Operating Practices That Annoy

[VK2OMD]

Not leaving breaks and hot keying ( not letting the tail to drop) on repeaters

Some repeaters are designed to reset the timer (indicated by a beep) but hold the tx up for a few seconds so that the next 'over' can commence without cycling the relays.

Of course, some repeater cops don't understand this feature and the intended reliability improvment which is important to remote repeaters that may be snow bound for several months.

Still, it is something to have a petty gripe about... even if misinformed.

Owen

[VK2HRX]

Yes I know. Can you tell me which repeaters in Sydney are set up this way so I am informed.

[VK2OMD]

Yes I know. Can you tell me which repeaters in Sydney are set up this way so I am informed.

I can't tell you about Sydney repeaters in general, but the High Range repeater which I sometimes use (and is accessible to much of Sydney) is configured that way. The guy who maintains it drives 250km to work on it, and it is funded by a small club so unnecessary call outs are to be avoided.

Most repeaters indicate reset of the mandatory time out timer with a beep, and where they keep the carrier up for a few seconds, it is usually intentional, and the maintainers would usually apprecate the feature being exploited.

Owen

[VK2WX]

Language evolves. And you cant stop evolution. Unless you are a creationist, in which case it never started in the first place.

I have been viciously berated for calling my radio a rig. Rig is, according to some, a CB term and thus proves the me to be the worst form of humanity imaginable. I'm not saying I'm not, but determining that after one word is at best a lucky guess.

"Back to you" is a hangover from CW not CB. BTU. CBers used to say "come on". (shudders)

I like the term "copy that". But I would only use it in a local contact with others I knew. I wouldn't want to damage a fellow hams sensibilities by forcing such flippancy upon them.

And some people even say the word "you're" instead of "your" .... cha....

Jack,

Being serious again, I am surprised that you have been berated for using the term "rig". "Rig" is certainly NOT of CB origin. It was used by hams for at least three decades (possibly more) before CB ever became a reality. My suggestion is that if you are accused again of using the CB term "rig", you threaten them with the Woof Hong or the Retty Snitch. That should make them sit up and take notice!

de Jim
VK2WX

[VK2JDH]

Boy, there are some seriously easily upsetable hams out there. Need to get out more.

[VK2VHF]

Not much bothers me but I do get a bit annoyed when someone says farewell and announces that it is their last over but then comes back for a few more overs....then starts the routine again!

[VK2AAH]

John Farnham has made a fortune from doing that Adrian...

[VK3ALB]

The lack of ettiquette and courtesy in general.

Acknowledging a breaking station at the start of an over then continuing with a 5 minute monologue. Why not give the guy a chance to have his say before you start?

Breaking in to a net to ask for a "radio check" or to find out "who's on the frequency" Really, you stopped a monologue for that?

Checking ya SWER for your new aerial on the input of a repeater. Really, you can't move 25KHz either side of the repeater input?

Calling frantically to work that DX station, completing the contact then asking for the DX station's callsign. Did you try listening first?

Tuning up on a net frequency. Just plain rude.

[VK3ART]

Saying or spelling out " Hi Hi ", "Whiskies" instead of "Watts" ???? and "what's your Personal". Try explaining this nonsense to people outside Ham Radio. Impossible.
Russ VK3ART

[VK5PO]

Instead of "whinging about your "perceptions" of bad operating practices, Tell the "perpetrators"
where you think they are going "wrong" when they "go wrong"
A little diplomacy and obviously tact should be used!!!

Wouldn't that be better than having a handful of you commenting on this forum. (mind you, freedom of speech/Press are good!)

I think that approach only creates division in the hobby.

The entry bar has been lowered to basically ground level, and with that, in some cases, does introduce some non standard
operating techniques.... That aside. the perceived problem has undoubtedly been around since the advent of our extraordinary hobby.

Using CW eliminates ALL of the problems identified! HiHi

73
VK5SIX

[VK7DB]

Yes I know. Can you tell me which repeaters in Sydney are set up this way so I am informed.

I can't tell you about Sydney repeaters in general, but the High Range repeater which I sometimes use (and is accessible to much of Sydney) is configured that way. The guy who maintains it drives 250km to work on it, and it is funded by a small club so unnecessary call outs are to be avoided.

Most repeaters indicate reset of the mandatory time out timer with a beep, and where they keep the carrier up for a few seconds, it is usually intentional, and the maintainers would usually apprecate the feature being exploited.

