Alan,
Tacking "TEST" to the end of a CQ does serve a purpose. If you are tuning
across the band in CW and hear just the "TEST" part of the message you know
one thing right away. Whoever the station is he is calling CQ to solicit a
contact in a contest. You now have several options other than wasting a few
seconds for him to call CQ again.
1. Keep tuning.
2. If you are using a spotting cluster check the WL band map and see who, if
anyone, is spotted there and hope that is the correct call. Sometimes
Skimmers get it wrong!
3. Call the station in the blind by sending only your call. This is
accepted practice anyway. Even if you caught his call in the CQ, don't
waste his time and yours by calling "W7XYZ de AD6E". If the station
responds with your call and his exchange, send your exchange absent his call
sign. This will usually result in a "TU W7XYZ" or whatever his call is.
Now you have both his exchange and call without having to wait until his
next CQ.
4. Wait for his next CQ message and call him then.
Finally, the other purpose served by "TEST" is it tells the casual
non-contester op who just happened to tune onto the frequency that the
station is calling in a contest. This means he is NOT seeking a rag chew
QSO and expects a short abbreviated report. If the tuner listens a bit he
can even discern what that exchange might be - RST plus serial number, zone,
state, whatever. With this info in hand he can now make a call and work the
CQing station.
If a station doesn't add "TEST" to the end of a CQ you might have missed his
call anyway. Or perhaps the station should send his call multiple times?
How many times would be enough? Two, three four? How is he supposed to
know the exact moment you might tune by his frequency seeking to get his
call? Asking "Who are you?" serves no purpose. It is not his fault if you
caught just the "TEST". You should have been there sooner!
73,
Gary AL9A
-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Maenchen
Sent: August 25, 2014 9:09 AM
To: writelog@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Enter sends exch/QRZ?
Reminds me of my pet peeve: On CW tacking "TEST" to the end of a CQ after
your call.
As I tune the band I come across a signal but I only hear the "test" part.
Thanks Bud! Who are you? Now I have to waste a few more seconds waiting
for you to renew your CQ to find out. Not a big deal, but sort of rubs me
the wrong way .. like "please copy".
73, Alan AD6E
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 06:19:08 -0700
From: Jay WS7I <ws7ik7tj@gmail.com>
Isn't it odd that only RTTY has the CQ tacked on the end. And since
RTTY is sending at nearly twice the average speed of CW one wonders
why? Guess our ears work far better than most RTTY decoding software.
On 8/25/2014 12:30 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
> On Sun,8/24/2014 5:38 AM, Jerry Pixton wrote:
>> just the qrz message!
>
> Point of order -- what is a "qrz message," and why would we want to
> automate it?
>
> "QRZ" at the end of a contest or pileup qso is a big time waster,
> because it doesn't tell prospective callers WHO you are. The RIGHT way
> to end a CW QSO is "TU W6IHG" On SSB, "thanks W6IHG," and on RTTY, TU
> W6IHG CQ. In all cases, S&P callers know who you are, and you're
> advertising your presence rather than concealing it. When you use
> "qrz," the good ops tune right past you.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
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