CW-QSO (7)

Other Stuff to Talk About……….
For some beginning hams, that is all the information they will willingly send to you. You may have to draw out more conversation from them. When I work a new ham on CW I often end each of my transmissions with a question to give the other guy (or girl) something to talk about, to draw them into a conversation. For example, "How many countrys have you worked? Any DX?" or "Is it raining at your QTH also?" If the other ham mentions something such as their age and how long they have been a ham, you can take that as a hint they would like you to send them back the same information about yourself.
If you live in a small town, describe where it is in relation to a much larger city. Does the area where you live have any unusual characteristics that other hams might find interesting? What is your town's population? Any famous or semi-famous people born there (besides yourself)? How large is your yard? Where is your radio shack located in your house?
Over the years I have developed a number of topics that I may bring into a CW contact in order to keep the conversation going. Even for me sometimes I just run into a wall, my mind goes blank, and I can't think of what to send next, so these commonly used topics of mine can come to the rescue at times. For example, I'll describe how my cat SLOEBER often naps on top of my DRAKE R-4C rig and I believe that after all these years I suspect my cat understands CW. Or I'll describe what I see at that moment out my basement window. Or talk about how I enjoy collecting stuff (radios, QSL cards). Or ask the other ham if they have access to the Internet to see if we share a common interest about computers.
I try to send the name of the other ham I am in contact with at least once during each of my transmissions. This frequent use of the other person's name makes for a friendlier QSO and tells them you care who they are. Don't get carried away with this personalizing your comments. Using the other ham's name once per transmission is enough.
When you first start out, any CW contact is fun. It's cool to see how far your equipment will reach, how many states you are able to work. After you have made a number of CW contacts you may discover that the best contacts are those that are different. Not the standard name/location/RST/rig/WX/age/73 type of contact. You may meet another ham who just loves to gab(like me) or who is involved in a different ham activity(such as satellite or packet) and would love to tell you about it, or another ham who may have a lot in common with you such as age, work, or other hobbies. One of the fascinating things for me about making ham radio contacts is you don't know what the other ham is like or how the conversation will develop until you begin.

CW-QSO (6)

What Do You Talk About?
Now that you have established contact with another ham via CW, what the heck do you talk about? Every ham contact, CW or phone, consisits of at least three basic items: your name, your location or QTH, and a signal report(RST) for the other station. What order you send these three items is unimportant, although commonly today you will hear signal report/location/name. When I started in ham radio 30 years ago, the order was almost always signal report/name/location.
The Standard name/location/RST/73 QSO
These three items are the essential minimum required for a QSO. While it is true that in working a DX station in a pileup you may only exchange callsigns and a signal report, in a "real" contact the name/location/RST are standard, and you continue from there. The next most commonly discussed subjects in CW QSOs are usually the weather (WX), the radio equipment people are using, the hams' ages and how long they have been hams. For many CW contacts that will be the extent of the contact. The other ham will sign off and end the contact. Most likely because the other ham is new to CW conver-sation making, and simply doesn't know what else to say. Or perhaps the short-winded ham isn't into making conversation. Personally I enjoy longer CW contacts, called "rag chews".
QSO Template for Beginners......
When first starting out on CW, many new hams will often use a temp-late or model, to make sure they send all the essential information. For example:
" ______ de ON3CL TNX FER CALL BT MY NAME IS LUC LUC BT QTH IS BREDENE, BREDENE BT UR RST IS ___ BT HW COPY ? "
And perhaps on your second transmission:
" ______ de ON3CL TNX ______(name) FOR NICE REPORT BT MY RIG IS A YAESU FT 817 ANT IS A DIPOLE BT WX IS ________ TEMP IS ___ BT HW COPY ? "
Just fill in the blanks to fit the QSO, inserting your own callsign, name, QTH, and rig. And go on from there as a starting point if you choose. By the way, that strange BT is used in CW as a spacer, a device to separate your thoughts. Some folks will use a period instead. BT (=) is sent in CW as (dah dit dit dit dah). The CW letters B and T sent together.
I feel that a more professional CW technique is to limit the amount of punctuation used during a QSO. Some new hams may send four or five BTs in a row while they think about what they will send next. One or two BTs in a row should be enough. Here is what I mean by limiting punctuation, " TNX ( NAME) UR RST IS 579 579 MY NAME IS LUC LUC ES MY QTH IS BREDENE BREDENE BT HW? N1XYZ de ON3CL K ". There, I got away with using just one BT.

