From : Roger Banks
Sent : Wednesday, September 6, 2006 6:33 PM
Subject : Re: [SolidCpyCW] GYFWW… QSO example?
KE5AQD ===> CQ CQ CQ FC DE KE5AQD/E
AD7MI ===> AD7MI/N
KE5AQD====> AD7MI/N DE KE5AQD/E 599 ROGER TX 11507 04 BK
AD7MI====> QSL 599 Scott VA 12051 01 BK
KE5AQD====> TNX ES GL BT CQ CQ CQ FC DE KE5AQD/E
When you first hear someone sending CQ for the contest go ahead and try
to copy down all the info beforehand. When you are ready, send your call once. If they don’t come back to you right away, be patient. When you hear them send CQ again, or if they just send QRZ?, send your call
again, one time only. When they do come back to you, send your part of
the exchange. Sometimes they only catch part of your call, so listen for partials like AD? or MI?. If you hear your partial call, send your whole call twice, repeat as necessary. If they comeback to you but got your call wrong and sent they exchange anyway, send your call twice as part of your exchange. If they need you to repeat something they will send QTH? or OP? or NR? Just send the required info back. The QSO is over when they start sending CQ or when they send QRZ?
Most contest exchanges tend to be very quick but FISTS Get Your Feet Wet Weekend is a little more laid back. Send at your own pace and those that respond will be kind enough to match your speed. Feel free to ask for repeats and say “howdy” if you recognize the call. The reason the
contest lasts all weekend is so that you don’t need to feel rushed. Take your time and enjoy it.
If this email only adds to your confusion or is in any way intimidating, please just ignore it and tune into the contest anyhow. Listen for a few minutes to a strong station and throw your call out. Whoever responds to you will elict the required info from you in the normal friendly FISTS fashion and will make sure that you copy theirs. Like any other FISTS activity, it’s all about accuracy over speed and having fun with CW.
Sent : Wednesday, September 6, 2006 5:22 PM
Subject : Contest
Scott, You are going to get a million responses to this one probably. So I thought I would write privately being fairly new to contesting, myself. The qso depends on the contest. For the get your feet wet thing, you are very close to being right. I would suggest using BK rather than KN. Also, for many other contests, the exchange is as short as possible. An example follows:
CQ TEST DE WU7R K
AD7MI
AD7JMI 599 MT 10789 BK
R R 599 VA 12051 BK
QSL TU DE WU7R QRZ?
If no one answers, CQ TEST DE WU7R K
You can see how much more abreviated this is. The good thing about the exchange is you can listen to the station giving it to someone else since quite often 599 is always the signal report. then, when he answers you, you really don’t have to copy–just concentrate on sending your reponse back to him. If he misses something, he may just send AGN? BK since often that is faster than asking for part of it. You would just reapeat what you have sent.
I hope this helps you. There are several contests this weekend, including a straight key contest from FISTS. You can listen and find an operator at a speed you can copy the exchange from (even if it takes a couple of times), and jump right in. If you screw up, he will understand, Remember that everybody who does this has been right where you are…73, Ci
Ci Jones, WU7R