SSB/CW Contesting - operating hints from Chris ZL1CT/GM3WOJ    June 2005

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These operating hints are written for SSB contesting, but everything applies equally to CW contesting. In these examples below you are operating  GM7V

Part 1 - Handling a ‘Pile-up’ of stations calling you

If this is your first experience of handling a pile-up, don’t panic – remember that YOU are in control of things, and can say anything that you think will help complete the QSO quickly and efficiently. SPEED is the most important thing in any contest – whatever you do, do it QUICKLY then move quickly on to the next QSO. Don’t worry if you made a hash of the last QSO – just think briefly about it and learn from your mistake - don't let one bad QSO spoil your 'rhythm'. It’s worth remembering that about 80% of what we say into a microphone is un-necessary information. Efficiently working a steady pile-up of stations will help your overall score and is great fun !

• Check the contest rules to make sure you send the correct exchange e.g. in CQ WW SSB it is 5914, in IARU it is 5927, in CQ WPX SSB it is 59+serial no., etc...
• Do not send unusual RS values like ‘46’, ‘53’ –  send ‘59’ for every QSO, even if signals are very weak. You will see the advantages of everyone sending ‘59’ when you struggle to copy a weak station sending you something unusual like ‘38’
• Use common phonetics - Golf Mike Seven Victor is best – not Guatemala Mexicana September Venezuela ! Sounding enthusiastic and efficient helps to attract callers.
• DON’T WASTE TIME – don’t repeat the report that the other station sends you back to them - this is a common fault with newer operators - they are mentally giving themselves time to catch up with what's happening - if you are not 100% sure about any part of their callsign or contest exchange, just ask for a repeat.
• Some time-wasting phrases to be avoided :  ‘Standing-by for a call’, ‘Thanks for the QSO’, ‘Good luck in the contest’
• The single word ‘Thanks’ is an elegant way to end a QSO – this one word conveys to the other operator that (a) you have received all their information correctly and (b) you appreciate the QSO. The single word also implies to (most) others listening that you are now waiting for other stations to call. If things are not too busy, just say ‘Thanks – Golf Mike Seven Victor – QRZ' or similar.
• If conditions are good, make short CQ calls, with only 2-3 seconds between them  on HF - on LF it is ESSENTIAL to leave longer gaps between CQs because weaker stations WILL be calling amid the QRN, etc  – but keep the frequency busy or you will get hassled….  Announce your callsign regularly when working the pile-up.
• Logging - if you log a callsign wrongly, you will lose credit for that QSO and possibly other QSOs before/after. You are better not to work a station at all rather than 'work' them and log their details wrongly. Keep asking for repeats and it you are still not sure, tell them to call later and go quickly onto the next QSO. (Obviously if the station is a rare multiplier, persevere for longer)
• If your software shows the calling station to be a 'Dupe' (i.e. they are already in your log on that band) ALWAYS WORK THE STATION AGAIN, giving them a new serial number or whatever - never argue with them, quote your log time or QSO number, or any other time-wasting things. There may be some reason why they have not logged the first QSO, and YOU will lose that previous QSO credit. It is much more efficient to just work everyone who calls you without questioning why they might be calling for a second or third time.

KEY POINT – if you only hear part of a callsign in the pile-up, reply with the part of the callsign that you heard and their contest exchange IMMEDIATELY – 9 times out of 10 they will reply with their full callsign and your report – this is a crucial time-saving technique.

Part 2 – Calling a station who is running a ‘pile-up’ of stations

Call once – just ‘Golf Mike Seven Victor’ is all you need to say – when you go back to receive they will either reply to you or be replying to someone else – if they don’t reply to anyone in a few seconds, send your callsign once more, quickly.

Never call with just two letters of your callsign - always quickly give your FULL callsign when calling. The practice of using 2 letters is a disastrous time-wasting idea promoted by those sad individuals who join 'lists' or 'nets' to work DX !

Do not give the callsign of the station you are calling - this annoys them and wastes time. The only circumstances where you would consider doing this is where there are 2 pile-ups on the same frequency (which happens surprisingly often on HF in a major contest) and you need to make sure you are working the correct station.

If necessary, vary the phonetics to help overcome QRM or language difficulties - some stations whose first language is not English may find Germany Mexico Seven Victoria a helpful alternative.

Please read carefully the 2 examples of contest exchanges below, which are designed to show how differently an experienced SSB operator handles a pile-up :-

Scenario 1 – signals strong – whole callsign received first time …..

Scenario 2 – signals weaker or QRM – only part of a callsign received first time…

Below is a reprint of part of an article from a series I wrote for the GMDX Digest (see http://www.qsl.net/gm3woj/index.html for the whole series) :-

Nine key ideas for working pile-ups :-

1.  Keep control of the pile-ups at all times.  This is easier if your signal is loud, so pay attention to hardware and antennas.  On the bands we often hear an inexperienced operator in a rare country being overwhelmed by the pile-up and going QRT or changing bands - with experience (or advice) this would not happen.   It must be said, however, that contest pile-ups are much easier to control than DXpedition pile-ups, even for an experienced operator. Timing of transmissions is a key factor in pile-up control - keep transmitting regularly and never allow stations to call more than twice before you next transmit.

