AMATEUR RADIO IS A CONTACT SPORT!!

Number 1 is the proper use of the Phonetic Alphabet. There are many stations who use non-standard phonetic alphabet to get others to understand their callsign and be different. I have heard many dx stations ask for the standard phonetic alphabet. Being different does not necessarily stand out to foreign stations who may not understand the phrase we choose to get our call across. Bottom line is to use the standard phonetic alphabet everywhere but maybe your friends. Keeping in mind  the dx station normally are expecting the standard phonetics. This will help you get your callsign accross much easier under difficult and noisy conditions. Printable Phonetic Alphabet and RST System Chart.

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RST SYSTEM

The RST System is a series of numbers which represent the signal quality of the station your talking with. This stands for Readability, Signal Strength, and Tone. All three are used on cw and some digital modes. Only the first two are used for voice communications. 

When considering the RST you will give the other station , I take into consideration what my noise level is at the time. With a noise level showing say S7 or even S9, it is my opinion that a stations report cannot be a signal strength below the signal on our meter. Even if they are in the noise, and that level is say S7 the station strength has to be that high to hear them. Readability is another matter. In these conditions I let the station know the noise level is high and I copy S7 with QRN, or static.

READABILITY

1 - Unreadable

2 - Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable

3 - Readable with considerable difficulty

4 - Readable with practically no difficulty

5 - Perfectly readable

SIGNAL STRENGTH

1 - Faint signals, barely perceptible

2 - Very Weak Signals

3 - Weak Signals

4 - Fair Signals

5 - Fairly Good Signals

6 - Good Signals

7 - Moderately strong signals

8 - Strong Signals

9 - Extremely Strong Signals

TONE

1 - Sixty Cycle ac or less, very rough and broad

2 - Very rough ac , very harsh and broad

3 - Rough ac tone, rectified but not filtered

4 - Rough note, some trace of filtering

5 - Filtered rectified ac but strong ripple-modulated

6 - Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation

7 - Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation

8 -  Near perfect tone, slight trace of  modulation

9 - perfect tone, no  trace of  ripple or modulation of any kind

The links below contain information about different on air groups. Many have their own awards available, and can help you with worked all states and dxcc awards from the ARRL.

County Hunter Net a daily net on 14.336 where mobile hf stations are making counties across the United States available, many that have few if any active hams.

SMIRK - Six Meter International Klub is a membership available to operators who make contact with and collect the SMIRK number. To become a member, collect six (6) smirk numbers and send your application by mail or on the internet.

QCWA - Quarter Century Wireless Association is a club available to Amateurs who have held a license for 25 or more years.

GERATOL NET - A worked all states net in the Extra class portion of 75 meters. It has kept the Extra class WAS award available after it was dropped by the ARRL. A great resource for helping work all states on 75 meters.

YL System is a worked all states net that is held daily on 14.332 mhz. There is no requirement to participate in this net. Those who do join and receive a YL SSB number for your station can work other members for a lot of different awards.

3905 Century Club - A worked all states type net that operates on several bands starting in early evening. The net has a free QSL Bureau for those participating in the Century club nets.

OMISS Net is the OM International Sideband Society, a worked all states net. They have a qsl bureau for those making contacts on the daily nets. A great place to contact some hard to get states which check in from time to time.

Courtesy on the air is a quality you will find in a great operator. Being polite to other operators doesn't cost us anything.

Listen before you transmit on a frequency before transmitting, make sure you are not transmitting on another QSO

Are you hearing the DX station before giving out your call? Perhaps there are stations we think are the dx when we are not hearing the dx well enough to contact

When giving you call, give your complete call, listen to determin if the dx station is responding to yours or another stations call, Give you call again if you do not hear a reply and listen for the dx to reply. Remember we cannot make a dx contact  unless we listen and not constantly give our call over and over.

Do not rag chew with a dx station who is working a pileup. He is trying to allow as many stations as possible and doesn't care about our weather.

Listen to the dx making contacts with other stations to possibly get his qsl information and even name and location to save time so more can make a contact.