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Originally developed to speed up Morse Code contacts Radio Amateurs use Q codes to help,
particularly when conditions are bad, or if they don’t both speak the same language. QSO is a
contact - QSL contact confirmed – QRM interference to signal – QRZ who is calling. CQ is sent
when you want
anyone
to reply to you rather than a particular station – it means
seeking you.
Signal reports are given as 1 to 5 for readability (5 best) and 1 to 9 for signal strength. (9 best).
The number 256 means M3UAY was W1AWs 256th contact during this contest.
Is that a radio they’re using?
It doesn’t look like any radio
I’ve ever seen.
We hold
contests
to see
how
far
and
how often
we can
make a
QSO
– that’s a two
way contact. But mainly we
just enjoy chatting and making
new friends over the air.
That’s a radio
all right. We
call it a
BASE
STATION
transceiver -
which stands
for
trans
mitter and re
ceiver
.
Amateur
Radio
is
a
fun
hobby but you don’t need to
have an expensive rig with
lots of features like that one
to still have a great time
talking to some other Radio
Amateur in a country 6000
miles away with nothing but
air between the two of you.
Matty is working to get as
many contacts as possible
and Sharon is entering call
signs into a computer for
future verification. Contests
can get very intense. Some
people don’t like the way
they can take the whole
band over for several hours.
Often we exchange
QSL
cards
by mail or by the Internet to
acknowledge the contact.
…Whisky 1… albbbaa … weeee
… ahead ... Mike three … niff ..
… ccchhhh …Whisky 1 …
That doesn’t sound like
anything to me …
You soon get to know what
to expect and listen carefully
and put all the bits together.
W1AW
go ahead
Mike 3 Uniform Alpha
Yankee 5 and 9, 256 QSL?
Whisky 1 station go
ahead please.
… … Mike 3 Uniform
Alpha Yankee this is…
skee 1 Alpha Whisky over.