OPERATING CHARACTER - "EASY TO HIDE BEHIND PILEUP"

VP8ORK South Orkney Islands DXPedition started this week and "OH MY GOODNESS"....

It still amazes the number of callers who don't give a hoot in hell or "rat's ass" about their operating character! ZERO...NONE!....

No matter what station VP8ORK acknowledges, HORDES of callers STILL insist on calling and calling and calling still. Being a realist, I have to apply some logic...

1. Perhaps the caller really can't hear them that well. If this is the case....
A. Wait for propagation to change so you can copy the station and ONLY CALL when it is your turn.....or
B. Get a better antenna system so you can hear better. (A FOR SALE sign does wonders for propagation!)

2. The operator really is a LID and has NO IDEA WHAT THE HELL THEY ARE DOING....if this is the case.....
A. They need an ass whoopin' to liven them up to standards! There is no excuse for someone who does not want to operate correctly. WHY? Because it does matter!! There is a CORRECT way to operate you radio.... This is the "CHARACTER" I am speaking about.
B. They need to be hung up from the first set of guys until they stop twitching... Now I know the contesters reading this will say that will adversely affect the number of QSOs possible in any given contest....but the long term effects will be wonderful! So...it is case of needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few!

Additionally, these LID operators find it easy to mask themselves or "HIDE" behind the "camo" of a pileups where the DX station is operating SPLIT!! Really? Not so much! I have hours of recordings of stations like *ZXL, *DG, **LZ, and others who just turn the power and "attitude" up to just call and call and tail end and do whatever to get in the log....

Next pileup you are in....take note of who the DX station comes back to and tune up the band where the are listening...and just JOT DOWN EVERY CALL YOU HEAR that is OBVIOUSLY not PAYING ATTENTION and whose "OPERATING CHARACTER" is DISMAL to say the least.... You will hear some BIG NAME CALLSIGNS in there too! I mean some very very prominent calls! Send them an email and tell them you heard how they operate. Better yet...make a recording and send it to me... I am compiling a list to put on a website for everyone to 'grade'! What is the answer?

This is ALL too easy.... When I was operating as KG4SB from Gitmo Cuba....I had a great solution..... When I noted callers who just wanted to do it "their" way..... I logged their QSOs with an ! at the end of their call.... Oh they were happy at first.....they got in JOSE's log..... then the QSLs rolled in...and guess who wasn't in the log??? YOU GUESSED IT! EVERY call with a "!" after their call got a NOT IN LOG report with their returned QSLs! Needless to say, these ops are PISSED OFF BEYOND belief! I was not and will not reward ANY station with confirmation of a QSO if they were not at least 'decent' ops..... NO LoTW uploads...NO eQSL uploads....NO QSL period! Many of these QSOs were on 80 and 160 meters....and those operations from GITMO are few and far between..... of the 30,000 QSOs I have made from there, I have a list of 411 different stations that I will not confirm QSOs with .... SORRY amigos/amigas that is how the ball bounces! More and more DX stations are doing this as well! I LOVE IT! You MAY think they don't know what is going on...but I will tell you they do!

So.... you guys/gals who want to 'pump up the volume' and be asses!.... YOU are cleared for takeoff.... But you know what ......no GOOD sense can be talked into these lame brained folks! They are too set in their ways and will NOT assimilate one bit. They are their own breed. And they breed other lame brains as well. So...be on the watch for those "pileup boneheads".... I'll be posting a list of them soon!.... It won't be BAA's opinion regarding their poor operating choices, it will simply be posted for others to judge for themselves.

Until next time, tune for max power out, make sure you can here who you are calling, keep the pileup behavior in check, and make sure your Operating Character is what it should be.

73, God bless and for Pete's sake....learn CW!

Jose - N4BAA
Chief Elmer

To Hell with PHONETICS....LEARN YOUR NUMBERS

It is amazing that we have turned into a hobby where you can get a FEDERAL LICENSE just form MEMORIZING answers to questions...WORD FOR WORD mind you! Ridiculous!!! What the FCC should be ensuring is that every ham knows what the numbers from ZERO to NINE are....

I am listening to 8Q7VR on 75M SSB (PIG FARMER TERRITORY..BTW)... and the DX station is going by numbers......
Asks for ONES ...and every HAM with ANY number in his/her call sign is calling!

What in the HELL are you people smokin', thinkin', expectin'...etc.....
If you have never had an Elmer or if you have one and perhaps you don't give a damn..... DON'T FREAKIN' call IF YOUR VERY OWN CALL SIGN DOES NOT CONTAIN THE ONE AND ONLY NUMBER the DX STATION IS ASKING FOR!!!!!!

Is this so hard to understand? I have started recording these YAHOOS....and I am going to post them on a n4baa.com (coming soon)...so everyone can listen to both sides of what is going on..... and THEN they will have to recognize that it isn't JOSE, N4BAA bitchin' about their operating style.

This is not a matter of doing it MY way (WHICH IS THE CORRECT WAY BTW)...it is about being courteous and polite and all those things your PARENTS should have taught you when you were growing up.... So you either did not have a parent that gave a crap....OR....get this idea....... YOU JUST DON'T GIVE A DAMN! If you are in the latter group...then the FCC should SWIPE your license and put your sorry ass in life's penalty box for ...oh...I don't know...... FOREVER!!! That would be appropriate!

