GOOD AMATEUR RADIO PRACTICE FOR REPEATERS
1. Your call sign is your signature; you do not need to say “W9XYZ for I.D.” When you sign your call you have already identified.
2. A Ham doesn’t ask, “Does anyone have a copy on me?” He just announces that he or she is listening.
3. One speaks of “how quieting” a signal is-but not in terms of “pounds”
The signal strength measured by your S-meter is that of the repeater-
not the station calling.
4. “Q” signals work great on CW- but they aren’t generally used on phone. Some use “I am at my home QTH.” “I am at my home location” is fine. One does not use “I am at my home 20” or any other 10-codes.
5. A 1 X 1 call is the norm on repeaters- “KC9XYZ this is KC9ABC”,
Note that the called station’s call letters are given first. Long calls just aren’t needed.
6. Identification is necessary at the end of a series of transmissions or
every ten minutes during a communication. (FCC rule 97.119)
That’s all. Identifying too frequently wastes time and can get boring, but not identifying is illegal.
7. Since identification is always necessary, that means no KER-CHUNKING the repeater without identification.
8. The term “73” means “best regards..” It’s not used in the plural-e.g.
“73’s” because that would mean “best regardses.” It is not shortened
as some truckers used to do.
9. We are amateurs, but we do act professionally. There are a lot of folks listening out there, especially our served agencies. We gain their respect and interest in the hobby by proper etiquette in operation-especially on the repeater. Remember, for long conversations it may
be best to move to a simplex frequency.
For more information, contact the ARRL. Check-out the ARRL website : www.arrl.org 73, Dennis Rybicke, K9LGU-ARRL Section Traffic Manager-Wisconsin