[Elecraft] Q codes

[Fred Jensen]

QLF [not officially assigned] has been around a long time with several 
similar meanings.  A common [and fairly ancient] one is "Are you sending 
with your left foot?" and "Please attempt to send with your left foot."

I believe QSD, "Is my keying defective?" and "Your keying is defective", 
refers to the technical characteristics of keying such as contact 
bounce, missing dits, broken dahs, etc.

Purely out of nostalgia, I dabble in traffic handling via the Nor Cal 
Net.  I'm one of two N. NV stations so I mostly receive and deliver.  
One of the changes from the heyday of NTS is that many operators are 
hovering within microns over their paddle ready to pounce, resulting in 
a lot of doubles and even triples and general confusion.  I guess they 
just can't wait to send something.  They are often the same folks on 
bugs set way faster than they can actually send reliably.  That, coupled 
with the fact that everyone is exactly zero beat and our radios all 
sound alike these days can really screw up a net.

Someone posted the procedure for moving off the net QRG to receive or 
send, pointing out that it's the receiving station who is supposed to 
find the clear frequency.  Unfortunately, that convention seems to have 
died, these same operators, needing to be the first to send, nearly 
always are calling me well before I find a clear spot.  I believe they 
would be candidates for ZBM2.

73,
Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 6/12/2020 10:59 AM, Kevin McQuiggin wrote:
> QLF was a joke Q code meaning “Quality of your (CW) sounds like you are sending it with your left foot”, hence “QLF”.  From QST in the 1930s, I recall.
>
>> On Jun 12, 2020, at 10:41 AM, Fred Jensen <k6dgw at foothill.net> wrote:
>>
>> Good point Andy!  QLF seems to refer to sending ability.  ZBM2 refers to overall operating ability ... I think ... ACP's 126 and 131 leave a lot to the reader's imagination. Jack Phillips, MGY, might have used it on "Iceberg Night" had the Z's existed then when he was berating the operators on the Californian and a Navy vessel for poor operating procedure.
>>
>> 73,
>> Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
>> Sparks NV DM09dn
>> Washoe County
>>
>> On 6/11/2020 7:45 PM, Andy Durbin wrote:
>>> "ZBM2: "Place a competent operator on watch on this frequency."
>>>
>>> Is QLF the more sensitive equivalent??
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Andy, k3wyc
>>>