Joe Burnett, W4BUR
40m CW Net Coordinator
One thing that’s confusing to a newcomer to the CW nets is the protocol used. The CW nets operation is different than the SSB nets, so I thought I’d provide some information to help you understand what’s going on when you check in for the first time.
Generally, the Net Control Station (NCS) comes on the net frequency ten or fifteen minutes prior to the published net start time. The NCS will transmit “CQ CQ CCN CCN DE W4BUR/NCS {or whatever the NCS call is} QNI QNI K”.
This is an invitation to stations to get on a ‘prelist’ – “QNI” is a request for net stations to check in. The NCS will assign check-in numbers as stations respond.
At the published net start time (or a couple of minutes thereafter) the NCS will transmit an abbreviated preamble, similar to the following (note that “BT” is a CW abbreviation for a break between sentences): “WELCOME TO THE 3905 CENTURY CLUB CW NET FOR WAS AND AWARDS BT ALL ARE WELCOME BT FOR MORE INFO PSE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.3905CCN.COM BT PSE QSL VIA WM9H BT NW QND PSE QNZ (series of “V”s followed by a steady carrier) BT NW QNI DE W4BUR/NCS K
The abbreviations may require some interpretation… “NW” means ‘NOW’; “QND” means that this is a directed net; “PSE” means ‘PLEASE’; “QNZ” means to ‘zero beat’, or make sure your frequency is the same as NCS – the “V”s and the steady carrier enable stations to fine tune their transmitters to the NCS frequency.
Following the abbreviated preamble the NCS will look for more check-ins and will continue to assign check-in numbers. Depending on propagation the NCS may ask other stations to look for check-ins using the following CW abbreviation:
“AA1NZ DE W4BUR/NCS PSE NET CALL K”.
At this, AA1NZ will transmit “DE AA1NZ QSP (QSP means “relay”) QNI QNI K”. If AA1NZ gets any check-ins he will give them check-in numbers and then relay the information to NCS.
When the NCS believes that all stations wishing to check in are on the list, s/he will transmit the following: “DE W4BUR/NCS (or whatever the NCS call is) QNC (all stations copy) QNS (following stations are on the list) BT LIST FOLLOWS BT”. The check-in list will then be transmitted by NCS in a manner similar to the following: “NR 1 AA1NZ AA1NZ BT NH NH BT OP TOM TOM NR 1 AA1NZ BT BT NR 2 N1RR N1RR BT MA MA BT OP CHAS CHAS NR 2 N1RR BT BT”.
The NCS will continue through the numbers until all checked in stations have
been listed, and will then again ask for check-ins by transmitting “DE W4BUR/NCS
QNI QNI K”. Additional stations will be checked in and assigned check-in
numbers. Following this NCS will transmit “DE W4BUR/NCS QNC NR (followed by
the check-in number, station call sign, location and name).
The NCS will then place him/herself on the list and will notify the net of check-in number, location and name.
When the check-in list is complete the NCS will transmit “DE W4BUR/NCS LETS ROLL” (or “LETS GET STARTED”, or something similar) to let the stations on the net know that it’s time to begin making contacts. The NCS will transmit “DE W4BUR/NCS NR 1 AA1NZ K” (may also add “UR TURN”, although this isn’t necessary – stations are expected to realize that it’s time to start making contacts and that it’s their turn to make a call).
A typical exchange of information goes like this: “DE AA1NZ GE (good evening) ALL BT NR 2 N1RR N1RR DE AA1NZ AA1NZ UR 599 599 K”. The response from N1RR will be: “AA1NZ DE N1RR TU QSL 599 599 UR ALSO 599 599 K”. Then AA1NZ will transmit: “DE AA1NZ QSL ALSO 599 TU BTN K”. What has just gone on is that AA1NZ said good evening to everyone on the net and then called check-in number 2, N1RR, giving him a signal report of 599.
