> You might choose not to answer, but the station signing /QRP > is breaking no laws.
Dead right Tom. I will work (almost) anyone who calls me, and do my level best to log exactly what they send me as their callsign (plus or minus sending errors, receiving errors and typoos of course - we are only human). I don't have the time or inclination to check out every foreign administration's callsign rules before logging someone: I figure it is THEIR responsibility, not mine, to use a legally valid callsign with permission to operate on whatever band, mode and time they are on. I do however like to double check when someone sends me a weird call, just in case they or I busted it. The calls used by foreign ops in BY still puzzle me because they use two full callsigns separated by a slash. But, the point made by our Swedish friend tells me that *some* hams would deliberately avoid answering me if I ever signed ZL2iFB/QRP - something I don't do, by the way, but the point is generally valid. Personally, I *like* to know when the guy on the far end is running QRP or a wet string antenna or whatever. It tells me my receiving setup is working nicely, and usually means he is a homebrewer with a great big smile having worked ZL with his flea-power. I *do* try to give priority to QRPers and other weak callers in pileups, and sometimes deliberately ignore the really loud callers, especially those who insist on calling all over QSOs in progress and expect to shout their way into my log. QRPers generally aren't that rude and frankly, out of necessity, they are often better operators. QRPers happily persist until I have their complete call accurately logged, whereas some others either ignore or don't notice me sending their calls incorrectly, or give up after just one or two repeats when I am clearly struggling to make them out. My ears prick up if I catch /QRP in a pileup and I'll go the extra mile to complete the QSO and make someone's day. I appreciate that some don't share my appreciation of QRP, nor should they. I'm not trying to force my will on anyone. This hobby is broad enough for us all. So, if you do want to tell me you are QRP, by all means add /QRP to your call or tell me what you're running. For me, that's cool and you'll probably get a "72" from me at the end. 73 Gary ZL2iFB PS Should we be sending "74" to those alligator callers, I wonder ...? ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
