Advice for ZL7T callers

What we’ll be doing to help

Listen listen listen!  If you hear our pileup or see us spotted on the DXcluster, please don’t jump straight in.  You will not be able to work us if you can’t hear us, so first find our transmission frequency and set up your transceiver and antenna properly. 

We will be efficient, fair and reasonable.  We know lots of you will be calling us and we will do our level best to work you all as effectively as possible.  We will try to adopt a consistent rhythm and sensible speed for the conditions although each operator will inevitably be slightly different.  We are all experienced ops who enjoy DXing and contesting, though, so

Configure your rig correctly.  Use the appropriate filter settings, RF gain or attenuation and so forth to have the best possible chance of completing a QSO.  You might like to lock your receive VFO or pop it into a memory once it is set correctly, though you may need to make minor adjustments later.  Turn your beam if appropriate and if necessary check the long path (our great circle map might help).

We will be using top-of-the-line equipment, decent antennas and amplifiers from an ideal location with excellent take-off, all designed to ensure that we put out the best possible signal on all bands and have the ears to match.  Please join us in the DXers’ prayer for good propagation.

Spend a moment listening to us in order to pick up our pattern of operation.  Are we working all comers or are we calling specific call areas/continents, working by numbers, or whatever?  Are we working snappy callers who only call once, or taking the time for long-winded callers?

If the pileup gets too unruly, we may occasionally start working by numbers.  We promise not to spend too long on any number and will cycle through the complete sequence in about 10 to 20 minutes.  We may start and end at any number, not necessarily 1!

Be sure to check our callsign.  DXcluster spots from over-excited DXers often list broken (incorrect) calls.  Do not call until your are certain who you are calling and make sure you log us correctly.  You would not want all this hard work to go to waste, would you?!

We will send our own call frequently, usually during every QSO but at least once every few minutes.  If you are still not certain when we contact you, just ask.

Choose the best time to call us.  Be aware of propagation.  Check the solar figures and propagation predictions (more advice further below).  If conditions are poor to your part of the world, please hold on until they improve.  Meanwhile, why not look for us on another band or mode?  Or just tune around because rare DX stations often come up to work DXpeditions and may look around the bands while they are on.

If propagation opens up for DX QSOs, we may start calling specific areas or continents but only for a while, we promise.  We are conscious of the short greyline openings to Europe and Africa, and will be looking for long path as well as short path openings when the time is right.  If we work some juicy DX in a run of ordinary QSOs, we may put the pileup on hold and call for more DX to take advantage of the opportunity.  Be patient with us: we like working DX too!

Find our listening frequencies by listening to our instructions (e.g. “up five to ten”) and tuning around the pileup to pick out people we are working (the “5NN” or “five-nine” reports from callers are often a giveaway).  Set your transmit VFO near but not on the exact same frequency, please.  Moving as little as 100Hz up or down will help us resolve your signal from all the other zero-beat callers.  If the pileup is massive, you stand a much better chance of getting through if you hunt for a clearer transmit frequency within the range we are using, but be careful not to transmit on top of another QSO.  Respect the rights of other users of the band who may not be in the pileup - remember, listen, listen, listen!

We may patrol systematically through the receive range when things are quiet but will move at random in the range when the heat is on.  We will also use narrow filters.  However, we will try to restrict the bandwidth consumed by the pileup by not moving too far up the band, in other words we will stick to a restricted range of receive frequencies (e.g. “five to ten up”), looking for callers who are clear enough to copy and polite.  We will studiously ignore the alligators, callers who interrupt QSOs or call blindly as they are certainly rude and are probably not hearing us well enough to make a QSO efficiently. 

Double check your TX frequency while you transmit to make sure you are actually operating split.  Accidentally transmitting on “our” frequency is a no-no, creates QRM, interrupts our rhythm and raises everyone’s blood pressure.  Also, please try to contain your enthusiasm: do not shout and overdrive your rig as that will make your signal difficult or impossible to copy and will create QRM for everyone.  Keep checking your ALC and compression meters and reset the mic gain where necessary!

We will almost always operating “split”, in other words listening a few kHz away from where we are transmitting so everyone can still hear us no matter how many callers are calling.  We will occasionally tell you exactly where to transmit by saying something specific like “listening up five” or “listening two-fifty“ but most of the time we will just say “up” or “down” (“dn” on CW) as a clue to where you should tune your TX.

PS  We sometimes make mistakes too and shift the wrong VFO - sorry, we’re only human.

Wait for the right moment to transmit.  Please do not “tail-end” other QSOs or call continuously, but wait for your cue which is usually when we say “UP”.  [Hot tip: it often helps to wait just a second or two longer if we are tuning around the pileup. Don’t be too hasty to call at exactly the same instant as everyone else!]