At this, N1RR will say thank you, I QSL the 599 signal report, and you are also 599. AA1NZ will identify, acknowledge the ‘also 599’, say Thank You (TU), and turn it over to the net control (“BTN” means “Back To Net”). The NCS will transmit “CFM” (confirm) to let the net know that the contact was a good one and will call the next check-in on the list for his/her turn to make a call.
You’ll note that the signal reports exchanged in the example contained three digits. The first two digits are the same as is used on SSB, Readability and Strength. On CW, the third digit is used to let the other station know what kind of ‘Tone’ is being transmitted. A ‘9’ is the best, indicating a perfect tone with no distortion. Ordinarily you won’t hear anything except a “9” as the third digit, but occasionally someone will have a transmitter problem and should be made aware of it. The following is from the ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs describing the numeric codes used for tone (the third digit in a CW signal report).
1 – Sixty-cycle ac or less, very rough and broad.
2 – Very rough ac, very harsh and broad.
3 – Rough ac tone, rectified but not filtered.
4 – Rough note, some trace of filtering.
5 – Filtered rectified ac but strongly ripple-modulated.
6 – Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation.
7 – Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation.
8 – Near perfect tone, slight trace of modulation.
9 – Perfect tone, no trace of ripple or modulation of any kind.
The above examples are just that – examples. Actual exchanges of information will vary depending on the operator and what s/he has to say or add to the signal report data.
I hope all this is helpful and will give you some encouragement to join us on the CW nets. Don’t worry about making mistakes – we all do that. The last perfect man died 2000 years ago…..
CU on CW
Hello All… I hope this info will be helpful to some who are not familiar with Net “Q” signals. These are from the ARRL Net Directory with a couple more included. This is not a complete list, but a collection of the most popular…
| QNA |
Answer in Prearranged Order |
| QNC |
All Net Stations Please Copy |
| QND |
Net is Directed (has NCS) |
| QNF |
Net is Free (not or no longer Directed) |
| QNG |
Take Over as Net Control |
| QNH |
Your Net Freq is High |
| QNI |
Net Stations Check In |
| QNL |
Your Net Freq is Low |
| QNN |
Net Control is _______ |
| QNO |
Station is Leaving the Net |
| QNP |
Unable to Copy_______ |
| QNS |
Following Stations are in the Net (list) |
| QNX |
Station is Excused from the Net |
| QNZ |
Please Zero Beat ur Freq with Mine |
We also use:
| QRU |
Do You Have Anything for Me ? |
| QSP |
Please Relay |
| QSX |
Please Listen for _____ |
And a couple of my personal Favorites ( which are seldom heard on the 3905 Nets )
| QPP |
I Have to take a Nature Break (sometimes when I’m NCS) |
| QTT |
Same as QPP |
| QLF |
Are You Sending With Your Left Foot ? |
| TOF |
Try Other Foot (Only used if answer to QLF is yes) |
ISS commander cheers for Army in contact with Naval Academy’s W3ADO (Dec 1, 2005) — During a brief 2-meter contact November 26 between the US Naval Academy’s W3ADO and NA1SS, ISS Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, cheered for an Army win in the traditional Army-Navy football game December 3. “Thanks very much for the contact, but I can’t resist,” said McArthur, a US Army officer and veteran. “Go, Army. Beat Navy!” At W3ADO Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, said he and some midshipmen were getting ready for a pass of the Academy’s PCSat2, which is attached to the ISS. He took advantage of the quick contact to thank the ISS crew for installing and maintaining PCSat2 and the MISSE5 experiment. McArthur responded, “Gosh, sure appreciate working with you guys. Good luck. Hope it’s a great game on Saturday.” The Academy plans to use PCSat2 to track the Army-Navy game football run from Annapolis to Philadelphia December 2. “Bill caught us by surprise, as it is very rare for them to find time to get on the radio,” Bruninga said afterward. And at the very last possible minute too–just as the ISS was passing east over the Atlantic, he added. McArthur reportedly made a few casual contacts during Thanksgiving week. Just before contacting W3ADO, he worked the Experimenters’ Group Amateur Radio Club’s N4ISS, operated by ARISS aficionado Al Lark, KD4SFF, in South Carolina. “After exchanging signal reports, I asked him what he ate for Thanksgiving,” Lark recounted. McArthur replied: “Al, we had a good Thanksgiving, gosh . . . turkey, corn, mashed potatoes, cranapple for dessert. We ate almost a full day of rations in one meal.” The NA1SS worldwide downlink frequency is 145.800 MHz. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program is an international educational outreach with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.
