[Elecraft] Re Cans and KPH (was something else unrelated)

[Fred Jensen]

There was a typo in my KSM/KPH post:  My brain knew that they activate 
the station on Sunday, but my fingers ran amok and typed Saturday.

Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:

 > Fred wrote:
 > K6KPH DE <yourcall> QLB KSM 6474 QSA 5/KPH 426 QSA 4 K
 >
 > Fred, you are sounding like a Ham contester!!


I am a contester.  Not a good one, but I'm about to enter the JIDX a 
bit.  Lotsa QSL cards to follow in about a year and a half.

QSA is also the origin of the phrase, often heard on 75 in the evening 
from some of the older hams, "Roger Tom, you're Q5 tonight."

Officially, QLB means, "I have monitored <station> (on <xxxx> Kcs) and 
report as follows <brief report>."  Nearly all Q-signals are a 
question-answer pair.  QRX as a question means, "Will you call me 
again?"  As a statement it means, "I will call you again at <time[GMT]> 
on <xxxx> Kcs."  We hams have verb-ified, adjective-ified, and 
noun-ified many of them.  QRP as a question means, "Shall I decrease 
power."  As an answer, it means, "Decrease power."  However, we readily 
tell someone that "My KX1 is a QRP rig."  There is an amusing note for 
QRP (and QRO) that cautions "Refers to communications," as opposed, I 
guess, to the throttle on the airplane (I think I know the class of 
pilots who would need that guidance, but to name it would disclose an 
unfounded personal bias).  Strictly speaking, Q-signals have no place in 
radiotelephone transmissions.

Another commercial practice you can use to confuse and annoy people in 
the ham bands is the interrogatory prosign, INT (sent as one letter). 
Since the Morse question mark duplicates the prosign IMI (which is used 
a lot, especially if you're a member of SOC), you send di di dah dit dah 
prior to the Q-signal (or sentence) to make it a question.  You can get 
an exhaustive list of all Q-signals at 
<www.geocities.com/wa6tbh/qsigs.htm>.  Some are fairly quaint.

I'm about 140 km from KPH, and in the afternoon, it has a huge field 
strength here in the Sierra foothills.  However, the LF sensitivity of 
all my receivers with that coverage really sucks, the only untuned 
antenna I have is my flag pole, so KPH is only about S7 or so on the 
meters on 426 KCs.

Ron can probably hear KSM just fine on 6474 Kcs.

Fred K6DGW
Auburn CA CM98lw