W4FT on Amateur Radio

That’s right, this hobby is NOT a race!  Even in a contest, being the fastest to key the mike isn’t necessarily the best idea.  What am I ranting about, you ask?  I’m talking about good (and bad) amateur radio operating practices.  Lately, it seems like more and more hams will key up and start talking in milliseconds after someone else has stopped. It’s mildly distracting during casual conversations, and, to me, really irritating during net check-in. This isn’t limited to 2-meter repeater operation – it is getting common on HF too.  Whatever happened to the concept of waiting a second or two to see if someone wants to break in, or to make for a more orderly net?  And what happened to training new ops in proper radio etiquiette?

Over a decade ago, when I was first licensed, there was an active effort by the local club and its members to educate and enlighten new hams on good amateur operation and etiquette.  They have my thanks for helping me quickly gain the skills to be a good operator, by both their example and education.  Lately though, it seems like the pendulum has shifted. Fewer operators and clubs are actively passing these skills along.  New operators are learning more by example and less by education.  Adding to the problem, experienced operators are picking up bad habits and passing them along by example.  The experienced ops, myself included, can always benefit from refresher education.  Over years, bad habits, like the fastest microphone in the land, become embedded as accepted practice.  Can’t we start teaching our fellow hams the best practices again?  Or reteaching our fellow hams, as is often the case?  And if we’re on the receiving end of some of this re-education, can we accept it at face value and consider changing our practices instead of feeling upset?

So this is about good operating practices, and in particular, about leaving more than milliseconds before keying the mic. Yes, leave more than a half-second of dead air.  Give someone a chance to insert their callsign in the conversation.  Someone might have something interesting to add to the discussion.  More importantly, there may be an emergency and someome needs to break in.  Give them enough time to do so! 

During net check-in, this gets really stupid.  As soon as the net control op calls for check-ins and unkeys his mic, Joe Lightning will key up and chime in, even before the repeater has a chance to drop.  It’s a race to be the first to check in to the net.  A little irritating, but easily tolerated.  The fun begins when Joe’s cousins all try to check in at the same time. The result is usually a double, but it’s really fun when you get a triple or more. Why?  Just slow down a little and avoid the collisions!  Let the repeater drop.  Wait a moment or two before keying up. It’s a simple thing, but it makes for a much more pleasant and orderly experience for everyone.

Oh yeah, contesting – that’s a different flavor of the story.  Sometimes you have to be fast, but even here, being a little slower than everyone else can mean success!  While Joe Lightning and 200 other hams throw out their calls just as soon as someone calls QRZ, the station that is the object of the pileup may not hear any of them in the cacophony.  However, the hams that wait a second or two may well be heard instantly after the insane pileup clears a little. So again, fastest isn’t necessarily best, even in contests.

For clubs and net control ops, when was the last time you did a training session or presentation on good ‘netiquette’?  Or even a few seconds during a net or a meeting to pass along a simple good operating tip?  C’mon gang, we can all do better!

OK, the ham radio world isn’t going to h*(( in a handbasket, it’s just one of several ways that we are slowly, gradually, losing our skills and our reputation as exceptional communicators. To steal from Dennis Miller, That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.  

Feel different?  Something to add?   Leave a comment.

73,
W4FT