The Four P's Of Operating
Principals, Pride, Professionalism and Practice
I encourage any use of the 50 MHz spectrum, however I only support proper operating procedures. Any time I am "On Air", I tend to keep these 4 words in mind, Principals , Pride , Professionalism and Practice. Look at each one of those words.
Principals, Maintaining a clean operating standard, following the rules and guidelines set forth buy Elmers with years of experience. Never to deviate from those rules and standards.
Pride, Pride in who you are as an operator, being the best and maintaining the Principals which have been set forth, Helping others , Pride in your Service.
Professionalism, Keeping the fundamental values and core, the basis of what has made Amateur Radio what it is. Your "On Air" decorum. The nature of how you operate. Courtesy and Stature while operating.
Practice, Doing whats right, Maintaining the operating standards day in and out with changing conditions.
I don't intend to be harsh or overbearing in these statements, but I see improper or poor operating all the time. I can tell you it dissapoints me to hear and see the things that I do on the band, or any band for that matter. With out the ideas of Principal, Professionalism, Pride and Practice, where will Amateur Radio be ?
It is my intnet to explain or familliarize you with places that we as operators need to improve.
First and foremost , RAG CHEWING on the Calling Frequency. BIG NO NO.
In the off season (Sept -November & Jan-April) I have a higher tolerance for this kind of operating. The band is normally closed , with Meteor Scatter and Ground wave being the only real form of functional QSO, I can tolerate a little more rag chewing on the CALLING FREQUENCY. I think I understand why these operators do this In season, trying to generate some sort of activity, however sometimes it hinders other operators, operators with stations more capable of "testing the waters". I have personally listened to some local operators rag chewing on the call frequency, while a 5 & 5 Q5 DX station is calling on that frequency. Maybe if they would not have been rag chewing they might have caught the DX. ( They caught on when I broke through them and worked the DX !! Pretty embarrassing for them. ) Folks its the Calling Frequency 50.125, Its self explanatory. MAKE your Calls and move along.
There have been times that I personally have made a few calls in the window, made and exchange, waited 3-4 Mins made another call , again made a brief exchange, only to find that conditions have improved to an E opening. Good rule of thumb, if you work 2 stations outside of a 600 mile range of your calling area, Its time to set up shop on another frequency. Shove off of .125 at this time, or just listen via .125 for callers and on occasion, make a few calls yourself.
Do not use .125 as your frequency in an opening! You will not make any friends that way.
You are jamming the call frequency. This is totally un acceptable. You are intentionally blocking the call frequency. This sort of activity does not allow for any expansion of the E opening. Working a pile and using the call frequency as "your frequency" is obviously not proper operating practice, yet I hear operators do it every season.
The DX Cluster
This is one that baffles me. The intended use of the DX Cluster is to provide information to operators on band conditions, short and sweet ! It is not intended to use as a sked or messaging device. It is not intended to let folks know what frequency you will be operating, nor what direction you will be calling. If no one is answering your call , its not because no one can find you, Its because your not being heard. If your not being heard its time to look at your system and not to posting spots. The DX Cluster is a tool that is being abused. How many times do we need to post that and XE3 is on .115 ? Do we need (7) 3 Calls posting that they worked XE3 XXX on .115 ? NO . Good judgment here OM! IF there is a post from another operator in your area (or call area 1.2.3.4.5.6 , 7 or 8) for a call that you want to post, DONT post IT ! Now with that being said, if its 4 hours later and the station is still workable and there have been no posts from your area in a while , by all means POST IT. Its common sense folks.
All of this goes hand in hand with DX spots. I understand that everyone is HAPPY that they worked some DX, GREAT! I'm with ya! The part that kills me is that every 3 call that works EA8XXX posts his QSO. Come on guys, I'm happy that you worked him, but do we need the cluster filled up with 20 posts of W3's that worked EA8XXX ? NO.
If you have a disagreement or arguement , Please dont use the cluster. This is a hobbie, We are grown "Professionals" Do not use the cluster to FLAME or Argue in! Come on , We are not High School kids anymore. PROFESSIONALISM !
Contesting
I am not a contester, nor do I ever aspire to be one, however I do not discourage or frown on it. What does dissapoint me are the stations that run so close to the calling frequency they QRM it ! You know your doing it , and I see your tactic, but its no good. We are Amateur Radio operators, "Best engineering and operating practice" Remember That ? Your disrupting the rest of the operators that want to use the Calling Frequency for calls. Please set up shop somewhere that you do not disturb the calling frequency. 6 Meters is very special in the fact that we have guidelines and designated areas to call, Please don't ruin it by abusing it. Or QRMing It !
