W1AW

[KK0G]

One question though.  I'm able to run splits pretty well but I don't understand when they say they're "listening up 5 to 10".  I can usually get them using up 5 but how do they listen to a 5Khz range?  Do some radios have some kind of capability I'm not familiar with?

They're not listening to a 5 kHz range, they're tuning within a 5 kHz range.

It pains me to say this but....  I don't get it.   ???

OK, lets set this up: For the sake of discussion let's say he's on 14.020,  listening up 5 to 10.


That means his transmitter is parked right dead on 14.020 and it never moves from there, everybody calling will have their receiver parked right dead on 14.020 also (sort of).

To listen for calls he is tuning his receiver from 14.025 up through 14.030 until he hears one that he wants. Lets say he hears someone at 14.026 and makes contact with him then clears with that person. Chances are there are others also calling him on 14.026 so say he answers one or two more at that frequency. Eventually the wolf pack starts getting wise to the fact that he's listening on 14.026 and more start calling there, increasing the QRM so he tunes his receiver up to say 14.027 where there are fewer callers and he can better hear.


This cycle just keeps repeating within the range of 14.025 through 14.030. This is all done to spread out the pile up to better manage it.

Now you could just park your transmitter and receiver frequencies in one spot and just blindly call over and over in hopes that he happens to be listening to that particular frequency and that he happens to pick your call out at that time. the key though is to figure out the pattern he's using by listening to where the others are that he's making contact with. Example; maybe he makes 4 contacts per frequency then immediately moves up 1 kHz for the next 4.

[gil]

The problem is when their transmit frequency is 7030, QRO, blatantly QRMing the QRP calling frequency...

Gil


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[John Galt]

One question though.  I'm able to run splits pretty well but I don't understand when they say they're "listening up 5 to 10".  I can usually get them using up 5 but how do they listen to a 5Khz range?  Do some radios have some kind of capability I'm not familiar with?

They're not listening to a 5 kHz range, they're tuning within a 5 kHz range.

It pains me to say this but....  I don't get it.   ???

OK, lets set this up: For the sake of discussion let's say he's on 14.020,  listening up 5 to 10.


That means his transmitter is parked right dead on 14.020 and it never moves from there, everybody calling will have their receiver parked right dead on 14.020 also (sort of).

To listen for calls he is tuning his receiver from 14.025 up through 14.030 until he hears one that he wants. Lets say he hears someone at 14.026 and makes contact with him then clears with that person. Chances are there are others also calling him on 14.026 so say he answers one or two more at that frequency. Eventually the wolf pack starts getting wise to the fact that he's listening on 14.026 and more start calling there, increasing the QRM so he tunes his receiver up to say 14.027 where there are fewer callers and he can better hear.


This cycle just keeps repeating within the range of 14.025 through 14.030. This is all done to spread out the pile up to better manage it.

Now you could just park your transmitter and receiver frequencies in one spot and just blindly call over and over in hopes that he happens to be listening to that particular frequency and that he happens to pick your call out at that time. the key though is to figure out the pattern he's using by listening to where the others are that he's making contact with. Example; maybe he makes 4 contacts per frequency then immediately moves up 1 kHz for the next 4.

See there!  All you had to do is splain it at the remedial level!!    :) :) :) ;D

Thank you, sir!

[KK0G]

See there!  All you had to do is splain it at the remedial level!!    :) :) :) ;D

Thank you, sir!

No problem. This is one of those things that seems confusing (well I guess it is confusing if you don't understand it) but it's actually quite simple once you figure it out, which it appears you have. 8)

[NCGunDude]

Follow up question: I don't have an HF rig, yet. Do most rigs have the ability to TX and RX on different freqs. I assume yes, based on the more than lucid explanation of the meaning of "listening up 5 to 10", but I don't want to assume. TIA

[KK0G]

Follow up question: I don't have an HF rig, yet. Do most rigs have the ability to TX and RX on different freqs. I assume yes, based on the more than lucid explanation of the meaning of "listening up 5 to 10", but I don't want to assume. TIA

You assume correct, practically every commercial rig made within the last 25 years has dual VFO's - to work split set one VFO up to receive and transmit on the other the one. Another method is to use the RIT control (receive increment tune) although most RIT controls don't have a very large tuning range.

[cockpitbob]

Follow up question: I don't have an HF rig, yet. Do most rigs have the ability to TX and RX on different freqs. I assume yes, based on the more than lucid explanation of the meaning of "listening up 5 to 10", but I don't want to assume. TIA

Even most QRP rigs can work "up" though they don't have dual VFOs.  They have R.I.T. (receiver incremental tuning) which means you can Tx on one frequency and Rx on a different one.  Most QRP rigs only have 1-2KHz of RIT tuning range, but most pile-up stations operating CW only listen up 1KHz or 2KHz.

[Luigi]

You can use that dual VFO to TX and RX on different frequencies in case you do not want others hearing both sides of a conversation easily.

[John Galt]

Since it's pretty quiet around here, I just thought I'd give an update on where I'm at with this since I started this thread almost 4 months ago.

Once the last few contacts are confirmed, I'll be at 31 states and about 800 points.  I've enjoyed the learning curve as well as the cold brew I'm usually partaking as I listen in most evenings.  Since I'm using W1AW stations as a learning tool as well as LoTW for keeping track of them, I've decided to make WAS my goal for the year.  What the heck, I'm most of the way there anyhow.  In between, I'm going for the WAC since I'm already most of the way there as well. 

Maybe DXCC is in my future but I'm really not so much into the awards themselves but they seem like useful measuring sticks for the learning curve.  I've made contacts on 10 through 40 meters so far.  I almost got Louisiana on 80 but fell short.  I think I can get 80 and 160 when W1AW comes to Texas.  And I now firmly believe only unicorns transmit on 6 meters.

[cockpitbob]

You're right about 6 meters.  Unicorns is appropriate since it is dubbed "the magic band".  But on occasions, like Field Day 3 years ago, it can open up to allow some impressive communications.

As far as the evils of contests go, this ARRL Centinnal seems pretty benign since it occupies individual frequencies and doesn't have everyone jamming entire bands. 

I used W1AW/9 to get my 7 year old nephew on the air last week.  He did great and said everything just right so I'm getting him a QSL card from W1AW.