[amsat-bb] uo-14 courtesy

["Bruce Paige" <kk5do@xxxxxxxxx>]

earlier today, on the last uo-14 pass over houston, towards the middle of the 
pass, i asked everyone to please stand by and allow anyone running qrp 5 
watts or less to go. 

there was a pause and a couple of people made a contact. 

i would like to further refine this....

those operating qrp, can obviously hear the bird quite well. so, i propose that 
those operating qrp listen for a station that they would like to work. maybe 
even 2 stations. when someone announce for everyone to stand by for qrp 
stations, those running qrp would then call the 1 or 2 stations that they 
heard. 

instead of the qrp station just giving their call so we know they are there, let 
them call someone. that way they will have a contact and the merry mess 
can continue. i think we can get 5 or 6 qrp stations to each have a quick qso 
and to allow them a minute every now and then on a pass is no big deal.

it might even be a neat idea to have a pass designated every now and then 
for qrp only. i don't know how to coordinate that and schedule it. just a 
thought.

remember that a valid 2-way contact is when each station recognizes the 
call of the other station. (ie...  k1xx, k2xx and k1xx responds k2xx, k1xx). 
they have both copied each other's call correctly so it is a valid contact. (this 
is for arrl vucc or w.a.s. awards). other awards from different countries might 
require a different exchange so i would gear this towards stateside unless 
other parts of the world would find it useful.

i would not give the grid square, your name and the city you are in except 
once or twice in a pass. give your name or city/grid once or twice in the pass 
or on every 5th contact. if everyone listens, they can copy it at that time. 

listen to hf rare dx stations (like the one comming up on clipperton island), 
you will not hear them give the ops name and qsl information except once 
every 10-15 minutes. so why are we bombarded with every contact made on 
satellite with the same information? the important thing is to get the call 
correct. once you do that, you can look up the rest of the information with 
the online callbook services. i just can't wait until someone starts giving their 
address for a qsl card and spells their entire name and address phonetically.

if you are in a rare grid square, then by all means give the grid square as part 
of your exchange. other than that, it is not needed except once or twice in a 
pass.

the whole idea is to allow the maximum number of contacts in a fixed period 
of time and to be able to share those contacts between 50 watt'ers and 5 
watt'ers. 

73...bruce



============================================================================
Bruce Paige, KK5DO                      Internet: kk5do@amsat.org
Houston, Texas                                or: kk5do@houston.rr.com
AMSAT Area Coordinator                      
ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE                     
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