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Vintage Amateur and Military Radio Amateur/military receivers and transmitters, morse, and any other related vintage comms equipment. |
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29th May 2023, 6:04 pm | #1 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Licensed Listener syndrome.
A while back I acquired from a fellow forum-member a Ten-Tec Corsair-II which I've finally got going.
Tuning around on 80M, all seemed quiet as the grave. But then I put out a few CQ calls and within a few minutes got three replies, all of whom said " I thought the band was dead". If everyone is listening but nobody is calling, well, of course the band will appear dead. Same goes for 3.615MHz AM, and 5MHz; I can often listen for hours on 3.615 AM or 5.395MHz USB and hear nothing, but put out a call and you get a couple of responses. So - don't complain that the bands are dead - put out a call!!
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I'm the Operator of my Pocket Calculator. -Kraftwerk. |
29th May 2023, 7:16 pm | #2 |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 1,654
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
Speaking purely for myself, I find that I don't have a strong desire to speak to someone/anyone on air most of the time. But if someone actually pops up and I hear them, and I can respond, then I may well do so. Just trying to be helpful, so to speak....
Its the same with cakes. Most of the time I have no desire to eat cake. However if my wife makes some cakes, and says, "Please try these cakes and tell me what you think", then I may well oblige! Richard |
29th May 2023, 7:23 pm | #3 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,289
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
I also tend to just listen and only reply if no one else does, just to give the caller an idea of how far his signal's getting.
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Graham. Forum Moderator Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron. |
31st May 2023, 8:53 am | #4 |
Heptode
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Hythe, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 632
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
I agree with G6Tanuki there seems to be less people calling and more just listening, which gives the appearance of dead bands. It begs the question how many are listening but never respond to a CQ call? I can't see the point in being licenced if we aren't going to call CQ and respond to others calling CQ.
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31st May 2023, 7:48 pm | #5 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cottingham, East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 5,763
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
It brings to mind Walter De La Mere's poem - 'The Listener'
It eloquently sums up the 'Called CQ, got no answer' phenomenon: POEM – THE LISTENER: Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit door; And his horse in the silence champed the grasses Of the forest’s ferny floor: And a bird flew up out of the turret, Above the Traveller’s head: And he smote upon the door again a second time; ‘Is there anybody there?’ he said. But no one descended to the Traveller; No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes, Where he stood perplexed and still. But only a host of phantom listeners That dwelt in the lone house then Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight To that voice from the world of men: Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair, That goes down to the empty hall, Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Traveller’s call. And he felt in his heart their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry, While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf, ’Neath the starred and leafy sky; For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head:— ‘Tell them I came, and no one answered, That I kept my word,’ he said. Never the least stir made the listeners, Though every word he spake Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house From the one man left awake: Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone. Walter de La Mare 1873–1956
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David. BVWS Member. G-QRP Club member 1339. |
1st Jun 2023, 9:15 am | #6 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK.
Posts: 3,687
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
I used to shout 'CQ, CQ' sometimes 'til I was blue in the face. No answer. Then a couple of minutes later, someone would pipe up asking for a specific callsign. Even if that callsign didn't respond, the calling party still wouldn't respond to my CQ! It wasn't just me, either. I heard the same thing happening when listening around.
When I was at college at Bispham in the '80s, I stayed with relations. They would laugh at me as I'd get a telephone call off a nearby amateur to see if I was going to be on-air anytime soon.
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Regds, Russell W. B. G4YLI. |
1st Jun 2023, 10:45 am | #7 |
Banned
Join Date: Jan 2023
Location: Neath, Port Talbot, Wales, UK.
Posts: 286
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
Sounds a bit like one of Roger Water's epics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNLhxKpfCnA "Is there anybody out there?" |
1st Jun 2023, 11:08 am | #8 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK.
Posts: 2,150
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
That can be the same on the CB Radio channels.
You can sit there listening to channel 19 and nothing, then you put a call out and it comes alive with people.
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Oh I've had that for years dear!! |
1st Jun 2023, 8:24 pm | #9 | |
Tetrode
Join Date: May 2020
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 82
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
Quote:
radio on in the background, and if you hear someone you wantto speak to or someone who is gettign no response ... |
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1st Jun 2023, 10:21 pm | #10 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 255
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
I'm afraid I'm guilty of this too. Whenever I'm in the workshop with my head in some project spread all over the bench the radios are always on but I'm ony listening. If someone calls CQ or asks for a report and nobody comes back then I'll answer, but what usually happens is I get caught up in conversation and that's the end of the project for the day. I do have days when I just operate, but they are far fewer than the days when I'm working on something
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2nd Jun 2023, 2:25 pm | #11 |
Heptode
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Great Barr, Sandwell, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 589
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
I’m the same. I’m listening on various freqs when I’m in the shack working on something but only reply to unanswered CQ calls. Which often result in an enjoyable contact. It was the other way around when I started in the hobby, warming up the soldering iron was the last resort! The name of this forum probably explains the reason…
Martin G4NCE (ex-G8XRY) |
4th Jun 2023, 7:41 am | #12 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 998
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
Im.glad youve been using it! Beautiful radios.
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David, G4YVM. |
4th Jun 2023, 12:13 pm | #13 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 998
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
Ive noticed an odd thing. If i call on the (say) 40m FISTS freq of 7028 i will often find it dead. A few kc up on 7030 , the qrp COA, a similar cq will usually get a reply. I have concluded that fists, of whichni am a proud and longstanding member, will operate for ooeratings sake and thus lose the impetus easily whereas qrp-ers, im also a long long standing member of gqrpc, operate in order to use the gear or to see what they can achieve and thus have far more purpose in their operating and so do so more earnestly. Im not the only one to observe this.
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David, G4YVM. |
7th Jun 2023, 7:14 pm | #14 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Re: Licensed Listener syndrome.
Human behaviour can be odd.
A while back I had been listening on 80 using my [crystal-controlled, 4-channel] AEL3030 for several hours, hearing nothing - so I chose a frequency and put out a couple of 'is this frequency in use?' calls. Getting no reply, I called CQ a few times, only to get someone come back telling me "This frequency is in use, it's the XYZ Net frequency". I continued to listen. Silence. I checked on several SDRs. Silence. The silence continued for the next three hours. Googling showed that the XYZ Net was a twice-a-week-for-an-hour thing. And the day on which I was calling was not one of those on which the net was scheduled... Now, if the responder had actually come back to my CQ and talked to me, I _might_ just have been minded to join their net.
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I'm the Operator of my Pocket Calculator. -Kraftwerk. |