The Art of Ragchewing
John D. Tate
KX5JT
The A.M.
mode really lends itself well to the ragchew. It was almost as if A.M.
was made for ragchewing. Under difficult conditions, A.M. can be a lesson
in frustration, with fading signals, high noise floors and crowded
conditions. However, A.M. is a real pleasure to operate during optimum
times and conditions. During such times, pleasant audio fidelity combined
with armchair copy really invokes a warm nostalgic feeling.
From the
Urban Dictionary dot Com….
Ragchew
“A long QSO between two amateur radio operators. This is generally what amateur
radio operators are doing on the radio when they're not contesting, testing
equipment, bouncing signals off the moon or meteor showers, providing
communications in national emergencies, sending still or moving pictures or
text back and forth, connecting to packet radio networks, and partaking in
nets.”
This indeed
is what we focus on with the A.M. mode. I personally find it
sometimes daunting to keep ragchews interesting. This is why I am writing
this article. A well executed ragchew is certainly a fine art. I
often find myself in a QSO with many of the same people on the same
frequencies. This is a great way to forge some lifelong
friendships. However, keeping the QSO interesting and fresh is sometimes
difficult. It is real easy to repeat the same old QSO.
I am fairly
new to the A.M. community. My previous phone experiences were from VHF
FM, HF and VHF SSB contacts. They mostly tended to be short exchanges of
signal reports, weather conditions and station equipment. Rarely did
these contacts stray from these old standard exchanges. Honestly, they
were becoming boring. On some nets, we would mention of things we did
during the day or week or report information on an upcoming hamfest. At least that was better than 59 reports.
A.M. lends
itself more to the ragchew instead of the brief exchanges. This is not to
say there are not ragchews in the other modes, certainly there are, but it
really doesn’t seem to be the modus operandi. In the case of A.M.
however, it is. Often the dilemma for the new and even the veteran A.M.
operator is how to keep the ragchews fresh. I think back to when I was a
short wave listener in the mid 1980’s. A bulky, ugly rack mounted, open
back boat anchor receiver was bestowed upon me by my electronics instructor at
the tech school I was attending. It was taking up far too much space in
the storage closet so he offered it to me. I was instructed on the basics
of erecting a longwire outside with the help of some trees.
That boat
anchor receiver was my introduction to amateur radio. I spent some time
fascinated with the foreign broadcast stations and some of the warbling,
whirling and mysterious sounds of utility, RTTY and other strange
signals. The novelty of these wore off soon. One early morning well
before the sunrise, I tuned into a classic AM roundtable ragchew on 3.885
Mc. The warm A.M. audio captured my interest immediately. The old
timers were talking about these transmitters they had built from scratch or
were building, restoring, modifying and moreover, USING them. I was
hearing those rigs! As an electronics student, I was fascinated. It
was interesting to listen to these tales of old transmitters brought back to
life or new transmitters being built using long ago proven designs.
Sometimes there was a story of some misadventure that took place back between
the wars in the service. Stories and fish tales were exchanged. My
point is that this was great stuff to listen too. I would laugh along
with the them and find myself wanting to wake up early
the next morning to listen to more. This was good radio!
If the
conversation is interesting, fresh and inviting, people enjoy listening,
whether they are simply monitoring or actively participating. There seems
to be a certain art involved. I aspire to be a ragchew artist! I
have a long way to go! Here I will put some of my thoughts to print.
The Introduction
I think
it’s important to thank the other operators for the opportunity to be in the
QSO to begin with. This is something I forget to do quite often. If you call CQ and get a reply, thank the
other operator for coming back to your CQ call. If you are responding to
a CQ, likewise, thank the operator for calling. If you break into an
existing QSO and are allowed a place in the rotation, thank the other operators
for allowing you into the rotation. It really is a nice feeling to hear a
station thanking you and that feeling is reciprocal. It begins a QSO in a
positive manner. Likewise, when signing out of a QSO, thank the operators
for the QSO again. This really sets a positive tone for amateur radio in
general. Courtesy and politeness radiate excellence. Excellence is
a good aspiration.
Following the
thanksgiving, some form of introduction should be given in each QSO
entry. Many times the QSO will be with the same regular operators.
Of course they already know who you are, probably what you are running and
other basics. However, many operators have several rigs, so tell
them what you are running. Give your
name and location on your first round as well. Remember, there are shortwave
listeners too! Although I do not always
do it, I think it is a good idea to give a brief rundown of the equipment being
used. Many of us have several different rigs and even have several
operating areas labeled, “studio a” or “studio b” etc. The truth be told,
a lot of us have less than perfect memories, so a brief rundown never
hurts. Many amateurs will be monitoring the popular AM window frequencies
while working on projects. Always assume there are others
monitoring. Unless I have entered an ongoing roundtable, I also like to
give a brief weather report and I like to hear brief weather reports.
Many of the stations I contact are off to my west and their present weather
will be my future weather. Of course my present weather conditions will
be moving to the east. These preliminary items do not take long and
sometimes may open up other topics of interest. It doesn’t take long to
run through. However, if you are entering an ongoing QSO or roundtable,
the introduction should be greatly abbreviated as to not throw off the flow of
the topic. Simply put your call, name and location as your introduction
and get on to comments about the topic to keep that flowing. You can get
a feel for the appropriateness of the other introductory information later.
Roundtables vs. One-on-One QSO
I often
hear stations enter roundtables haphazardly. Inevitably the station will
announce something like “Thanks for letting me in, but I don’t know what the
topic is or who all is in here….” This is chaos. It is
sloppy. If you want to add yourself into a roundtable, you should really
be prepared to add something valuable to the QSO. LISTEN for a round or
three! Construct a list of the stations and the rotation order.