CW-QSO (5)

Breaking In……….
Breaking into an ongoing conversation is also possible, although rarely successful. Breaking into a QSO on CW is much more difficult than on phone. It is rarely done on CW. Some folks will think you impolite and ignore you, many newer hams will have no idea what's going on and consider you to be QRM. If you want to try, the standard method on CW is to wait between transmissions and then send "BK" for break, or better yet send, "BK de W5ZYX" if you have enough time. Allowing a third person to break into your contact can be confusing, especially for new hams. These "roundtable" QSOs are easier to manage on phone, or in the controlled environment of an organized net, like an NTS traffic net. But don't worry, breaking in is rarely encontered on CW. For those new hams who later move from CW to phone, be careful about using the word "break" on phone or SSB. On phone many hams use "break" to interrupt a net or a conversation when they have an emergency to report.
"Break in" has another meaning in CW. It refers to the time it takes your receiver to recover after you stop transmitting. Most modern transceivers have what is called full break in, meaning that you can receive instantly after transmitting on CW. You can even receive in between the dits and dahs of individual letters. Full break in CW even has its own Q signal, QSK. Years ago radio receivers had a several second delay before you could receive after transmitting, in order that your sensitive receiver was not overloaded by your nearby transmitter. Full break in CW is taken for granted today, but it is one of many technological innovations that today make ham radio so much easier. Such as dual VFOs, digital readout, automatic tuning, or one of my favorites: direct frequency keypad entry.

CW-QSO (4)

Tailend Another QSO………. A third major way to find someone to talk with on the ham bands is tailending. To tailend a conversation is to wait until another contact is completed, and then call the participant you want to talk with. This may work about half the time. Not uncommonly you will get no answer. The station you call is probably not expecting a call, they may have already turned off their radio, or may simply have something else to do. But sometimes tailending works. As you scan across the band looking for CQs or for a clear frequency on which to call your own CQ, you may hear an interesting conversation that you wish to contribute to, or you may hear a ham friend you want to say hello to.
The polite way to tailend another QSO is wait until the other stations are completely finished. This is easy to determine if you are able to hear both of the stations talking. But sometimes due to radio conditions you will hear just one of the stations. For example, you hear the end of a QSO between N1ABC and F2DEF. You would like to work N1ABC and are unable to hear F2DEF. When you hear the first station send something like, "HOPE TO CUAGN 73 F2DEF de N1ABC TU K", wait. Wait a minute or two until the first station N1ABC acknowledges F2DEF's last transmission, perhaps by sending a final "73" or a "dit-dit". If instead you call N1ABC as soon as you heard them sign, "de N1ABC TU K", you may well be transmitting at the same time and on the same frequency as F2DEF, who N1ABC is trying to listen to. This is a good way to make N1ABC dislike you and decide not to answer you. This polite advice does not generally apply to tailending a rare DX station. Calling and working rare DX stations is usually a mean and cut throat procedure. Another reason I much prefer friendly domestic CW QSOs over fighting for rare DX.
At times you may be waiting to tailend a ham QSO, when the station you would like to talk to ends their last transmission with a "CL" for "closing" or "clear". This indicates that person is signing off and leaving the air, turning off their rig, and will accept no other calls. If you call the CLing station anyway, they may still reply out of politeness, but they are probably anxious to leave. If you just have to talk with them, don't keep them too long.

