A ham radio contact or QSO will often start off with a CQ or general call.Only when it is certain that the frequency is clear should any transmission be made. It may be that a ham radio station is in contact, and he is listening to someone who you cannot hear. Before making any transmission it is necessary to listen on what may appear to be a clear frequency to ensure that nobody else is using it.While some contacts may be longer than others and contain more information, the general plan below will cater for most contacts and give an idea of what a QSO may contain.
Ham radio QSO formatĬontacts / QSOs on the HF amateur radio bands can be split down into a number of transmissions or "overs". Whilst some will want to have long contacts and QSOs, it is important to know the basic elements or format of a contact first. Often technical discussions may be heard, or ham stations may be describing the part of the world where they live.
However, many ham radio operators like to talk about far more than is contained within the basic contact. This saves one radio ham speaking for ages while the other cannot understand. There are a number of reasons for this: they enable ham radio operators on the bands to make a good number of contacts within a certain time, and also for those ham radio operators who do not speak English as their first language it is relatively easy to have a contact using a minimum vocabulary. These QSOs consist of a set format and do not normally involve long conversations. Many of the contacts that take place on the HF ham radio bands are what are termed" rubber stamp" contacts. Indeed contacts themselves are often referred to as a QSO. These can be found on other pages in this section of the website.
Often a ham radio contact will utilise several abbreviations and codes. In fact these procedures are particularly useful when conditions are poor and signal strengths are low or there are high levels of interference. In this way it is possible to converse with other ham radio operators in the most efficient and effect manner. As a result, when starting out on the HF bands it helps to have an idea of the format for a contact and the procedures involved. Typical HF ham radio contact or QSO format An overview or summary of the format of typical contacts or QSOs made by ham radio operators on the amateur radio HF bands and allocations.Īmateur radio contacts can take a variety of forms on the HF ham radio bands.