ERRARE HUMANUM EST
- To err is human -
continued...
THE DISCONTENTED
He can be found in the stands of all the sport stadiums. In amateur radio he has a fondness for criticizing DXpeditions.
He suffers omniscient kibitzer syndrome: he knows better than the player how the ball should have been passed and how the goal should have been kicked, better than the coach how the team should have been composed, and better than the zebra when a penalty should have been granted. But a run from one end of the field to the other would bring on convulsions.
From his comfortable chair the Discontented ham loudly declaims the DXpedition. He doesn't like the operators (they are lazy, deaf, incompetent); he doesn't like their organization (they didn't turn their antennas toward his QTH when he thinks the opening occurred); the DXpeditioners have materialistic preferences (they worked ten Japanese stations in a row, they requested, "North America only" - Aha, these QSO dealers!!! They want green stamps!!!); they didn't keep their word (starting later and departing earlier than announced).
No matter the DXpedition crew assembled and then dismantled 20 antennas in extremes of heat or cold; made tens of thousands of QSOs; slept fitfully in tents; and made their meals from canned goods: all that plus paying, handsomely, for the honour of satisfying the Discontented - this all doesn't matter.
If he missed the expedition his verdict is final and irrevocable: they are blunderers. An expedition was a success only if the Discontented got it in his log on nine bands and in all modes.
THE LID
The name given to the amateurs whose working methods leaves much to be desired.
Lids are very numerous and often originate from those amateurs who got their licenses without too much trouble, and who did not bother to go through a learning process before getting on the air.
The Lid never understands what is happening, tunes up interminably on a DX station's frequency, not because he wants to disturb anybody, but without first checking the frequency.
The Lid doesn't listen before calling CQ, and gives the impression he doesn't have a receiver because he doesn't hear "QSY" from the people he QRMs, nor hears the weak DX station on frequency. He calls the DX station on his transmitting frequency, despite the DX station stating he is listening up, because the Lid doesn't know what "up" means. The Lid calls the DX station when he comes back to someone else, or even while the DX station is transmitting.
If the DX station catches a suffix only and states he is only listening for that station you can be sure that some Lids will call, even though their call signs bear absolutely no resemblance to that suffix.
The Lid continues to call the DX station even when the DX station comes back to him, because he doesn't realize it. When he eventually understands he will ask the DX station to repeat his call sign several times. Then he wants all the other details, as he has not heard when the DX station repeated them periodically.
The European Lid answers "CQ DX" calls from other European stations, because he doesn't know what "DX" means. On CW the Lid sends much faster than he can read, causing the other station to send his name and QTH several times, because he refuses to request "QRS."
The Lid inadvertently works split, not to keep his frequency clear, but because he doesn't realise his clarifier has to be switched off.
The Lid will call you when you are calling in a pile-up, and worse still, will start the contact without waiting to see if you have come back to him, or will end it without knowing whether you have logged him or not. He confuses YO with YA and Bucharest with Budapest.
The Lid is able to send CQ 25 times and his call sign only once. The inventiveness of the Lid, in that he does everything upside down, is inconceivable and exhaustless.
Now, to end this enumeration, let's try to discern why there are so many Lids on the amateur bands - because we are pretty sure the majority of amateurs branded with "European behaviour" are not Revengers or the Aggressives, but Lids.
* * *
Is it human nature to make mistakes? Of course, especially when one is not prepared. It begs the question why the European novice does not learn about on-air procedures before using his new call sign.
After passing the examination he shouldn't be left to his own devices to find out about procedures on the air. He should be advised that he should initially listen for 90% of the time to avoid finding himself suddenly in the middle of crowded amateur bands, exposing himself to the risk, unintentionally, of the shame and reputation of a Lid.
It was different aforetime. Long before getting his transmitter license the amateur started by being a short wave listener. For many months he only listened to the contacts of other hams and undoubtedly he enjoyed it, since some amateurs, for some reason, remained SWLs. (Let's not forget those living under dictatorial regimes, who would like to become transmitters and aren't allowed to do it.)
Reception was the best school for learning our written and unwritten laws. Then came the day full of excitement for the first QSO made from the club station, under the instructor's attentive guidance, then other contacts, the first DX stations, the participation in contests. And, only when the young amateur accumulated some experience, and he built his own station started to work from home with his own call sign.
The Internet offers study and work tools to help get novices on the air while avoiding the epithet "lid." They should use them diligently - knowledge is not innate.
Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum
(To err is human, to persevere is devilish).
Francisc Grünberg, YO4PX
• This text was published in the Romanian magazine Radiocommunications and Amateur Radio and on the independent website www.radioamator.ro and in English in FOCUS, the quarterly magazine of the British-based "First Class CW Operators' Club".
Back to the start of this article
|