CW vs. SSB
I hear countless times , 2 stations working via CW on .125 and someone breaks in on top of them in SSB Voice. Your not helping matters! Normally on 6 meters the CW copy is good, but there are those occasions that its weak and QSB or via MS. Please refrain from calling on top of these stations, with out a doubt its a long distance contact and you are probably interfering with one of the 2 stations copy. NOT GOOD! I think that some of the "NO Coders" think that the band is open, or they too can make a contact. Please understand that just because you hear CW, does not mean that the band is open to SSB Voice. When the CW QSO ends , make your call.
The DX WINDOW 50.110
Good Rule of thumb. If you have a hunch that the band may be open, by all means make your call , CQ CQ CQ DX. ( Do this in moderation and use some restraint ) IF you know the band is open to DX, LISTEN ONLY! DO not Attempt to make a NON DX Call in the window. (I'm sure that there is a law coming up on the books that you will be incarcerated for a minimum of 25 years for this.) If you want to call DX around the window thats great, but stay out of the window if the band is open.
Pretty Easy Rule to follow, yet I hear seasoned vets call and call and call in the window, or make QSO after QSO in the window. Shame Shame ! You are the Elders, new operators look up to you, do the right thing!
DX in the DX Window
I have seen it, as most have, 2 or 3 DX stations running 50.110. as "their frequency". I know that normally these station can not hear each other. I'm sure that they both think all callers are for them. It gets ugly! First and foremost , try to spread out. If you work 2-3 DX stations, please QSY and let someone know to spot you so we know where you are. We will find you. It makes it tough on everyone when 2 or 3 stations are working on .110.
RST Reporting
Please, please give true accurate reports! The 5/9/9 is worthless, unless the station is truly a 5/9. This is another tool that we have taken for granted. It neither helps me or you, to give a false report. I want to know my signal, I base all my operations on this report. IF I am a 4/5 and I gave you a 5/1 report, you are not going to hurt my feelings by giving me a true report. I want and need to know how you are hearing me, I can judge band conditions and my station parameters all by what you tell me. A band as critical on signal as 6 meters it is imperative that we give proper RST.
The "Can You Hear Me Now" Effect
Some operators use other sorts of Media to communicate while working the band. Examples. Chat groups , Instant messaging, DX Cluster, Internet based messaging forums..... I find this a very very useful tool for a band that has conditions that are so unpredictable, however some take this to the very edge or border of the "Gray Area". The "Gray Area" is a point where a Contact or QSO can become invalid.
Meaning, if a W3 and a K4 are communicating via these other forms and "coaching" or Reporting are occurring in that method and not via transmitted exchanges "On Air", that becomes a "FOUL" in my eyes and the QSO is not valid.
These "Forums" were designed as a "Sked" tool, wherefore real time Skeds can be made.
Once the Sked has been initiated and the Calling is underway, its time to end the communication on the forum! If the exchange takes place via the band , Great ! by all means continue to communicate about it if you like. I find that a lot of reports are being exchanged via these modes and I feel that these are "Invalid" QSO's. If your familiar enough with 6 Meters , you will understand that sometimes its the weakest of weak signals, very tough copy, so a clean exchange is very important.
What makes a Good QSO?
It is my personal opinion that in order to have a valid QSO there must be 3 items of information that MUST be exchanged.
#1 Callsign ( Don't Laugh, I'm serious! I have heard
stations that got the call from the
DX cluster and not from the op.
I have even had them ask me the ops call! )
#2 RST Again, Very important to have this
in the exchange
#3 GRID / Location A 4 Digit Grid locater needs to
be exchanged or a valid location
if grid is not known.
With the onset of Solar Cycle 24 approaching , I hope, we need to stress these practices with those operators that have forgotten or do not operate 6 Meters. As the propagation gets better, we will find ourselves consumed with operators that have never worked the band before , therefore it is our job as ambassadors to communicate these very general and basic "rules" to those that do not know , don't remember , or just don't care. If we are to keep 6 Meters the special band that it is.
All this being said, these are my opinions. Some of these ideas have been instilled to me by my fellow Amateur operators. What makes Amateur Radio great is the acts of professionalism, pride, principals and practices that have carried this service for many many years. This is what separates our service from some of the other services available. Without rules and standards it would be uncontrolled chaos. I feel if we lighten up on these very basic principals and we bend the rules from the practices that we now have in place, the integrity of the service will be compromised.
Please do the right thing , and encourage others to follow suite. Teach those that do not know, or understand . Promote and practice good operating standards!
73 de 
