It seems clear that a distinction need be drawn between those who do the
above well and those who don't.
Having done it, I think, well, I guarantee beyond a shadow of a doubt that
it increases rate, but only to the extent that you continue doing it well.
If you do it too often in a row, then the number of people in the pileup who
don't know your call increases with every time you don't. That will slow you
down.
There's no magic rule, IMHO, as to how often is not often enough: I think
the experienced operator can judge the size of the pileup and gets a sense
of which callers have been there and which are just itchin' to call again.
And, if in responding to, say, K5TR, I hear part of what I think is a
familiar call, I don't necessarily want to spend added time sending my call
again when what I want is to shut up as quickly as possible and let that
caller try again.
If you do CQ enough, and I'll admit that my perception is that most of these
complaints are from ops who primarily S&P, you do realize that there's a
rhythym that you can detect to a pileup, one that you can capitalize on to
improve your rate and the S&P rate of those around you. But it's not
something you can take for granted. You do still have to send your call
frequently enough that it doesn't get out of control.
I'm not overly concerned if a newcomer to a pileup has to wait a call or two
to get my call: my main goal at that point is to work through the existing
pileup as quickly as I can. If the other station needs me badly enough,
he'll come back. I don't need to cater to every single caller in a pileup to
work it well and work it quickly and still maximize totals.
If you get flustered at the first missed callsign, speak to your doctor.
There are pharmaceuticals that can help.
Within REASON, you do not have to send your call every time to maximize your
rate.
73, kelly
ve4xt
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