Etiquette/procedure question

[w4pjh]

There was a VK working a pileup on 20 a few minutes ago, and a Hawaii station called him. I've never even heard a Hawaii station yet, letalone worked one, but he was strong! I really want to work Hawaii. What do you do in that case, when the freq. is already in use by the DX station and you REALLY want a QSO with one of the other DX stations that you hear him work? What's the best way to go about it?

Thanks,
Randy

[KC7UP]

I say you wait until another time. You do not try to capture a station on a frequency in use.
Curt

[N2RJ]

I heard a KH6 calling. I thought he was in HI, but turned out he is a HI expat in FL.

[ka5piu]

Hello.

Working Hawaii right now, CAP.
Let me know when, and we can drop into the ham band.

[n0iu]

Sometimes it happens that way when you actually would like to work one of the other stations calling the DX station rather than the DX station itself, but there are no promises or guarantees that any given country (or state) will be on any given band using any given mode at any given point in time.

If you want to move the process of getting WAS along, one of the things you might consider is participating in a net like the 3905 Century Club. Their purpose is to assist people with getting WAS and several of their own awards. Details are here: http://www.3905ccn.com/

Scott NØIU

[w3dub]

I'll second the 3905cc. HI and AK are on occassionally, more often in the fall and winter months. Through that.. I've already worked 40+ states.

[K8YZK]

Since the change in rules, that you got to keep your call no matter where you live, it does make it hard to tell from just the callsign where the station is. On this I have to agree with wait for another time to work HI, because of the pile-up for the VK station.
I also have to agree about using the 3905 Century Club for working toward WAS if that is what you need. I did that many years ago, and I need one station for WAS on 75meters, Hawaii. Well Hawaii was in there and I was like 30th on the list, I waited and waited, just before my turn the wife said lets go, we had a Christmas Party to go to and was already running late. Well what do I do, I wimped out :-), and went to the party, Hawaii had to wait. Family bliss was more important then some wall paper.

Kurt

[w4pjh]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I let it slide last night. I have checked into the 3905 net a few times. (old callsign) But, I don't know, something about sitting there waiting for someone to give you a turn to call a station you know is there just kinda turns me off. To me it's much more exciting to unexpectadly hear a rare or DX callsign when tuning around and then pounce on it in a pileup. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[ka5piu]

Quote[/b] (w4pjh @ June 03 2007,06:24)]Thanks guys. #Yeah, I let it slide last night. #I have checked into the 3905 net a few times. (old callsign) But, I don't know, something about sitting there waiting for someone to give you a turn to call a station you know is there just kinda turns me off. #To me it's much more exciting to unexpectadly hear a rare or DX callsign when tuning around and then pounce on it in a pileup. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Hello.

I agree, there is more excitement in a random contact, but most stations can give you a one-way QSL and you can request a sked, just write it on the post card or QSL card you are sending.
This happens all the time with places like the middle east.

[wa9cwx]

Well,
To deal with the original question....This has happened to me a LOT, especially over the years on the 160 meter CW contest, #I NEED a state, HE is working someone who owns the frequency, (in contest times, some people actually DO own a frequency http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif )...What to do... I have quickly sent the last suffix of the station I WANT, and 'up 2' or whatever, I have done this a few times. Probably not proper, but it gives me the feeling I have done something to reduce my frustration, and I doubt that anything horrible has resulted. I think it actually worked ONCE.
More often, I myself move up / down (depending on if I know the direction the station I want is tuning), and make several short calls, THAT has worked a few times.

In a non-contest, I would move up /down whichever seems the most apprpriate, and CALL the station you want, short bursts, not for too long, either he is THERE or not.
I would also like to know what others have done, this is an excellent question, and I have wondered the same thing for decades !

Frank

[ky5u]

Quote[/b] (w4pjh @ June 03 2007,06:24)]Thanks guys. Yeah, I let it slide last night. I have checked into the 3905 net a few times. (old callsign) But, I don't know, something about sitting there waiting for someone to give you a turn to call a station you know is there just kinda turns me off. To me it's much more exciting to unexpectadly hear a rare or DX callsign when tuning around and then pounce on it in a pileup. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
You did the right thing. Congrats for having the self control to be a good Amateur.

[kc7gnm]

Quote[/b] (KB3JGU @ June 03 2007,08:35)]I'll second the 3905cc. HI and AK are on occassionally, more often in the fall and winter months. Through that.. I've already worked 40+ states.
Get on the HHH net at 0700Z on 7.235mhz. We have a guy in HI all the time on there. He is there every night.

[DL1NFG]

The original question has not yet been answered, so let me try. If I would hear an interesting station calling in a pile-up, the first thing I would do, is to wait until this station has made the QSO with the DX station, because this is the reason why he is calling. If the QSO is finished, I would ask him once or at most twice to QSY (KH6... please 5up). If he does not respond, then stop calling, because the frequency belongs to the DX station.
Best wishes,
Ralph

[k4avl]

I often hear various QSO's going on, more ragchewing than CQ's. Being patient sometimes takes a long time, but if there seems to be a gap in the conversation, is it ok to say your callsign then "listeneing" or "monitoring"?
This is for HF not 2 meters where it seems to be more of the practice.

[kj3n]

Quote[/b] (w4pjh @ June 03 2007,00:14)]There was a VK working a pileup on 20 a few minutes ago, and a Hawaii station called him. #I've never even heard a Hawaii station yet, letalone worked one, but he was strong! #I really want to work Hawaii. #What do you do in that case, when the freq. is already in use by the DX station and you REALLY want a QSO with one of the other DX stations that you hear him work? #What's the best way to go about it?
As others have said, wait for another time. Hawaii is on often enough that you should be able to work them.

My other advice is to learn to love (or at least tolerate) contests. There's always a KH6 station on during the major contests like CQ WW, ARRL DX, and CQ WPX. I've worked Hawaii on 75m on both phone and RTTY this way.

Learn to use the online DX clusters like DX Watch (http://dxwatch.com). When Hawaii is on, it'll get posted. I worked Hawaii last week on 17m because I saw it on the cluster.

[K0RGR]

I'd normally go along with the idea of waiting until the KH6 has made his contact, then politely ask him to QSY, not more than once, and only if it does not disrupt the operation of the other stations. Some KH6's consider themselves to be rare DX, though, and might be upset by this.

Because KH6 is pretty common, there are lots of places you can work them. Any DX contest should do it.
Now, if it was a KH2, that would be a little different. He'd have a pileup of his own, and asking him to QSY would be poor etiquette.