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KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
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Operating notes: Tell operators when theyre off frequency, working
DXpeditions, repeater crawl
Posted: 11 Nov 2021 07:09 PM PST
https://www.kb6nu.com/operating-notes-tell-operators-when-theyre-off-frequency-working-dxpeditions-repeater-crawl/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Tell operators when theyre off frequency
Hams can sometimes be hesitant to notify others when their signal isnt
quite up to snuff or when theyre off frequency. After a recent contact, Ive decided that Im always going to mention this to someone that Im in contact with.
What happened is that a station answered my CQ, but he was so far off
frequency that I missed his first call. I could see him answer me on the waterfall, but he was outside my passband, which was set to 250 Hz, so I couldnt hear him. I set my RIT so that I could hear him and sent QRZ?, and
when he replied to that I picked him up just fine.
We went through the RST/QTH/name first exchanges, and on my second transmission, I mentioned that he was transmitting about 500 Hz below my frequency. When it was his turn, he thanked me for mentioning that, and
said that he was wondering why CQing stations never seemed to hear him. He spent the next couple of transmissions zeroing in on my frequency.
Hopefully, hell now be heard by stations hes calling.
Of course, if Id had my passband set wider, I would have heard him on his
first call. Thats my bad, but he will have better success if he zero beats
the station hes calling in the first place.
Working DX on 30m during the contest
A week and a half ago, during the CQ WW CW contest, I got on 30 meters, not wishing to throw myself into the pileups on 20 meters or 40 meters. I was pleasantly surprised to find the 7P8RU DXpedition to Lesotho. And, since
all the other CW ops were working the contest, they werent getting many
takers. I was able to work them on the third call.
After working 7P8RU, I looked around a bit and happened upon the HD8R DXpedition to the Galapagos Islands. I got them on the first call! I
already had HD8 in the log, but 7P8 is a new one for me.
Repeater crawl
They guys here in Southeast Michigan do an amusing thing called the
Repeater Crawl. On the first Friday of every month, a group of operators congregate on the General Motors repeater on 443.075 MHz (123Hz PL), which
has the best coverage of any repeater in the Detroit area and then set out
to see how many of the other repeaters the folks in the group can hit.
I happened to be in the shack with my VHF/UHF radio on when they turned
their antennas towards Ann Arbor. I was hoping that theyd call for local checkins, but was disappointed when they did not.
In any event, I think that this is a great activity. If you live in an area with several repeaters, you should consider setting up a crawl where you
live.
The post Operating notes: Tell operators when theyre off frequency, working DXpeditions, repeater crawl appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.
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