LIDs - Amateur Radio Station VA7QI

Words About LIDs

Many new operators are perhaps unfamiliar with some of the old codes and abbreviations that was created in the early days of radio. Since CW was at that time the main mode, it was necessary to minimize the time to send information.

For instance, the term LID means a bad operator. Unfortunately, I see a lot of those on the HF bands - especially using FT8. Here are a few examples of bad habits of LIDs:

Creating QRM by calling when he/she is clearly not wanted. As an example, I often make directed calls, such as CQ EU and by golly, almost every day I get called by several US and JA stations. Normally, I will ignore such calls, but when the US or JA station is calling on my frequency, I am unable to hear the weak DX stations and will therefore get irate. I realize that many Americans are ignorant about the rest of the world, but frankly, I get tired of teaching Americans geography! The same goes for many JA-stations, BTW. The difference is that JA stations will usually stop creating QRM while some bone-headed Americans seem to think they have a RIGHT to be answered. Grow up and join the civilized world!
Calling a station or CQ on a frequency BEFORE checking that it is clear. It should be obvious, but this kind of rude behaviour is unwelcome. To be sure, we can all make a mistake, but by not correcting the mistake immediately, you are truly a LID. And yes, you can QSY to complete the QSO on another (clear) frequency.
"Stealing" the frequency of a station you have just worked. While nobody "owns" a frequency, it has for many decades been common courtesy to QSY after you have finished the QSO with the station that you called and especially so when that station has been using the frequency for a while.
Calling excessively. If I don't want to work you, it really does not help calling 10 times or more. See also above.
Finally, stations that are grossly over-driven to the point of creating splatter and/or HARMONICS. The latter show up as wide signal 2,3 and sometimes 4 times the audio frequency as shown above. When told (by me for instance) that your signal is bad, common courtesy dictates that you should stop transmitting and investigate. If you continue, you are creating yet more QRM on the limited spectrum we have available for FT8 and you are a LID.

I will not work LIDs!

So save your power by not being a LID. And please LOOK AT THE SPECTRUM DISPLAY BEFORE TRANSMITTING. It should be obvious that the frequency must be completely clear for AT LEAST two transmit cycles before you start transmitting.

You will find some callsigns mentioned in the the subsection Some LIDs.