For the Nevada QSO Party, we are using Field Day mode. They have numbered the counties and use ARRL Sections instead of states in the exchange. We also change FD to NV in the CQ message. So, a QSO goes kind of like this:

CQ NV W6US DN10

W6US WA7SKG 1A OR

WA7SKG W6US R 14A NV

W6US WA7SKG RR73

WA7SKG W6US 73


The 'A' represents signal strength (599). For out of Nevada, everyone uses 1A and their state. In Nevada, 14 represents Pershing County.

The issue is, for a QSO to work, do both stations have to be in FD mode for the auto sequence to work? I call CQ with:

CQ NV WA7SKG CN84

Expecting a reply like:

WA7SKG W6US 14A NV

and I reply with

W6US WA7SKG R 1A OR

The problem is when the other station is not in FD mode. It goes like this:

CQ NV WA7SKG CN84
WA7SKG N7XYZ -04
N7XYZ WA7SKG 1A OR
WA7SKG N7XYZ -04
N7XYZ WA7SKG 1A OR
WA7SKG N7XYZ -04
N7XYZ WA7SKG 1A OR
WA7SKG N7XYZ -04
N7XYZ WA7SKG 1A OR

and on and on until everyone times out. It is as if he does not recognize the
N7XYZ WA7SKG 1A OR
as a valid response and does not move on.
Sometimes after two or three iterations, it does move on, but I wonder if that is through operator intervention.

Is this a bug or the nature of the beast? Otherwise, the FD mode is working fine for the QSO Party.


73,
Michael WA7SKG