervous, I was making all kinds of mistakes with the built in paddles on the KX3. I’m really not used to sending so fast, but I gave it a go, reporting his 599 signal (an HONEST 599, I might add!) and then ended with my province, ON for Ontario.
He responded with a query (I understood the question-mark), so I repeated what I had sent. After a couple more go-rounds, he finally slowed down and sent, “OK.” I returned a "TU" meaning "thank you."
That’s when it occurred to me that perhaps I should look up the exact required exchange for this particular contest. I did so on the internet and was shocked at the complexity of the exchange! No wonder David was confused! I was sending none of the information he was looking for. Was supposed to be my response is as follows:
The serial number of the contact in this contest, starting at 001.
Precedence - in other words, the category of station I was operating, in my case QRP, 5w or less.
My Call Sign, VE3CMM.
Check - the last two digits of the year in which I was licensed (2010).
ARRL Section (in my case, Ontario South).
So, I should have been belting out the following to Dave Sumner, K1ZZ:
001 Q VE3CMM 10 ONS
This is the most complex contest exchange I have ever come across, but apparently it is modelled on the standard ARRL radiogram, which is something I am acquainted with from my previous incarnation as a ham in the 1970s - 1980s.
Well, all I could do was laugh and shrug my shoulders. It may not have been a valid contest exchange, but I HAD worked K1ZZ, and there was no doubt about it!
The voice contest took place last weekend, but I had the in-laws in to visit and really had no chance to get on the air.
Maybe next year!