How 2m. EME signal reporting works &
how to properly fill a 2m. EME QSL card
The purpose of this page is to explain how the
2m. EME signal report works and how to properly fill an EME QSL
card. Too often I receive QSL cards from EME newcomers with wrong
modes and reports, what make those QSL not valid for award
crediting purposes.
First of all, let's concentrate on some basic concepts
of the most common mistake, the signal report...
The signal report in 2m. EME is a
single letter O and nothing else than a
single letter O. This letter is often printed on
QSL cards between quotation marks (like "O")
in order to clearly indicate that it's a letter O and not
a zero. The reason of using this letter as a signal
report comes from the early CW times and it's meaning is
simply "I have received you at a readable
level".
This report is often sent in CW in groups
of 3 characters OOO in order to make it easier to be
received. WSJT has incorporated this feature in its JT65
modes and so you see OOO in message number 2, but the
report IS NOT OOO, it still is a
single O repeated 3 times.
You should never write OOO on the QSL card. Doing so
would be the same than writing a 595959 for an SSB QSO.
The RO message (JT65 message number 3)
means "ROGER I have received your report, and
your report is O". So, RO is NOT a
report, but a letter R for "ROGER"
followed by the letter O (the report).
Newcomers tend to write RO as the signal report, but the
fact is that you should never write RO on the QSL card.
Doing so would be the same than writing the text "ROGER
59" for an SSB QSO report.
The RRR message (JT65 message number 4)
means "ROGER I have received your RO
message". Again, RRR is NOT a report
but just a confirmation of having received the RO of the
other station.
WSJT's JT65 modes provide and indication
of the relative signal strength in dB (-10 dB, -20 dB,
etc.). Although this is a very useful information you MUST
NOT use it to fill the report box of the QSL
card. It's good to add this information as a comment, but it's NOT the report.
In summary, the QSL card must must
indicate the true sent report, and according to current
standard EME procedures for two meter band the only
possible report is a SINGLE LETTER O. (With the
exception of QSO between large stations where the RST report
could have been used for CW and SSB modes).
Another common mistake in digital communications
is the mode. The mode indicated on the QSL should be JT65A, JT65B
or JT65C, according to the mode used durig the QSO. Writing
"JT65" (without the sub-mode letter) could also be
acceptable, but "WSJT" definitively is not. WSJT is the
name of a program, not a mode.
Finally, as far as the date and time is
concerned, it should always be UTC and indicate the start and
end time of the QSO. If indication of both times is not possible
(not supported by the logbook program, etc.) the time written on
the QSL should always be the time the QSO was completed (not the
time it has started).
This is an example of how a 2m. EME QSL card
should be properly filled:
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