SO, as I step down from my PLATINUM SOAP BOX...... LEARN your damn numbers and call ONLY when you are suppose to!

ZERO
NINE
EIGHT
SEVEN
SIX
FIVE
FOUR
THREE
TWO
ONE

Stepping DOWN.......

73 and God bless!
Jose "Chief Elmer"

P.S. Here is a link to the DX CODE
http://www.dx-code.org/

If you can't play by the rules....don't play!

DX SPOTTING - HAMS GONE WILD !!!!!!!

It is no secret that I send out about 75 to 100 emails per day attempting to educate hams as to WHY spotting DX stations with comments like:

* NIL HERE
* Not a peep in XX
* Please turn beam to XXXX
* Please 160M at our Sun Rise

ETC ETC ETC....

PEOPLE/HAMs/DXers/RAG CHEWERS/ who ever and what ever the hell category you place yourself in......FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND EVERYTHING SACRED!!.....STOP IT!!!!

If you just don't give a damn or perhaps are a CB convert.....or for what ever reason...... YOU ARE BEING AN ASS!!! CAPITAL "A"!!!

Why? GREAT question from the HAM in the back of the class....

Because 90% of all hams use computers and DX TELNETS interface with their computers...and when you spot some BS comment like you can't hear the station....well guess what???? Your BOGUS spot sets off 10.5 metric butt tons of DX alarms, SMS texts, emails ALLLL over the planet.....

CONGRATULATIONS...!!! You have just labeled yourself, "LID OF THE MONTH!"....
Congrats again...no parting gifts...no consolation prizes...just plain, in your face world, I am a dumbass for spotting like I did...

THERE is NO...ZERO...NADA value in you spotting that you can't hear.... NONE!

If you just have to spot a comment...and wish to NOT label yourself as a jerk lid who either doesn't know better or worse doesn't care....... do so at the BOTTOM EDGE of what ever band.......for example....28000, 21000, 14000, 18100, 7000, 3500, 1800 etc....I think you get the picture......

NOTE:!!! READ THIS IF NOTHING ELSE!....... THIS WILL NOT SET OFF ALARMS ALL OVER THE PLANET...... GOT IT?????

If you need to re-read the previous statement now.....PLEASE DO SO...... FAILURE to comprehend what it means will in fact result in you receiving a 'coaching" email from me when you violate what I have told you!!!

1/3 people tell me to SCREW OFF....That is OK...their asses anyway...even if they listen to me! HI.....
1/3 Apologize, say THANK YOU!!! and THEY GET IT!
They help spread the word and educate others....

The other 1/3?...Well, I never hear back from them. They will fall into abyss and we will never know...BUT...I pray they get it......

So.....post often...post well, and POST CORRECTLY!!!!!

73/88
Jose - N4BAA
Chief Elmer

PART TIME CONTESTERs

Happy New Year my Ham Radio World....
Just finished a weekend of NAQP CW and ARRL RTTY Round Up contesting...
WOW....some people still just do not get it...ESPECIALLY on RTTY....

I just want to indicate the following non contester, contester, part time contester or what ever category you fall into.....regarding contest exchanges.....

If you answer someone calling CQ...you MUST MUST MUST assume this operator is in it to win it....and does not want to waste time.....your or especially his/hers!...

Having said that ...when they acknowledge you with:
(your CALL) 599 (exch HERE) K (notice how short and to the point that is..)

Do NOT NOT NOT reply with:
(THEIR CALL) de (YOUR CALL) QSL (YOUR EXCH HERE)
PLEASE COPY 599 (EXCH HERE) 599 (EXCH HERE)
(YOUR CALL) de (THEIR CALL) K

What the hell are you thinking? The station calling CQ could have made 4 QSOs in that time period.....

Bottom line is keep it as short as there is....PERIOD...If your macros are LONG....
CHANGE THEM! CHANGE THEM! CHANGE THEM!

Sure he is thankful for call, but if you want it to be that long.....come back when there is less than 4 hours left in the contest.....call them then.....Until then...
Just shorten the MACROs up and not piss everyone off.

Nothing worse than LONG CONTEST MACROS in RTTY/PSK contests...Just TERRIBLE....

Oh .....and when a station is calling CQ.....don't reply with your CALL AND full report BEFORE the station even acknowledges you.
Again, what the hell are you thinking? Are you thinking you are just soooo loud there is no way he/she can't hear just YOU? Stop kidding yourself! Just send your call 2 or 3 times MAX..(NOT NOT NOT 4 5 or 6 times!....) THEN when the station calling CQ comes back to you and gives a valid report....

THEN and ONLY THEN should you reply with a SHORT MACRO with included report and exchange!

Simple isn't it?

AMAZING how many people just have not been taught the CORRECT WAY to proper contesting!!!

Until next time!

73/88 and God Bless!!!
(Oh yeah...and Vote Republican!!!)

Jose - N4BAA
Chief Elmer