Video Guides
World Radio League

Join WRL For Free!

  • Log your ham radio contacts
  • Access to videos & guides
  • Free community access.
Learn More

Calling CQ

October 1, 2023 | Ham Radio Basics
In this guide:

Some people like to listen around for others to talk to. Others like to summon people into making contacts with them. If you’re in that second group, this lesson is for you. We’ll go through the basics of calling CQ, including:

  • When you would want to
  • Picking a frequency
  • What you might say
  • And some things to avoid.

Let’s go call for some contacts.


Calling CQ

Calling CQ is one of the most basic forms of looking for a contact in amateur radio. It involves finding an open frequency, making sure it isn’t in use, then transmitting “CQ” and waiting for someone to respond. 

Step 1: Find an open frequency with no one actively using it

Referring to the band plan, we decided that 28.600 MHz was going to be our best bet. It is best practice to leave 3 kHz on either side of your frequency to avoid unwanted interference.

Picking the right frequency is important, so having a band plan handy is convenient. Listening around and finding other signals is a quick way to see which bands are “open” for use. If you have internet access, you can  look at solar and propagation data. This will help make sure that you are not trying to communicate outside the MUF or below the LUF. That’s the maximum and lowest usable frequency respectively, which are determined by propagation conditions. There are many sites you can use to find this out, like Ham Waves which updates in real time. 

Step 2: Check if the frequency is in use.

You don’t want to interrupt an ongoing contact! Keying up and say, “This is [Call Sign]. Is this frequency in use?” can save you from interrupting a distant contact you might not be able to hear. This is crucial to ensure that you are not transmitting over anyone else. Listen for a few seconds and if someone comes back, move on down the band.

Step 3:  Call CQ! 

Calling CQ can be as basic or as personal as you want. We recommend thinking about how you want to call CQ before calling it. Generally, it’s acceptable to just call CQ a couple times, give your callsign, then say CQ a couple more times. Something like, “CQ CQ, CQ 10 Meters, this is Alpha Alpha One Romeo Charley calling CQ and standing by for a call.” 

You’ll want to call for about 15 seconds, then listen for 15 seconds. The reason for this is because you want to give stations scanning through the bands time to find and home in on your signal.

Just like we mentioned when answering calls, it is best practice to transmit your callsign using the phonetic alphabet. Using phonetics makes it much easier for a receiving station to pick up every piece of your callsign. For instance, if they are not receiving you very clearly, it can be hard to make out individual letters. You want them to get your whole call correctly, because that’s how you get credit for your contact!


Terms

We covered a couple of ways to call CQ. Let’s throw in how to use the term QRZ. Which means “Who’s calling me?” You’re generally going to use this when you have multiple stations answering your CQ.  

Let’s say I’m in a park calling CQ POTA. I got lucky and both KN4NEH and KFØDHD answered me at the same time. I have a “pile-up” which just means several stations calling at once. I can only work one at a time, and I pick KF0DHD because he’s a little louder, or someone I know, or I want a Ø call in my log. It doesn’t matter why. 

When I finish that contact I am likely to say, “73. AA1RC QRZ.” I’m now signaling to anyone listening that I have finished that contact and I’m ready for whoever wants to call. KN4NEH would hear that and hopefully call me again.   

Of course, there is nothing wrong with also saying, “73, and now KN4NEH” or “73.. Now the station with KN…” to keep things moving too.

Congratulations! If you have done this you have managed your first “pile up.” If you are on the chasing side of the pileup it’s perfectly fine to jump in when you hear QRZ, just like when you hear CQ.  


Recap

Just like there are introverts and extraverts in the world, there are people who just answer CQ’s. There are also people who love to call CQ and we benefit from having both types in the hobby.

When you are ready to call, pick a frequency in your band plan. When using sideband, leave at least 3 kilohertz between you and other active stations. That will limit them from interfering with you or you getting into them.   Give a check by calling “Is this frequency in use” and your call just to make sure you’re not getting into someone else. 

When calling CQ, put together your own style of calling, just make sure that includes the term CQ and your call sign.  

Call CQ for about 15 seconds then stop and listen. You can do 15 seconds on and 15 seconds off as a rule of thumb. Important here is to listen for more than 2 or 3 seconds in between your CQ calls to give the remote station a chance to get ready and respond.  

If you want to target who responds to you, use extra info in your CQ. Those are things like CQ DX or CQ QRP. You can customize this as well. For instance if you are trying to get Worked All States you might call “CQ Montana” to try and find hams there.

When they answer with their call sign, go ahead and make the contact.  

If you only hear a partial call, it’s ok to use that to prompt them to try again. Or maybe just say QRZ to say, “who’s calling?”

If you get multiple stations calling, manage your pile-up by using QRZ to break up your contacts. 

Next up, we’ll get into details on using your log to get credit for all of this.  


Additional Help and Discussion!

Need some additional help or want to discuss with other students? 

Join the HF Operations channel at the World Radio League for help, support, and discussion!

Click Here To Join the HF Operations Community Discussion

World Radio League

Join WRL For Free!

  • Log your ham radio contacts
  • Access to videos & guides
  • Free community access.
Learn More