By maintaining a consistent rhythm, we hope to avoid encouraging other callers to call while a QSO is still in progress.  We will simply ignore tail-enders and, if they are really rude, we may blacklist blind callers, at least for a while.

When you call, please give your complete callsign just once or at most twice, then listen for a moment and, if we have not come back to someone, call again in the same way.  Everyone should be listening far more than they transmit.

We will also be listening more than we transmit.  We will use our filters etc. to the best effect and will make a special effort to pick out weak callers, whether DX or QRPers (ideally both!). 

Listen carefully to what we are sending.  Always send your full call. If we send “X?” and your call does not contain an X, then just stand by for a moment: we are not talking to you.  If we send “W3X?” we are probably not calling K5Xsomething, and certainly not UA9ABC.  If you keep on transmitting regardless, you will only prolong the agony for everyone and you may be blacklisted.  Be nice people.  We all want to play.

We may repeat just a few characters of a call if we cannot resolve the complete call.  This means we are listening to someone specific and will persist until we get the complete call.  If we made a genuine mistake and nobody returns to our first or second offer, we will say something like “No copy, QRZ” or “NIL” on CW but please be patient until that point.

If you are uncertain that we completed a QSO, please call again straight away.  If you can’t get through, please check the online log when available.  Please avoid unnecessary duplicate QSOs on the same band and mode but we encourage you to work us on all bands and modes.

If we hear someone we have just worked immediately calling again, we will repeat their call and say something like “QSL” or “You’re in the log” to confirm and complete the QSO.  If we made a mistake in the log, we will correct it and confirm on air.  We may just ignore callers making duplicate calls on different occasions.

If you are not in the South Pacific, please take a short break on the hour. At the very least, turn off your amplifier and turn down the wick.  You are welcome to sign /QRP if your license allows but only if you are running 5 watts or less!  Also, please remind us (briefly!) of openings to DX areas we are not currently working during this slot: we won’t work you immediately but will turn the beams (where applicable) and look for your area when we resume normal working.

On the hour every hour we plan to listen out specifically for South Pacific callers (VK, ZL and other Pacific islanders) and QRPers from anywhere in the world.  We promise to spend no more than five or ten minutes at this, usually much less.

Please do not call blindly or out of turn.  Do not become “pileup police”, shouting on our transmit frequency. Most of all, whatever happens, always keep your cool.  If you lose your temper and start disrupting the pileup or chastising other callers, you will only inflame things and slow down our rate.  If a local ham is accidentally transmitting on our frequency, it’s best to just ignore them but if you must tell them, please turn off your amplifier first.  If it all gets too much for you, please take a break to cool off.  Go make a cup of tea or take a walk.  We will most likely still be there when you come back, refreshed and ready to play.

We will keep our cool too!  For example, if we get a partial callsign or suspect we might have made an error, we will persist until we are confident to complete and log the QSO.  We will always be as clear as possible in what we are doing (e.g. we may send “KN KN KN” or “ONLY!” to indicate that other callers apart from the person we are working should stand by - this usually means two or more callers are doubling).  We will of course make every effort to confirm callsigns, though we may reconfirm only the corrected suffix or prefix if need be.  If we send “QRZ” or “AGN”, please repeat your call - it’s that simple.

Special advice for digital modes (RTTY & PSK)
in addition to that above

Lock your RX frequency on us and turn off all automatic tuning (e.g. AFC in MMTTY).  Manually select your TX frequency, lock it or pop it in the memory and for sure don’t touch that VFO if we call you!  Please keep to a sensible range but look for a quiet spot away from our TX frequency (up to 1 kHz on PSK, probably more on RTTY) and stay put for a while.  If we seem to drift off frequency, use your RIT to keep us in tune rather than moving the VFO.

The worst thing is not knowing who got called.  We will repeat your call at least twice, usually three times or more.  We will never operate simplex and will avoid listening too close to our own TX frequency.  We will probably turn off all automatic tuning and will certainly lock our TX frequency to avoid drifting up the band.  We will use suitable filters to pick out individual callers, and will tune within a limited range to avoid spreading the pileup too far.

Do not overdrive your rig.  Apart from perhaps overheating and damaging it, your signal will probably become unreadable and create QRM for others.  This is especially important if you are using AFSK with tones generated by a PC audio card.  If you have a spare receiver, listen to your own data transmissions to check the levels.  If not, find a local ham who is willing to help you conduct some tests.  If you have trouble contacting reasonably strong stations normally, and especially if you receive reports indicating poor quality signals, check the settings again.

We will look out especially for well modulated signals, even the weak ones, and will make sure our own signal is clean.