The Amateur Radio license renewal application of computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, N6NHG, will get careful FCC scrutiny. But first, the FCC wants more information.
On June 1, FCC Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth told Mitnick’s attorney that the FCC needs more information regarding the conditions of Mitnick’s probation “in order to determine what action to take on his renewal application.” He requested the information be provided within 20 days and indicated he would dismiss Mitnick’s application if the information is not provided.
Mitnick was convicted of computer-related crimes and now is out on supervised release. Conditions of his release require that he stay away from computers and computerized devices.
Mitnick’s attorney, R. Gregory Adlin, told Hollingsworth earlier this year that ham radio operation would not violate Mitnick’s supervised release and that he would provide a letter from Mitnick’s probation officer to that effect. Adlin noted that Mitnick’s case “had nothing to do with any FCC violations” and that his plea agreement only covered some counts dealing with obtaining an unauthorized copy of some source code.
Hollingsworth says that since Mitnick filed a timely renewal application, his license remains valid until action is taken on the application. Mitnick’s license expired last December 12.
Adlin also has asked for “a short delineation of what issues have been raised as to Mr. Mitnick’s qualifications to obtain a ham radio license” and any supporting statutory or regulatory citations. Hollingsworth told Adlin that once he has all the necessary documentation in place, he would refer the matter to the FCC’s Hearings and Investigations Division for a determination.
Note: Kevin is an infamous hacker who started his foray into the world of computers and communication systems through amateur radio. It should be interesting to see what happens with his license. More background on Mitnick here.
During 2005 all Belgian Amateur Radio stations can use the prefix OO in place of the regular ON prefix. The special prefix commemorates the 175th anniversary of the Kingdom of Belgium and its 25th as a federal state. The Belgian Amateur Radio Society UBA has invited amateurs and SWLs to qualify for a certificate by contacting stations using the OO prefix between January 1 and December 31, 2005. At least 175 points are required for the award. Details are on the UBA Web site. Special call sign OO175B has been issued to UBA club station ON4UBA. “We will try to make this call as active as possible, but will not use it in HF contests,” said UBA President John Devoldere, ON4UN. “The call will be activated by any UBA club that asks for it for special occasions.” ON4UN will use the special call sign for UBA bulletin transmissions on 80 meters.
– I was able to work Noel Faux via PSK-31 on 20M.
1st contact in South America!
FY1FV – Daniel in French Guiana, teaching at a college in the capital city of Cayenne.
… he had a nice solid signal. I answered his CQ and he came back right away.
After about 2 hours setting up my RigBlaster and Digipan software I was able to get up on PSK31 and complete a QSO.
I worked PA3GSU on 17 Meters (18130 kHz)! Ietsen is located 120km outside of Amsterdam – so the total distance on this QSO was about 3900 miles. There was quite a pile up, but he squeezed me in as his last QSO before he QRT’d. He had a very strong signal (59) and he had me at 58.
I had my second HF QSO (first on 40 meters)! I heard Al (WD9HZI) calling CQ and I came back to him. He’s located near Chicago, about 700 miles away. It was nice to know I can get out farther than Williamsburg. 🙂
Al said he had had a great Thanksgiving and was trying to check into a net on 7238 kHz, but it looked like to net wasn’t happening due to the holiday.
I was able to push up my end fed inverted vee from 20 feet to 30 feet – I’m hoping it makes a difference.
