Ola and the Robotoid Megawatts play for you

[G4ALA]

I read N2RJ's problem with "is this frequency in use" with some sympathy.

I bring to your attention other activities on HF that I find less that desirable.

1) The plaintive cry of the Tuner-Upper "OOOO-La OOOOh-La". Can't they use a carrier or dual tones like everyone else".This is usually carried out on top of an existing QSO. OOOh-La. This frequency in use? It isn't now

2) The clearly excessive power used by some operators. If a good antenna and max legal power produce S9+10 from a particular area on most occasions, how come, typically in a contest, there are so many stations capable of S9+30? How many Kilowatts does it take? It is nice to stand out in a crowd, but perhaps it should be considered "A crowd of what?".

3) Basso Profundo slow vocalizers who sound like a Rusty Robot or worse on steroids, use lots of power, hog particular frequencies, and attract lots of anonymous QRM which ruins whole sections of bands on occasions. If the band is otherwise quiet, on occasions it is possible to hear the unmistakable hiss of digitally pre-recorded sound.

Maybe this is restricted to Europe, What are the US variants?

Regards to all

G4ALA

[N2RJ]

1) The plaintive cry of the Tuner-Upper "OOOO-La OOOOh-La". Can't they use a carrier or dual tones like everyone else".This is usually carried out on top of an existing QSO. OOOh-La. This frequency in use? It isn't now

I agree with this one. And with today's FSK capable radios, you can even put the radio in RTTY mode and hit transmit and you send a tone.

2) The clearly excessive power used by some operators. If a good antenna and max legal power produce S9+10 from a particular area on most occasions, how come, typically in a contest, there are so many stations capable of S9+30? How many Kilowatts does it take? It is nice to stand out in a crowd, but perhaps it should be considered "A crowd of what?".

I used to think many are using excessive power, but I use only 500-800 watts, (sometimes less) and I often get signal reports of 59+30. But yes, there are some, both in Europe and North America (and some other places) that use multiple kilowatts.

3) Basso Profundo slow vocalizers who sound like a Rusty Robot or worse on steroids, use lots of power, hog particular frequencies, and attract lots of anonymous QRM which ruins whole sections of bands on occasions. If the band is otherwise quiet, on occasions it is possible to hear the unmistakable hiss of digitally pre-recorded sound.

IT9RYH? We know about him. We don't like him either.

Maybe this is restricted to Europe, What are the US variants?

14.275

[ne3r]

I read N2RJ's problem with "is this frequency in use" with some sympathy.

I bring to your attention other activities on HF that I find less that desirable.

1) The plaintive cry of the Tuner-Upper "OOOO-La OOOOh-La". Can't they use a carrier or dual tones like everyone else".This is usually carried out on top of an existing QSO. OOOh-La. This frequency in use? It isn't now


That is obnoxious. Are there really that many rigs out there that don't have CW or an AM carrier. Most of them have a tune button these days. Fortunately, some folks are using it, but then again, it takes some folks several minutes to tune too. I can't for the life of me figure out why.


2) The clearly excessive power used by some operators. If a good antenna and max legal power produce S9+10 from a particular area on most occasions, how come, typically in a contest, there are so many stations capable of S9+30? How many Kilowatts does it take? It is nice to stand out in a crowd, but perhaps it should be considered "A crowd of what?".


Contests are contests. Max power all the time. I never use more than 100 watts, which works for me. That is why we have the Q signal, QRP :) the operator on the other end can advise the station to decrease power.

[A71AN]

I agree with this one. And with today's FSK capable radios, you can even put the radio in RTTY mode and hit transmit and you send a tone.



I used to think many are using excessive power, but I use only 500-800 watts, (sometimes less) and I often get signal reports of 59+30. But yes, there are some, both in Europe and North America (and some other places) that use multiple kilowatts.



IT9RYH? We know about him. We don't like him either.



14.275


My friend, Ola is used by the Italian most of the time and some people from Spain, on top of your frequency, yes they do so!, the station do that I never give a chance to contact me when they come to call me.

I usually tune on the rtty mode and selecting a frequency away from any one else in order not to creat qrm.

Thank you my friend and wishing you all of the best

73

[N2RJ]

They only say "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLA" when they need to dim the lights to create the mood for DX. :)

[KC8NIY]

Hola......

[ko0m]

Hola......

Hola right back at you; 'been a member for 5 years and the first word posted is "Hello" :)

[n6vmo]

...or the continual 'ahh' after every third word to hold the VOX...the chain smokers moist throat clearing hack...

[ab9lz]

At least the considerate ones pick a nice quiet frequency like 7030 or 14060 to tune up, there is never anyone there.

