Jim, I just passed the technician license exam, and now have my call sign, ki7mba, I feel more comfortable with getting on my radio because of your videos, thanks!
Goog Nolan. Relax and have fun. The guys you are talking to want to be helpful. Work towards the Extra Class. HF is a fun place to communicate. Congratulations! 73, Jim W6LG
you prolly dont give a shit but if you're stoned like me atm you can stream pretty much all of the latest movies on instaflixxer. Have been binge watching with my gf lately =)
PERFECT VIDEO !!! 1) I always ask 3 times "LA8PV is the frequency in use QRL?" before txing. Good etiquette. I do it over a 1-2 minute time frame to genuinely make sure there's no one there. 2) I just recorded my CQ call to see how long it was and it's 29 seconds. Wow ! That's about perfect I think too :-) You are pretty spot on their Jim. 3) I consider consistency key to being understood - I don't change from phonetics to spelling to avoid confusion. And I always stick to the ITU NATO alphabet. 4) I believe it's redundant to call CQ DX JA/Russia/Finland. I think just CQ JA is sufficient and keeps it nice and short. Anything to reduce words and speed it up for efficiency is good. 5) Here's my regular CQ call : CQ CQ CQCQ CQ CQ This is Lima Alpha Eight Papa Victor Lima Alpha Eight Papa Victor Calling CQ CQ CQ Lima Alpha Eight Papa Victor Standing by and listening. 6) I think the key is to keep it concise and keep calling. Folk who put out 60 seconds worth of call bore people to death and they move on. My call above is 29 seconds. (adding Portable is another 3 seconds). NB : Waiting and listening time should be about half your call, about 10-15 seconds - that's consistent with my practice - gives people time to tune up, get on station and wait themselves to make sure their coast is clear to reply. You need to catch that person who is scrolling with his/her VFO. You want them to see you on their water fall so keep calling. 7) Sounding excited, upbeat, happy, positive and motivated will get you more replies. Sounding like a monologue recording is a great way to turn away that rare DX. A happy sounding tone and sound from your voice will attract replies - guaranteed. I put a lot of happiness in my voice and it pays off. NB : Call CQ like you've just won the Lotto or just had the best sex of your life. Being excited gets more replies. 8) Once you've established contact, keeping the QSO upbeat and curt will result in pile ups and lots of QRZ. People love to talk to interesting stations and those with a happy note. Be confident and sound confident. 9) Ask, listen and be genuinely interested in the other station - you may find out you have something in common with them. 10) Don't give up. There is always someone out there. Keep calling until you are blue in the face or your power runs out. You WILL contact someone and it will be interesting. Consistency yields results. The band is never dead - keep calling. Excellent video. Thanks.
Hi Jim. Another great video. I have to say I couldn't agree more about indicating that your listening at the end of your call! So many operators don't do this and it makes it difficult to reply to their call in a timely way, just the simple addition of "Standing by and listening" makes it so much easier for a responding station to que his reply. 73, Tom M6ONV
One more thing about slowing down and speaking a bit more clearly: It's very important to time that part correctly! Many times, I've had the experience of listening to a very long CQ, where the operator, with very good audio, repeats CQ large number of times, even mentions his location very clearly, but at the end, only says his callsign once, very quickly, while mumbling.
I am in the process of studying for my technician license. I am always looking for good advice. This is a great video. I have a GMRS license and with ham stuff I am getting a little nervous for some reason lol
Hi Jim, thanks for the great video. One thing that I thought that I noticed that makes sense to me is when you were asking if the frequency was in use each time you called it, you slowly increased the power. I think this makes sense as if it is in use you want to use the minimum amount of disturbance. Is this the case? Was it intentional?
Jim glad to see you improving. I have seen you mention your website and sale of connectors and tools. i haven't found the site and am wondering if you still have it? 73 and thanks Garry W8GMF
You can run any power level as long as it is equal to or less than the maximum permitted by the FCC. On some digital modes you may be running 1 watt or less. If you are looking for DX, you may want to run 1KW. I am generally running 100 watts with just the transceiver's power. Thanks for asking. 73, Jim
Jim would you do a video on keys and connecting them to your radio I just wrote you a long comment only to have it not being excepted when I loaded it so I am no going to place another I am 67 and have been using a bug now there is nothing to show how to connect it to a radio because of the way it sends code n2wjs Charlie.
