There is nothing worse that being stuck for words when having a QSO. You can easily forget your own call sign when you start to operate so why not make up an Operator's Crib sheet for those early contact and then you will not only feel like a competent operator you will be one. In fact it you are reading this prior to your operating practicals why not draw one up ready for your practical.

Always give the callsign of the station your are working first and your station's callsign second eg G8STO this is G7BRC ( assuming you are working as G7BRC!!!)

Give your name !!!

"My name is ."

Then give the station's location

"The station is located in a field adjacent to the Bell Public house in Bredhurst Kent. This a regular location for the club to operate from and is used about 5 times per year. (Change to suite where you are)

The national grid reference is . (fill in the blanks)

and the locator is ."(fill in the blanks)

then say "I will give you your report in the next over"

At the end of an over "So back to you this is (and give our station's callsign and the word) OVER"

Second over

Give the callsign of the station your are working first and your station's callsign second

"Thank you for all the information" And make any comments on that which you have heard as the other station will like to know that you have been listening !!!.

Then say " Your report is . (5 9 or what ever you think is appropriate)

The go onto to tell the station about the BRATS club and how you came to be in amateur radio.

Tell the station that the BRATS also runs GB0BRC the club's special event callsign first used at the beginning of the year on the anniversary of the club's formation on what is called the birthday weekend in May and thereafter when required for a special event.

G0BRC/P The club's callsign when not at the Parkwood Community Centre, our main address, but is used for events when a special event call is not required.

Station equipment

"The station equipment that we are using is the club's HF Rig an Icom " (or what ever it is )

Power

"The rig has an Output of about 100 watts" (or what ever it is )

Antenna

"The antennas are Dipoles that cover all of our working frequencies. (or what ever they are )

We also have a VHF station which is quite modest having only a simple homebrew antenna "J" pole and 10 watts output."

After that you can tell them a little about yourself :-

Don't give your age !!!!!

If working HF then tell about the WX conditions (Weather conditions)

Then say "What is the weather like with you today ??"

At the end of an over "So back to you for your final - this is (and give our station's callsign and the word) OVER"

Third over

Give the callsign of the station your are working first and our station's callsign second

"Thank you for all the information" - answer any question if you can else say you do not know the answer to the question as this is one of you first QSO's!!!

At the end of a QSO say

"Thank you for the nice QSO, hope to meet you again best 73 "- give their callsign "from" (give our station's callsign and say no more).

If it is our frequency then say

"QRZ QRZ the frequency this is" - give our station's callsign make a note of any callsign that replies and then work that station

To recap:-

Always give

Give the callsign of the station your are working first and our station's callsign second

At the end of an over

"So back to you this is (and give our station's callsign and the word) OVER"

At the end of a QSO say

"Thank you for the QSO, hope to meet you again best 73 "- give their callsign "from" (give our station's callsign and say no more).