Some people look normal, but aren't.

12m was nicely open to various places this morning.  I was busy sending out a few CQs on FT8, noting that there was another GW station operating a little further down the waterfall.  His signal was about -8dB.

Then, all of a sudden, a superficially outstanding call from a XR station - Chile!  'That's odd!', I thought.  He would be to the back of my beam, at the wrong time of day.

Even more curiously, his signal strength was, you guessed it, also -8dB.  It was obvious this local station had sent a false callsign, for reasons that can only be described as idiotic.

Now, I haven't had much to say to this other Welsh operator over the many years I've known he's around.  Someone in the CDXC, a UK group, told me that "all the big contesters are active with us, except for..."  He implied this operator had difficulty getting on with others.

I had previously had a minor bad experience with this operator when I was trying to complete a difficult QSO with the Far East one day.  Instead of being patient and waiting for what was obviously going to be a successful 2-way contact within a few seconds, my compatriot, who spends very large amounts of money on installing large antennas, decided to simply take over the QSO and claim it for himself.

I'm afraid that people like my not-too-distant colleague don't impress me much.  They put their aggressive point scoring ahead of absolutely everything else, including their individual and country's reputation.

Even sadder is the realisation that this operator actually takes some considerable pleasure from showing off to others by interfering with their QSOs.  'I can do it, but you can't, ha ha ha', seems to be the message.

I simply take pleasure from making good DX contacts with modest equipment and low power.  No need for phallic substitutes here, thank you!

This is not a man with no life who shuts himself away and has lost contact with the real world.  He's obviously quite well-off, and travels a fair bit.  You get people like this - people who refuse to comply with courtesy, rules and conventions - in aviation, too.  Having had so much money that they don't ever have to listen to anyone else, they get in everybody's way, irritate people, and sometimes become dangerous to themselves and others.

So, if you hear someone struggling to make a QSO, don't just jump in and take over.  Be considerate and realise the other person would like to complete the contact and put it in the log.  You do yourself no favours through blatant and impolite butting-in.  And certainly not by transmitting a false callsign to make what you perceive to be fun of other operators.