SSB/CW
Contesting - operating hints from Chris ZL1CT/GM3WOJ
These operating hints are written for SSB contesting, but
everything applies equally to CW contesting. In these examples below you are
operating GM7V
Part 1 - Handling a
‘Pile-up’ of stations calling you
If this is your first experience of handling a pile-up, don’t panic – remember that YOU are in control of things, and can say anything that you think will help complete the QSO quickly and efficiently. SPEED is the most important thing in any contest – whatever you do, do it QUICKLY then move quickly on to the next QSO. Don’t worry if you made a hash of the last QSO – just think briefly about it and learn from your mistake - don't let one bad QSO spoil your 'rhythm'. It’s worth remembering that about 80% of what we say into a microphone is un-necessary information. Efficiently working a steady pile-up of stations will help your overall score and is great fun !
KEY POINT – if you only hear part of a callsign in the pile-up, reply with the part of the callsign that you heard and their contest exchange IMMEDIATELY – 9 times out of 10 they will reply with their full callsign and your report – this is a crucial time-saving technique.
Part 2 – Calling a
station who is running a ‘pile-up’ of stations
Call once – just ‘Golf Mike Seven Victor’ is all you need to say – when you go back to receive they will either reply to you or be replying to someone else – if they don’t reply to anyone in a few seconds, send your callsign once more, quickly.
Never call with just two letters of your callsign - always
quickly give your FULL callsign when calling. The practice of using 2 letters is
a disastrous time-wasting idea promoted by those sad individuals who join
'lists' or 'nets' to work DX !
Do not give the callsign of the station you are calling -
this annoys them and wastes time. The only circumstances where you would consider
doing this is where there are 2 pile-ups on the same frequency (which happens
surprisingly often on HF in a major contest) and you need to make sure you are
working the correct station.
If necessary, vary the phonetics to help overcome QRM or
language difficulties - some stations whose first language is not English may
find Germany Mexico Seven Victoria a helpful alternative.
Please read carefully the 2 examples of contest
exchanges below, which are designed to show how differently an experienced SSB
operator handles a pile-up :-
Scenario
1 – signals strong – whole callsign received first time …..
Inexperienced operator |
Experienced operator |
GM7V : CQ, CQ, CQ Contest Contest Contest GM7V Golf Mike Seven Victor Golf Mike Seven Victor - standing by for any possible call Pile-up : x x x Mike Six Tango x x x GM7V : Is there a Mike Six Tango calling ? – over M6T : Mike Six Tango - 5914 GM7V : er .... Mike Six Tango Mike Six Tango – thank-you for the 5914 – you are 5914 5914 this is Golf Mike Seven Victor – over M6T : Thanks GM7V : Mike Six Tango thank-you for the QSO – good luck in the contest. This is Golf Mike Seven Victor Golf Mike Seven Victor QRZ contest – over etc…… |
GM7V : CQ Golf Mike Seven Victor Pile-up : x x x Mike Six Tango x x GM7V : M6T 5914 M6T : 5914 GM7V : Thanks - QRZ |
Scenario
2 – signals weaker or QRM – only part of a callsign received first time…
Inexperienced operator |
Experienced operator |
GM7V : CQ, CQ, CQ Contest Contest Contest GM7V Golf Mike Seven Victor Golf Mike Seven Victor - standing by for any possible call Pile-up : …ssssssssss Six Tango ssss GM7V : Is there a Six Tango calling ? – over M6T : Mike Six Tango GM7V : er .... Mike Six Tango – roger - you are 59 14 59 14 – this is Golf Mike Seven Victor – over M6T : Roger – 5914 GM7V : Mike Six Tango thanks for the QSO – good luck in the contest. This is Golf Mike Seven Victor Golf Mike Seven Victor QRZ contest – over etc…… |
GM7V : CQ Golf Mike Seven Victor Pile-up : …ssssssssss Six Tango ssss GM7V : Six Tango 5914 M6T : Mike Six Tango 5914 GM7V : M6T - thanks - QRZ |
Below is a reprint of part of an article from a series I wrote for the GMDX Digest (see www.qsl.net/gm3woj for the whole series) :-
Nine
key ideas for working pile-ups :-
1.
Keep control of the pile-ups at all times.
This is easier if your signal is loud, so pay attention to hardware and
antennas. On the bands we often hear an inexperienced operator in a
rare country being overwhelmed by the pile-up and going QRT or changing bands -
with experience (or advice) this would not happen.
It must be said, however, that contest pile-ups are much easier to
control than DXpedition pile-ups, even for an experienced operator. Timing of
transmissions is a key factor in pile-up control - keep transmitting regularly
and never allow stations to call more than twice before you next transmit.