CW-QSO (3)

Call Your Own CQ………. Tuning around searching for CQs can tend to be frustrating. At times there just don't seem to be many folks calling CQ, and the ones I do hear are jumped on by a much stronger or faster station than me. Never fear, there are other productive ways to find a CW contact. Obviously another method would be to find a nice quiet unused frequency and call CQ yourself. Before you fire up your transmitter and send a CQ, listen a few minutes to the frequency to ensure that you are not going to stomp on another conversation. It is very possible that another ham is transmitting on the same frequency but their signal is skipping over you. It is highly recommended that you send a "QRL?", or better yet send a "QRL de ON3CL ?" to see if the frequency is clear. Technically the FCC requires you identify each transmission, and an unidentified "QRL?" is frowned upon. Although everybody does it. Or, if you have the patience, an even better method is to simply listen to the frequency in question for at least 5 minutes. Even then I would still send a "QRL?" before I cut loose with my CQ.
An old fashioned and rarely heard equivalent of "QRL?" is "dit-dit dit", or the CW letters, "I E". It would be sent before a CQ to see if the frequency was clear. Just like "QRL?". The correct response is the same as that to "QRL?" If you happen to be listening and hear someone send an "I E", if the frequency is not busy the correct response is to say nothing or to perhaps send an "N" for "no". If the frequency is busy, like you are having a QSO on the frequency, the correct response would be to send a "C" or "yes". "C" is often used as a CW abbreviation for the word "yes".
If your CQ is answered by more than one station, usually the best practice is to reply to the strongest station. The strongest station is more likely to copy you stronger also, and you will be better able to copy each other should you both be attacked by QRM, QRN, or QSB. If you are able to copy the callsigns of both hams who answer your CQ, and the weaker station has a more interesting callsign, certainly you could answer the weaker/more interesting ham. Since the weaker station is answering your CQ, obviously they can hear you as well. Should two stations respond to your CQ, you can answer them both and try a three-way contact. Three-way contacts on CW are difficult to do.
Send your CQ at the speed you would like to be answered. A three or four by two call repeated twice should be sufficient, "CQ CQ CQ de ON3CL ON3CL CQ CQ CQ de ON3CL ON3CL K". There are many variations. You will hear some beginners sending 15 or 20 CQs before their callsign, not a good idea. If you scan the band and find it active and full of ham signals, a shorter CQ should work. At times when I know another ham is listening on the frequency(perhaps I just heard them tune up), I may get them to answer with a simple one by one, "CQ de ON3CL K".
After sending your CQ you may get an instant response, or you may get no response at all. It may also take some hams a moment to respond to your CQ. They may need to tune up their rigs, zero beat your frequency, or take a few seconds to run to their desk from across the shack. These folks may answer you five or ten seconds after your CQ. Be patient. After sending a CQ myself, I may tune around my transmit frequency a bit using my receiver's RIT(receiver incremental tuning). Because some hams may have trouble zero beating my transmit frequency correctly. Perhaps they are still using crystal control - not uncommon with homebrew QRP radios.
If I get no response after a couple 3 by 2 CQ calls, or I can tell there is very little activity on the band, I may then send a 6 by 2 CQ. The more CQs you transmit, the greater the chance that another ham scanning by will hear and answer you. I believe a pair of 6 by 2 calls is more than enough CQs. Should you still get no response to your own CQs, maybe the band conditions are just plain lousy, maybe you are transmitting too close to another QSO that you can't hear, maybe no one wants to talk to you. Try another frequency, try another band, listen for someone else calling CQ, or turn off the radio and go feed the cat.

CW-QSO (2)

