Very disappointing

There was a post to a CW reflector that I belong to that I can sympathize with. In essence, the author stated that he was running a frequency last night as one of the NAQCC Anniversary stations.  A mini contest/sprint came along and he was run off the frequency that he had been occupying.

His complaint was that it appeared to him, at least, that the offending station hadn't bothered to listen adequately for activity on the frequency. Apparently, there was not much of a wait time after a "QRL?" if indeed there was a "QRL?" at all.

This is one of my pet peeves.  There are so many operators that will just jump on a frequency without listening AND without bothering to ask if the frequency is in use. VERY poor operating etiquette.

What's even more disturbing is that a lot of people who are responding to his post are dismissive, as his output power was QRP. - 5 Watts

THAT SHOULDN'T MATTER!

Whether a frequency is occupied by a QRPer or not is not the issue! The issue is that one operator jumped onto an occupied frequency (seemingly) without bothering to adequately listen. Period. End of story.

Now, I'm fully aware that QRPers are often not heard all that well. That's understandable. Many is the time I've been knocked off frequency by a QRO station. If the station who knocked me off frequency "QRLed" a time or two AND gave adequate time to listen - I have no beef with that. That person did their due diligence and I cannot fault them - he/she couldn't hear me, they truly believed the frequency was clear. I get that - that's the way the cookie crumbles sometime.

But for someone to not listen beforehand and transmit blindly - or to send a "QRL?" and listen for only two or three seconds before starting to transmit is inexcusable in my book.  That so many ops of this somewhat prestigious group are so dismissive of this is disappointing to say the least. Smacks of snobbery, arrogance and entitlement.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!