Hi Guys,
This morning, after calling a general "CQ" several times on an apparently
vacant frequency, the passband of my receiver was inundated by someone
deliberately sending a continuous string of rapid dots---pausing only long
enough to see if the barrage elicited any response from me---and a terse
"QSY"...
I make it a point to never commence calling CQ without first sending
"QRL?"---twice---on the frequency. Likewise, I always limit my first call to a
single "4x3" string, in case I may have missed someone, confirming that the
frequency is in use. Why is it that some obviously seasoned operators on the
band repeatedly ignore queries as to frequency occupancy, preferring instead to
rudely pounce upon unsuspecting callers in a manner that would surely convince
newcomers that the term "Gentleman's Band" is merely a quaint reference to a
bygone age...?
Not everyone on 160-meters has a lap top computer glued to the ON4KST Chat Room
while operating, and not everyone is a slave to the notion that DX stations
must respond to each & every "CQ". If someone has the good graces to ask if
it's alright to call a casual "CQ" on a frequency, why not respond just as
graciously in kind with an "R", or a "TU", if indeed, it is not...?
It takes so very little to uphold high Amateur standards, just as it doesn't
take much to allow decorum to slip into the nether regions of the 11-meter
band. Whether it's due to tradition, or some mis-placed perception of
"quality", one certainly expects more from 1.8-MHz...
~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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