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Your first QSO,
before you press PTT
The first over is often the hardest: finger on the button and the mind goes blank. Here you can rehearse it off‑air. The station on the other side speaks aloud; you reply into the mic, and the simulator checks whether the callsign, report, QTH and 73 were given. Nothing goes on the air, so you can make as many mistakes as you like.
Contact simulator
Pick a scenario, enter your callsign and switch the radio on. The station will either start transmitting by itself or wait for your call, depending on the scenario.
Hint: how to say it
| Date | UTC | Station | MHz | Mode | RST | Score |
|---|
The log stays only in this browser. This is an exercise, so don’t enter these contacts in your real log.
The callsigns, names and QTHs used in the simulator are made up; any resemblance to a real callsign is coincidental.
How it works
Your browser does two things here: reads the station’s transmissions aloud and turns your speech into text. The rest — checking whether your transmission contained what it should — is done by the simulator itself.
Hold PTT or the spacebar
Just like a real radio: you only speak with the button held down. A quick tap works as a toggle — you transmit until you tap the button again. On a phone that’s more convenient.
Wait half a second
The radio and repeater need a moment to open up. If you start speaking as you press, you’ll lose the first syllable — very often the start of the callsign.
Spell your callsign as you prefer
The simulator understands a callsign given as letters (“ess cue five…”), with the ICAO alphabet (“Sierra Quebec five…”) or the Polish one (“Stefan Quebec five…”). If speech recognition mangles one letter, you’ll get a warning rather than an error.
Each transmission gets a score
Under your transmission you’ll see a list: what was there and what was missing. If you skip something mandatory, the station will react like on the air and ask you to repeat.
Speech recognition works in Chrome and Edge, on a computer and on Android. In Safari it depends on the OS version, and in Firefox you type your transmissions. Speech‑to‑text is provided by the browser vendor’s service, for example Google in Chrome. This site records and sends nothing, and the practice log stays only in your browser.
Anatomy of a QSO
QSOs vary, but the order is almost always the same. If you know it, you don’t have to wonder what to say next.
Scroll the diagram sideways →
Callsign at the start and at the end
The ITU Radio Regulations require an amateur station to give its callsign at short intervals (provision 25.9). In practice: at the beginning and end of a QSO, and in a longer chat every few overs.
The report has two digits
On voice the report is readability from 1 to 5 and strength from 1 to 9. “Five and nine” means: readable and strong. Where these numbers come from and why S‑meters tend to be optimistic, I explain in the S‑meter article.
Pass the mic
Saying “over” or the other station’s callsign at the end of your over tells them: your turn now. Without it both stations wait, and the repeater falls into awkward silence.
One over through a repeater. After you release PTT the repeater transmits its own noise for a moment (“tail”), and many repeaters end it with a short tone. Only then does the other station speak, and it’s good practice to leave another second of silence for anyone who wants to join in.
Phrases that are worth keeping in mind
You don’t need to cram them. After a few QSOs you’ll pick them up by ear, and the simulator is a good place to speed that up.
Scroll the table sideways →
| Phrase | What it means | When |
|---|---|---|
| SQ5ABC monitoring · SQ5ABC listening | I’m at the radio and happy to chat | calling via a repeater |
| CQ, CQ, this is SQ5ABC | general call: anyone may answer | simplex, HF, contests |
| SP5ZWK, this is SQ5ABC | first the called station’s callsign, then yours | reply and subsequent overs |
| Report five and nine | readability 5, strength 9 | first exchange |
| QTH Warsaw | I’m operating from Warsaw | first exchange |
| Over | I’m done, over to you | end of over |
| QSY to 145.350 | moving to another frequency | leaving the calling frequency 145.500 |
| QRZ? | who’s calling me? | when the callsign was unclear |
| QSL | I confirm, received | contests, quick acknowledgements |
| 73 | greetings; just “73”, without the “s” at the end | sign‑off |
| I’m closing · QRT | I’m closing down, clearing the frequency | right at the end |
The full list of Q codes is in the Q‑code cheat sheet, and abbreviations like 73, 88 and DX are in the ham abbreviations.
Five mistakes in a first QSO
Everyone makes them and everyone can hear them. The good news: in the simulator they show up straight away, not during your first real QSO.
Talking as you press PTT
The first syllable gets lost, often along with the first letter of your callsign. Press, silently count “one”, then speak.
Callsign only at the start
After three overs no one remembers who’s talking. Your callsign at the end of your over also signals you’re passing the mic.
An over that’s too long
Repeaters have a time‑out timer and will chop your over mid‑sentence if you exceed it. Shorter is better, especially when others are waiting.
No pause between overs
After the repeater tail, wait a moment before you press PTT. In that pause someone may call with something urgent or simply join the conversation.
Making up your own phonetics
Made‑up words like “S as in snake” sound friendly but confuse people. That’s what the phonetic alphabet is for, ICAO or the Polish one, so nobody has to guess.
Ready for a real QSO?
Program Wanda into your radio and give your first “listening” call. If you don’t have a licence yet, start with the practice exam.