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The purpose of this page is to explain how the 2m. EME signal report works and how to properly fill an EME QSL card. Too often I receive QSL cards from EME newcomers with wrong modes and reports, what make those QSL not valid for award crediting purposes.
First of all, let's concentrate on some basic concepts of the most common mistake, the signal report...
The signal report in 2m. EME is a single letter O and nothing else than a single letter O. This letter is often printed on QSL cards between quotation marks (like "O") in order to clearly indicate that it's a letter O and not a zero. The reason of using this letter as a signal report comes from the early CW times and it's meaning is simply "I have received you at a readable level".
This report is often sent in CW in groups
of 3 characters OOO in order to make it easier to be
received. WSJT has incorporated this feature in its JT65
modes and so you see OOO in message number 2, but the
report IS NOT OOO, it still is a
single O repeated 3 times.
You should never write OOO on the QSL card. Doing so
would be the same than writing a 595959 for an SSB QSO.
The RO message (JT65 message number 3)
means "ROGER I have received your report, and
your report is O". So, RO is NOT a
report, but a letter R for "ROGER"
followed by the letter O (the report).
Newcomers tend to write RO as the signal report, but the
fact is that you should never write RO on the QSL card.
Doing so would be the same than writing the text "ROGER
59" for an SSB QSO report.
The RRR message (JT65 message number 4) means "ROGER I have received your RO message". Again, RRR is NOT a report but just a confirmation of having received the RO of the other station.
WSJT's JT65 modes provide and indication of the relative signal strength in dB (-10 dB, -20 dB, etc.). Although this is a very useful information you MUST NOT use it to fill the report box of the QSL card. It's good to add this information as a comment, but it's NOT the report.
In summary, the QSL card must must indicate the true sent report, and according to current standard EME procedures for two meter band the only possible report is a SINGLE LETTER O. (With the exception of QSO between large stations where the RST report could have been used for CW and SSB modes).
Another common mistake in digital communications is the mode. The mode indicated on the QSL should be JT65A, JT65B or JT65C, according to the mode used durig the QSO. Writing "JT65" (without the sub-mode letter) could also be acceptable, but "WSJT" definitively is not. WSJT is the name of a program, not a mode.
Finally, as far as the date and time is concerned, it should always be UTC and indicate the start and end time of the QSO. If indication of both times is not possible (not supported by the logbook program, etc.) the time written on the QSL should always be the time the QSO was completed (not the time it has started).
This is an example of how a 2m. EME QSL card should be properly filled:
EA6VQ confirming EME QSO:
TO RADIO
DATE
UTC
Report
MHz
2Way
XX1XX
29/July/2006
15:45 -
16:06"O"
144
JT65B
Best signal -23 dB