Mel,
Don't worry about the call being long. It is not an issue of short or long
really. The big thing is timing. My first antenna was my dog's run! Pretty
crappy, but it started to teach me technique. I went to a vertical next. Then
a beam. I would not trade the time spent being frustrated trying to get
attention in a pile up (HIND SIGHT!!!).
Listen to how the station responding to callers. Is he picking up full calls?
Are the folks he is working calling early or late or in the middle? Are they a
bit off his TX frequency? Does that frequency vary any? There are all kinds of
clues to listen for.
It was always a goal of mine to be heard by putting my call out once. That way
I could figure out what timing was working best and apply it in the future. I
don't recommend calling over and over and over. If you are having difficulty
getting through, write down the freq and call (or store it in a memory if you
can) and move on. Come back later when things may be more favorable.
--
73 de KK1L...ron (kk1l@arrl.net) <><
QTH: St. Albans, Vermont
My page: http://www.qsl.net/kk1l
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