Take notes. Get a feel for the topics. Moreover, if there are
already four or more stations, consider sitting out until the numbers
dwindle. This brings me to another wonderful lesson. LISTEN more
than you transmit. You do not have to participate in every QSO. We
become very enthusiastic about our radio operations but sitting out and just
listening go a very long way for understanding which things work well and which
does not. After listening to the roundtable for a bit, then decide
whether or not to enter. Have any of the stations suggested taking on
breakers? Are they pausing between transmissions as if to invite
others? Another good practice is to gauge the length of each transmission
according to the number of stations in the round table. The more
participants, the shorter each transmission should be so as to keep the
dynamics of the QSO flowing smoothly.
Many times
you will come across a one-on-one QSO instead of a roundtable. Before
deciding to join, listen for a while. Many operators enjoy the one-on-one
QSO and prefer to keep it that way. If you break in, realize that you are
changing this QSO into a roundtable. Are they pausing between transmissions?
I’ve noticed some stations will not put a pause at all between the
transmissions. This is indicating they wish to continue without
breakers. There is nothing wrong with this! I have quite a few
times heard a breaker enter into a QSO and throw the dynamic of the QSO off. The flow of the conversation and the trains
of thought totally collapse. I’m sure I’ve been the guilty party in such
QSOs. It is quite easy to do even if unintentional. If a QSO is
proceeding well between 2 operators, sometimes the best thing to do is to let
it continue and just enjoy copying for a while. Before joining,
consider if you have some value to add. If you do enter, thank the
operators for allowing you in. If the QSO topic was flowing nicely, then
abbreviate your introduction and keep the flow moving.
Personality
Our hobby
and especially A.M. operators have some real PERSONALITIES! I have heard
stories about people like W8VYZ, Ashtabula Bill or W5PYT, Ozona Bob and WA1HLR,
the Timtron. I still hear the Timtron out there and have worked Ashtabula
Bill once or twice. These are folks with legendary personalities.
They are quirky and fun! They make for GREAT radio! We should allow
our personality to shine when on the air. Follow these great examples but
with your own personality. On the other end of the spectrum, we
sometimes run into operators who have a very monotone drone voice that nearly
puts us to sleep. Some of these guys love to do the old buzzard
transmission. Take notice of which end of the spectrum you are on and
adjust as necessary!
Ragchewing Topics
Sometimes,
we seem to run out of ideas and interesting things to say. Even though we
really want to keep ‘playing radio’ our well seems to run dry. This
happens to all of us, some more than others. We either need to bow out
and let the QSO dissolve or inject some new topic that keeps the interest
going. That is easier said than done! This is where the art form of
the ragchew takes place! The ragchew artist knows how to keep an
interesting flow. The ragchew artist is an adept conversationalist.
The ragchew artist is good at coaxing interesting information from others, a
linguistic alchemist that can turn a dull leaden ragchew into shiny gold!
Where do we turn?
As amateur
radio operators and especially A.M. operators, we love the technical side of
radio. The majority of us have ongoing projects. This is naturally
a topic that we discuss on the air. We are drawn to it. It is the
basis of a great many ragchews. I love
to just listen when there is an ongoing ragchew about a homebrew plate
modulated transmitter or some minor explosion due to the miscalculation of
component ratings. I don’t think I have to expound on this
area. It’s a natural wellspring for ragchew topics.
I also
enjoy hearing about other hobbies. If you are restoring that ’67 Shelby
Mustang, surely you love to share your progress with us! That’s good
stuff! You own some thoroughbred race horses? How much money does
it take to feed them? You get the idea. If something interests you
and puts a smile on your face, it’s a safe bet that others feel the same or at
least share some of the enthusiasm. Tell us about that telescope!
Geaux Saints! What is it like to scuba dive off of the
Careers can
be fascinating too. I have heard quite a few awesome stories from hams
that work as broadcast engineers. You taught English in
Current events may be a mixed bag. Certainly the things going on in this world range from phenomenally awesome to downright scary. Disasters, celebrity deaths, Tiger Woods affairs, the so called Global Warming phenomena can be fodder for discussions. However, when discussing current events, it’s easy to venture into politics and religion. Personally, I am not opposed to discussing politics and religion but when doing so one must proceed with caution. These are very important subjects and some discussion on the air will always be present. If the topics do venture into religion or politics, many operators will choose to abstain from comments. Respect their decision. One has to have certain sensitivity if participating in such discussions because these topics set off differing opines with much emotion. It takes a certain empathy and delicate touch to handle. It can certainly be dangerous territory. I tend to be VERY cautious when the subject matter bends towards religion or politics. It is a great discipline to know when to bow out or better yet, how to gracefully change the subject.
Get out of the radio room sometimes! Go out and mingle with people. Well rounded people (do not mistake this for large people!) get out and do various things. Fill your life up with different interesting activities. Sports, outdoors activities like fishing, hunting and such always seems to generate interesting stories. Consider volunteering if you have time. Here in Louisiana, we love our festivals.
Quick break
in type QSOs can be a real gas! These can be quite fun and although I do
not seem to hear a lot of these going on in the deep south, occasionally I have
been involved in them. They are light and levity seems to be theme.
Sometimes we do have to let our hair down!
Signing out
Finally,
always thank the other operators for a great QSO before signing out! Send
your best regards to them and to any shortwave listeners that may be tuned
in.
Keeping our
ragchews fresh and interesting is an art. It is not always easy. It
takes practice and some experience. Some of us seem naturally inclined
and others, me included, need to work at it.
In time it becomes easier. Before
long it is no longer work.
Keep those
filaments lit!
Best
Regards!
John D.
Tate KX5JT