Most of what makes someone a good operator is not in the exam pool. None of the following is hard; all of it is noticed.
Before you transmit
- Listen. Then listen longer. A frequency that sounds empty may hold a weak DX station or a net
- Ask. "Is this frequency in use?" with your call sign, twice, before you call CQ.
- Know where you are. Check the band plan — calling SSB in the CW
you cannot hear.
segment or on a satellite uplink is the fastest way to be told off.
On the air
- Identify every ten minutes and at the end of a contact. That one is the law — see
- Give your call sign, not "the station with the loud audio", and use
- Leave a gap between transmissions on repeaters so someone can break in with traffic.
- Run the minimum power needed. It is a rule (§97.313) and good manners.
- Keep audio clean: no ALC pumping, no over-driven speech processing, no wide splatter.
standard phonetics when conditions are poor.
Working a pileup
- Send your full call sign, once, and listen. Partial calls waste everyone's time.
- If the DX station asks for a region or a specific partial call, do not transmit unless it is you.
- Never transmit on the DX station's frequency to tell others to stop. That is the "DX police"
- Log the contact and move on. Repeated calling after a "QRZ?" to someone else is just noise.
problem, and it causes more disruption than the operators it targets.
What not to do
- No deliberate interference, jamming, or playing music — see
- No arguing on the air. If someone is out of line, take it off the air; if it is deliberate and
- No unattended "kerchunking" of repeaters without identifying.
- No profanity, and no discussion that would embarrass you in front of a scout troop — because one
persistent, document it and follow the process in interference and enforcement.
is probably listening.
New operators are forgiven almost everything except not listening. Nobody minds a fumbled exchange; everyone minds someone transmitting over an ongoing contact.