2.
Announce your callsign regularly - in contests the population on the
bands is changing more rapidly than normal - stations are tuning around and need
to know who you are quickly to decide whether they have worked you or not.
Often stations call you without knowing your callsign (!) so make sure
that they will log it correctly. Incorrect
DX Cluster spots are fairly common in major contests, so it benefits everyone if
you give your callsign regularly. How often 'regularly' is depends on a number
of factors which you will find with experience - after every QSO may not be
necessary under some circumstances, but many good operators do this - after
every second QSO is really the minimum.
3.
Make sure that you give everyone a chance to work you - for example,
'stop' a JA pile-up every few minutes and make a selective call - any Pacific
please, any Zone 24 please, etc ? (Japan is in the Pacific of course!)
This is a very effective technique, and surprisingly often results in a
rare multiplier being worked. Spend
a minute or two thinking about what it would be like to be a YJ or ZK3 station
listening to a GM station running a pile-up - what would make you give the GM
station more than 1 or 2 calls ?
4.
ALWAYS reply to one specific station and give them a report immediately -
no dithering about and constantly asking for repeats - contesters are in a
hurry. Usually you need to have
copied at least 2 letters of the callsign before replying, and there may be more
than 1 station with these same 2 letters in the callsign.
Very often you might only copy the last letter of one callsign - you can
still say "the station ending in Bravo you're 5914" - this usually
works but can waste time.
5.
Ask stations to give their full callsigns when calling - unfortunately
this only works for a few minutes (or less) after you make the request, then
it's back to old (bad) habits - however if you reply to full callsigns, the
calling stations might get the idea ! As
long as you are working stations quickly then it doesn't really matter how they
are calling you, but full callsigns are ideal. One common problem is that if you
respond to a callsign having heard only one or two letters, the station assumes
that you have their full callsign and does not give it - this is a common
time-waster - you have to quickly say 'Your full callsign?' or similar.
6.
Don't hesitate to break off from working a pile-up and spend a few
minutes searching for multipliers or working DX Cluster spots which are
multipliers - this is difficult to do if there are dozens of stations calling
you, but is essential - you can say 'I'll be back in a minute or two' but in the
world of contesting the probability of the frequency remaining clear while you
are away is zero ! (A voice-keyer
is useful for keeping the frequency occupied, and if you are only away for a few
seconds the pile-up will still be calling you) (I am not advocating
transmitting on 2 bands simultaneously!)
7.
Don't hesitate to ask for a repeat of the callsign or report if you are
not 100% sure that you have it all correct. Pronunciation
of phonetics can be a problem, and stations often repeat the same
(unintelligible) phonetics when asked for a repeat.
Persevere with this until you can LOG THE QSO ACCURATELY.
8.
Try to build up a 'rhythm' when working stations - if a friend calls to
say hello, don't allow them to break this rhythm, just say 'Hi - QRZ' - they
will understand. To avoid
fatigue and boredom, however, vary the way in which you work stations (as long
as you don't waste time) It helps
to 'speed up' every now and again, for no apparent reason other than to vary
things ! It is very important to let the other station know that
you have all the information and that the QSO is over - get into the habit of
saying 'Thanks' (or just giving your callsign, or 'QRZ') - some regular
indicator to those listening that they are invited to call.
9.
Watch the QSO rate - set yourself a realistic target for that band/time
of day e.g. 150 QSOs per hour, and if the ratemeter (built into the software)
drops significantly below this target, think about changing band, beam heading,
tactics etc. Don't persevere with a slow or weak pile-up when your
overall score will suffer. If all
else fails, work Europeans !
Some advanced hints :-
If you want to improve your pile-up handling skills in the
longer term, try memorising one or more other callsigns from the pile-up,
as well as the station you reply to - top SSB operators can easily work 3
stations in a row (if there are enough stations calling and waiting) without
having to ask for more calls. Your target is 457 stations in a 1-hour
period = 7.6 stations per minute = 1 QSO every 7.9 seconds for 60 minutes -
achieved by
Jeff Steinman N5TJ operating P40L in the 1993 CQ WW SSB Contest - they were
the first P4 station to realise that 15m was open to the U.S.A. He had
several minutes during the hour when he worked 12 stations in 1 minute in the
DXCluster-driven pile-up - amazing !!
Interestingly, N5TJ often does not give the other station's callsign phonetically - he will say GM7V instead of Golf Mike Seven Victor - this saves a lot of time if you think about it - I find this difficult but not impossible in practice, because you are trying to break the habit of a lifetime !
See you in the pile-ups !!
73 Chris ZL1CT