Searching for CW-QSO's………. Occasionally as I scan the band looking for a CQ to answer, I may come across a ham sending their callsign two or more times, before they sign, "N1XYZ N1XYZ K". I believe it is safe to assume this ham has just finished sending a CQ, and often, if I like their callsign, I will listen a second, then go ahead and call them. Since I heard only their callsign and not the actual CQ, it is possible that this is not a CQ (maybe they were calling another ham instead). Listen a few seconds to ensure you are not interrupting a QSO, then assume that it was a CQ. I have found that sometimes if I wait for this suspected CQer to send another separate CQ, by that time they will have attracted a few more replies to their CQ, and I may lose out on what could have been a good contact. In the same regard, you may be in contact with another ham and end one of your transmissions by sending your own callsign two or more times (perhaps you repeat your call a few times because the other ham has copied it wrong). Then as a result, in the middle of your contact, you may be called by a third ham, who incorrectly assumes you have called CQ. Simply ignore the interrupting third ham. When answering a CQer you should zero beat the other ham's frequency, or set your transmit frequency as close to theirs as possible. Many hams today, in order to deal with the increasing QRM, make use of very narrow receive filters. The CQer may have their narrow filter turned on and not hear you answer if you are more than a few hundred cycles away from their transmit frequency. This is a quite common occurance on the CW ham bands, and points to the importance of correctly zero beating with your ham rig. By the same token, should you be calling CQ, do so with your narrow CW filter turned off, or you may well not hear several answering hams. Many hams are uncertain how to correctly zero beat their rigs on CW. If you are fortunate to have a newer transceiver that has dual VFOs, it can simplify your search for a CQ to answer. While scanning for a CQ, if you come across something interesting, such as someone tuning up (a potential CQer), a clear frequency (that you may wish to use later to call your own CQ), or an interesting QSO (that you might want to tailend when it finishes), then leave one of your VFOs on that spot. As you then continue scanning for a CQ, you can periodically, at the press of one button, switch to your second inactive VFO and see what's happening on your other interesting frequency. Having two VFOs built into your radio can greatly enhance the ease and convenience of your CW operation. Sometimes I wish my rig had three or four VFOs. HI. If your ham rig does not have dual VFOs, you can simply remember, or write down, any interesting frequencies you come across while scanning.

CW-QSO (1)

Answer a CW-CQ………. How the heck do you begin a CW-QSO? How do you find another ham to talk with? My favorite method is to answer a CQ. Sending several CQs followed by your callsign indicates you want to start a contact with someone. Simply tune up and down the band searching for that familiar "CQ", zero beat your transmit frequency with that of the CQer(or as close as you can get), and call them when they finish their CQ. Normally a one by two call on your part is all that is needed, "ON4XX de ON3CL ON3CL K". If band conditions are poor, or there is a lot of QRM(interference), perhaps a two by three or a one by four call is in order. One by two initial calls in response to a CQ are common these days, sending your call letters too many times marks you as a beginner.
Please do not reply to a CQ if the CQer is transmitting too close (within one kHz) to an ongoing QSO. Doing so will likely cause unnecessary QRM to the ongoing QSO, you may even drive them off the air. Not cool. Common ham courtesy says do your best not to cause unnecessary QRM. Occasionally I will hear a CQing station that I would really like to answer, but the CQer is too close to an ongoing QSO, as I mentioned above. The best thing would be to not answer the CQer, but I have been know to answer the CQer at least one or two kHz away from the CQers frequency. My hope is that they will hear me and move their transmitting frequency to mine. Then I can have my contact and not cause QRM to the ongoing QSO. Sometimes this works, but likely the CQer will not even hear you, or will not change their transmit frequency when they answer you.
Sometimes when you answer another ham's CQ, they may not hear you well enough to get all of your callsign. Or they may not hear you at all if the band conditions are bad or by using LOW power. There is such a thing as one way skip: you may hear West Coast stations fine, but none of them hear you. Not uncommonly more than one station besides you will reply to the same CQ that you did. You may even hear the other station(s) answering the same CQer that you are, at the same time. The CQing station may hear a mixed jumble of several stations answering him or her at the same time. The CQing station may then send "QRZ?" or "QRZ de N1XYZ?" Meaning, who the heck is calling me, please call again. Or the CQer may send nothing at all, perhaps they are just overwhelmed by more than one answer at a time, or by all the QRM. Many times I have found that if a CQer does not respond to my first reply and I hear only silence, if I call him(or her) again, they may well return to me. Not uncommonly, when you begin to reply to another ham's CQ, you will hear other stations besides yourself calling the CQer at the same time that you are. I usually continue transmitting and then see if the CQer answers me or one of the other stations. If the CQer chooses you over the other stations, you can assume your signal was likely stronger or more interesting. If you do not have a competitive nature, then stop transmitting as soon as you hear other hams answering the CQer. Let them have the contact. Should you really want to make the contact yourself, continue calling and then drag out your call by sending your callsign once or twice after you hear the other answering station finish their call. This trick, often used by DXers, sometimes works. Also, if while answering a CQer, you hear the CQer return to another different station, stop transmitting. You lost. Continue your search for another CQer. If you really want to contact this CQing station you could simply wait for them to finish their current contact and then tailend them.