FM procedures: throwing out your sign

Okay, so you tune in to a repeater and nobody is talking. You have three choices: listen to that repeater, switch to another repeater, or throw out your sign on the repeater you are tuned in to. Only the third choice involves transmitting. 

The important thing here is that nobody is talking on the repeater. Nobody has control. You don't need to wait for someone to cede you control of the frequency. Maybe listen for a few seconds to be sure that you aren't interrupting, and then you can throw out your sign. 

Throwing out your sign says who you are and that you're willing to talk. If you're not willing to talk, then don't throw out your sign. There's no reason to let anyone know that you're just listening and unwilling to talk to anyone. If you want to talk someone specifically, then that's a different procedure that I'll get to in another post. 

There are a lot of different ways to throw out your sign, and none of them are wrong as long as they identify who you are and that you're willing to talk. It's common to mention if you are mobile or portable, but you don't have to. Bear in mind that this effort is your "introduction" to anyone else that is listening, and that your goal is to convey the information that they will need to establish contact with you -- if they choose to. 

Throwing out your sign can be as simple as just saying your callsign, or more elaborate. Here are a few examples: 

• "This is KD0YRD, mobile and listening." 
• "KD0YRD monitoring" 
• "KD0 Tango Lima Sierra mobile and monitoring" 
• "KD0UIH on the four-five. Anyone out there?" 
• "KE0NA mobile and standing by"
• "Kilo Echo Zero November Alpha monitoring" 
• "KD0UIH portable and listening. KD0UIH"

Okay, as you can see, the idea is to give your callsign in some way and let people know that you are available. Bear in mind that those other people probably aren't listening intently as you mention your callsign. It might take a second or two to grab their attention. This is why repeating your callsign at the end can be helpful, and why using phonetics ("Kilo Echo, etc.) is a good idea. Don't be surprised or offended if someone asks you to repeat your sign -- or only got a part of it. Work with them. Also keep in mind that people frequently are scanning several repeaters, and may have completely missed your callsign.

Personally, the method that I use (which doesn't make it superior in any way) is this: 
  "KD0TLS monitoring. Tango Lima Sierra" 
A lot of people completely miss the sign at the beginning, so adding phonetics at the end gives them something clear to grab a hold of. In the fourth example, the repeater frequency is mentioned ("the four-five" or .450). This is a nice touch for people scanning to let them know which machine you are on, or for those on a linked network. The longer that you take, the better the odds that people scanning will hear you. Still, you don't want to make the Gettysburg Address out of it. Here's an example of a thrown sign that's way too long:
  "This is KL0WN. Kilo Lima Zero Whiskey November mobile and monitoring on the three-seven-five. KL0WN in Annandale headed west. Anybody there? Kilo Lima Zero Whiskey November here and mobile". 

Throwing out your sign does not give you control of the repeater. Someone else can immediately throw out their sign, or call for someone else specifically. No one is required to respond to you in any way. You are merely announcing your presence. It is, of course, polite to "come back" when someone throws out their sign -- if only for the very reason that you would appreciate someone doing the same thing when you are the one throwing out your sign. Repeaters where people ignore thrown signs tend to be viewed as "dead", and fewer people congregate there. Remember that activity draws activity. 

Let's look at it from the other end. You are listening to a repeater, and someone throws out their sign. What do you do? You respond with their callsign and your own. 

Here's an example: 
"KD0YRD monitoring" 
" This is KE0NA mobile. I heard Yankee Romeo Delta. Come back with your sign, please." 

...or something like this: 
"This is KD0UIH mobile and listening" 
"KD0UIH, this is KD0TLS. The name here is Todd. Over to you, UIH" 

...or maybe this: 
"Kilo Echo Zero November Alpha mobile and standing by" 
"KE0NA from KD0YRD portable. Go ahead." 

Again, there's a lot of room here to improvise. You just have to meet the basic requirements of exchanging callsigns. 

Here's the important thing: by establishing contact, you are now in control of the repeater. You cede that control to the other person when you say things like "Go ahead", "over to you", or ask them to come back. You are now in a QSO (a conversation), and other people need the permission of one of the people involved to use the repeater. Until both of you "clear" (another post), people can't throw out their signs, make specific calls, or interject themselves into your conversation without permission. 

Let's make this painfully clear. If there is a conversation (QSO) in progress, you must wait until it's finished before you can use the repeater. This includes throwing out your sign.

There are ways to interrupt, but it's generally considered rude, and nobody is obligated to allow you to break in. If there's an emergency, that's a different story.  

In summary, you can throw out your sign on a repeater if there is no "traffic". You can respond to a thrown sign, and establish a QSO. You can listen without notifying anyone of your presence. You can throw out your sign as often as you like, if no one else has control of the repeater. 

One more thing: you don't need to inform anyone listening if you give up and are switching to another repeater or shutting down altogether when you are done throwing out your sign. If you are making a specific call, that's another matter.