Owen

Exactly.. This is what we do with the VK7RMD repeaters. The tails are 10 seconds long, they have a silent mute action and a pleasant sounding courtesy tone. Listening to repeaters configured this way is easy on the ear also, no noisy mute closures at the end of each over..

[VK2AXL]

I can't tell you about Sydney repeaters in general, but the High Range repeater which I sometimes use (and is accessible to much of Sydney) is configured that way. The guy who maintains it drives 250km to work on it, and it is funded by a small club so unnecessary call outs are to be avoided.

Most repeaters indicate reset of the mandatory time out timer with a beep, and where they keep the carrier up for a few seconds, it is usually intentional, and the maintainers would usually apprecate the feature being exploited.

Owen

Exactly.. This is what we do with the VK7RMD repeaters. The tails are 10 seconds long, they have a silent mute action and a pleasant sounding courtesy tone. Listening to repeaters configured this way is easy on the ear also, no noisy mute closures at the end of each over..

All repeaters are like this in the UK. Much nicer to listen to than carrier dropping repeaters. And if you are scanning in memory mode, your RIG stays with the repeater until the end of the contact and doesn't fly off scanning round again.

[VK2AVR]

Exactly.. This is what we do with the VK7RMD repeaters. The tails are 10 seconds long, they have a silent mute action and a pleasant sounding courtesy tone. Listening to repeaters configured this way is easy on the ear also, no noisy mute closures at the end of each over..

VK2RMB (Terrey Hills) 2m is set up the same, for the same reason.

[VK3HZ]

Operating Practices that Annoy me - people who pointlessly quote and re-quote entire Forum postings with their 1/2 line reply added.

If you are replying to one particular point within a posting, yes, use the QUOTE button and edit out everything that's not relevant.

If you are just replying to the general thread, please just use the POST REPLY button at the bottom. We're quite capable of reading back to see what's being replied to without it being needlessly repeated endless times, wasting Adam's valuable disk space.

<<SIGH>> Now for a Bex and a good lie down ...

[VK4GHZ]

I was going to completely ignore this topic.
There is too much whinging and moaning, effort which could go into technical content instead.

If you are replying to one particular point within a posting, yes, use the QUOTE button and edit out everything that's not relevant.

Dave, I'm glad I'm not the only one!
The quote which embeds 2, 3, or more complete posts is just outright annoying.

And if people are quoting, irrespective of "nesting", please be aware a properly formatted quote starts with [ quote ] and ends with [ /quote ].
(Without the spaces inside of the square brackets)

<<SIGH>> Now for a Bex and a good lie down ...

Beer and wine does the trick here.

[VK4TS]

Hallelujah

Yes Wine does work...

[VK2MUS]

basically I don't care what terms etc are used on air - the most important and the most lacking on the air is that they can be understood - some operators talkrealfastandputalltheirwordstogether - some operators put the microphone HALFWAYDOLWNTHIERTHROATANDTALKFAST some believing that they can't be understood by another English speaking person use the Phonetic codes tangooscarmikealfakiloechoindiatango even harder to understand them

It is much easier to simply speak plain english and speak in a normal conversational speed.

I came across an operator (advanced) who said my quebec quebec tango tango hotel hotel is - he was talking to an english operator - location required 7 characters. his response required 30 characters and the q code only required 3 characters- as the mike was half way down the alimentary tract I did not actually understand just where his qth was.

And if you want world breaking speed records then just tune into some of the 2m calls.

John

[VK3BSF]

What we need is an OPP...Operating Practices Police..and an annual report of all Misfeasances and the corrective or penal actions required...that'll sort the anarchists from the true believers

[VK4WDM]

When I started out in AR in ZL in the 1960's (Yep, getting old ) there were hams who were designated "official observer stations" by the Post and Telegraph Department. A number of them were also the local RI. If they heard what was considered to be "poor operating practice" (covered many sins) or a "bad signal" (key clicks, AC hum and over-modulation for instance) they would phone or call on the miscreant and have a friendly word. They never commented "on-air." If you did not take the hint they would send you a "pink slip" in the mail, and if that was not acted upon they would refer the matter to the P&G department for official action. The other side of the coin was that these men (don't think there were any ladies) were also very ready to help resolve the situation and very well respected by the ham community.

If they were still around they would be very busy, given some of the behaviour heard on the air these days.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

73

[VK3ALB]

There was a column in the AR in the early sixties that pointed out the transgressions of these rouge operators. Besides technical issues they also pointed out poor operating technique.

I wonder how many column inches that would consume these days?