2.  Announce your callsign regularly - in contests the population on the bands is changing more rapidly than normal - stations are tuning around and need to know who you are quickly to decide whether they have worked you or not.  Often stations call you without knowing your callsign (!) so make sure that they will log it correctly.  Incorrect DX Cluster spots are fairly common in major contests, so it benefits everyone if you give your callsign regularly. How often 'regularly' is depends on a number of factors which you will find with experience - after every QSO may not be necessary under some circumstances, but many good operators do this - after every second QSO is really the minimum.

3.  Make sure that you give everyone a chance to work you - for example, 'stop' a JA pile-up every few minutes and make a selective call - any Pacific please, any Zone 24 please, etc ? (Japan is in the Pacific of course!)   This is a very effective technique, and surprisingly often results in a rare multiplier being worked.   Spend a minute or two thinking about what it would be like to be a YJ or ZK3 station listening to a GM station running a pile-up - what would make you give the GM station more than 1 or 2 calls ?

4.  ALWAYS reply to one specific station and give them a report immediately - no dithering about and constantly asking for repeats - contesters are in a hurry.  Usually you need to have copied at least 2 letters of the callsign before replying, and there may be more than 1 station with these same 2 letters in the callsign.  Very often you might only copy the last letter of one callsign - you can still say "the station ending in Bravo you're 5914" - this usually works but can waste time.

5.  Ask stations to give their full callsigns when calling - unfortunately this only works for a few minutes (or less) after you make the request, then it's back to old (bad) habits - however if you reply to full callsigns, the calling stations might get the idea !  As long as you are working stations quickly then it doesn't really matter how they are calling you, but full callsigns are ideal. One common problem is that if you respond to a callsign having heard only one or two letters, the station assumes that you have their full callsign and does not give it - this is a common time-waster - you have to quickly say 'Your full callsign?' or similar.

6.  Don't hesitate to break off from working a pile-up and spend a few minutes searching for multipliers or working DX Cluster spots which are multipliers - this is difficult to do if there are dozens of stations calling you, but is essential - you can say 'I'll be back in a minute or two' but in the world of contesting the probability of the frequency remaining clear while you are away is zero !  (A voice-keyer is useful for keeping the frequency occupied, and if you are only away for a few seconds the pile-up will still be calling you)  (I am not advocating transmitting on 2 bands simultaneously!)

7.  Don't hesitate to ask for a repeat of the callsign or report if you are not 100% sure that you have it all correct. Pronunciation of phonetics can be a problem, and stations often repeat the same (unintelligible) phonetics when asked for a repeat.  Persevere with this until you can LOG THE QSO ACCURATELY.

8.  Try to build up a 'rhythm' when working stations - if a friend calls to say hello, don't allow them to break this rhythm, just say 'Hi - QRZ' - they will understand.  To avoid fatigue and boredom, however, vary the way in which you work stations (as long as you don't waste time)  It helps to 'speed up' every now and again, for no apparent reason other than to vary things !   It is very important to let the other station know that you have all the information and that the QSO is over - get into the habit of saying 'Thanks' (or just giving your callsign, or 'QRZ') - some regular indicator to those listening that they are invited to call.

9.  Watch the QSO rate - set yourself a realistic target for that band/time of day e.g. 150 QSOs per hour, and if the ratemeter (built into the software) drops significantly below this target, think about changing band, beam heading, tactics etc. Don't persevere with a slow or weak pile-up when your overall score will suffer. If all else fails, work Europeans !  

Some advanced hints :-

If you want to improve your pile-up handling skills in the longer term, try memorising one or more other callsigns from the pile-up, as well as the station you reply to - top SSB operators can easily work 3 stations in a row (if there are enough stations calling and waiting) without having to ask for more calls.  Your target is 457 stations in a 1-hour period = 7.6 stations per minute = 1 QSO every 7.9 seconds for 60 minutes - achieved by Jeff Steinman N5TJ operating P40L in the 1993 CQ WW SSB Contest - they were the first P4 station to realise that 15m was open to the U.S.A. He had several minutes during the hour when he worked 12 stations in 1 minute in the DXCluster-driven pile-up - amazing !!  

Interestingly, N5TJ often does not give the other station's callsign phonetically - he will say GM7V instead of Golf Mike Seven Victor - this saves a lot of time if you think about it - I find this difficult but not impossible in practice, because you are trying to break the habit of a lifetime !

See you in the pile-ups !!

73    Chris     ZL1CT

Please visit    http://www.qsl.net/gm3woj/index.html