73 m/4

[G0GQK]

This has been going on since the dawn of amateur radio, and it will still be happening in fifty years time. Perhaps there are people in other countries who also say OOOOOOOH LA..... OOOOOOH LA ! not only the Spanish

Be interesting to know what Japanese say, maybe, HONNNNN DA,
or Russians, LAAAAR DA

G0GQK

[ve2nsm]

well, I hear a lot of "HAYYYYYYLOW, HAYYYYYYYYYLOW, HAYLOW RAAAYDEEEEO" comming from the north at times :D

No not only on CB, on ham bands as well.

[KC2TAU]

Seriously though,even when people use a carrier to tune how hard is it to move over 3-5kc to a CLEAR FREQUENCY,TUNE THERE and THEN move back to the station you wish to work.

Little pisses me off more than hearing that damn ear piercing carrier tone for upwards of a minute. It shouldn't take you that long to tune!

[ve2nsm]

I often tune at zero beat, nobody even knows I'm there. Unless some guys are 100Hz off or have offset filters.

[KC2TAU]

I often tune at zero beat, nobody even knows I'm there. Unless some guys are 100Hz off or have offset filters.

That works too,should have included that in my post.

[KC2QXE]

I do not condone the interruption of an ongoing QSO at all, but you guys might be overlooking the fact that some people like to set the mic gain on their radio and that one of the best ways to do it would be to say hello, hola, or five.

Of course this only needs to be done every once in a blue moon, like when using a different mike or a new rig or something like that, but possible someone does it every time to try and get the last bit out of the raidio.

[N2RJ]

Seriously though,even when people use a carrier to tune how hard is it to move over 3-5kc to a CLEAR FREQUENCY

5 kc? On HF?

What exactly are you running for a receiver?

[wb3bel]

This idea of tuning zero beat and not causing interference is not accurate.

Even if you are truly transmitting at zero Hz relative to the receiving stations and how would you know what that is? (Do you have some ESP to know how their receiver is tuned?) You could have a stronger signal than the transmitting station at the other receiving sites and cause their receiver AGC to pump and cause interference.

Likewise, many stations tune up on CW and have no idea where their CW tone spacing is relative to the SSB carrier. On top of this, using SSB you don't really know what is zero offset, because you don't know what the operators voice pitch sounds like especially if he/she has been messing around with processing or equalization. The exception to this is some stations have such poor carrier suppression that you can actually hear the carrier and know the beat frequency. These are frequently the same guys who have squeaky high voices in real life but want to sound like some Bassy broadcaster they once heard. They have the radio controls all messed up... filtering set too wide or frequency shift and excess bass equalization killing the carrier suppression.

So I say don't tune on another station.

Ever.

As a matter of fact if you have to tune over the air at all it should be extremely rare. Just write the Load and Tune settings per band maybe CW/Phone on a card and stick it on your amplifier or rig and turn the knobs before you transmit. They will be close enough unless something major has changed like your antenna fell down.

When I hear all this tuning especially if it goes on forever and ever, I think to myself there goes another obsessive compulsive ham to Alzheimers. I think that it is sad, but you have to be patient and forgiving. One day it might be you struggling to remember how the radio works and what you should be doing.

[KA4DPO]

I use a dummy load whenever possible to tune up. If I am tuning a non resonant antenna I use very low power on an unoccupied frequency.

There are lots of LIDs who insist on tuning QRO on top of someone else. I never understood it and I never will.

[k0cmh]

"That is obnoxious. Are there really that many rigs out there that don't have CW or an AM carrier. Most of them have a tune button these days. Fortunately, some folks are using it, but then again, it takes some folks several minutes to tune too. I can't for the life of me figure out why. "

I have the answer: LID

I only run 100 watts max, but even so, when I tune up, I follow my "2 rule method".

1. Find a clear frequency that is close enough to the frequenc I want to use, so that the settings on the tuner will still give a decent SWR.

2. Tune up on the lowest power level that will activate the SWR meters. I have a meter that will tune on less than 5 watts.

Once in a little while I will have to "tweek" my tuner settings after I move the power up, but I can do that with just a 1/2 second blip of CW, and again, on a nearby clear freq.

My favorite gripe is the guy who is trying to bust a DX pileup by waiting 20 seconds after the DX station's CQ call and then repeats his call sign five times. This guarantees "agn" from the poor guy who did get acknowledged by the DX station.

[AG3Y]

I often hear a carrier dip and rise, dip and rise , a couple or maybe several times, as the operator tries to get the maximum power he can wring out of his station. The major indication that the guy is a "lid" is the fact that he does not seem to realize that I could copy his signal virtually 100% of the time, all the way from the least amount of power he is putting out, up to the most!

By the time HE is done "tuning", I could probably have worked 3 or 4 other stations, especially if it was in a contest situation !

73, Jim

[k4kyv]

This has been going on since the dawn of amateur radio, and it will still be happening in fifty years time. Perhaps there are people in other countries who also say OOOOOOOH LA..... OOOOOOH LA ! not only the Spanish

The past few years I have been hearing a new one on SSB: "Audio, audio, auuuuuuuudeeoh"