FM procedures: specific calls and clearing

Here's the situation: you tune in to a repeater (or simplex channel) and nobody is using it. You want to call for someone that you spoke to last week. You don't want to talk to just anyone; you want to make a specific call.

Making a specific call establishes control over the frequency. That's why you have to "clear" when you are done, and that's why you have to wait until the frequency is clear.

A specific call requires that you give your sign and (obviously) the sign of the person that you are calling. Again, there's room to improvise, but you must adhere to to those boundaries.

Here are a few examples:
"N0YNT from KD0UIH. Are you there, Matt?"
"This is KD0KJI calling KD0TLS. Kilo Delta Zero Kilo Juliet India calling KD0TLS. Standing by."
"KD0WIL from KD0YRD. KD0WIL from KD0YRD."
"KE Zero November Echo looking for KD0ZWN. Zulu Whiskey November, do you copy?

If you aren't familiar to the person that you are calling, it's a good idea to make your callsign as clear as possible. Either use phonetics or repeat your sign.

Technically, you can call for as long as you like. But let's be real: if they don't respond after three tries, they just aren't there. Make sure that you give the other person at least five seconds between calls. You can give up after one try, as long as you "clear". Either way, at some point you will have to give up your control of the repeater. Why be a jerk about it? You can always call later.

Suppose that you succeed. It would go like this:

"KD0YRD from KD0UIH"
"KD0YRD here. Go ahead, KD0UIH"

Okay! Now you've got a QSO (a contact or conversation). You have control of the repeater, and you cede that control to the other person at the end of each transmission. It stays that way until both of you clear. Notice that the person responding stated the callsign of the operator that was calling. That makes it absolutely clear who is involved in this contact. If you aren't involved in that contact, you now have to wait until both operators clear.

Suppose that you fail. Then you have to clear:

"KD0YRD from KD0UIH"
   -- nothing--
" Negative contact. This is KD0UIH clear and monitoring"

Instead of "Negative contact", you can say a variety of things. "No contact", "Guess not", "Nothing heard" are popular options. It really doesn't matter if you say "I give up", or something along those lines. The important thing is that you "clear". You can clear and go somewhere else (QSY), clear and shut down, clear and stand by... whatever.

Clearing basically says that you give up control of the frequency. You can stay and throw out your sign after you clear, or you can stay and listen, or you can go. Clearing also lets anyone listening know that you are available to be called. You aren't required to give your status after clearing, though it's a courtesy. In the example above, KD0UIH was "clear and monitoring", meaning that they are still listening. Again, there are numerous variations of this "status" procedure, and the idea is to inform anyone listening if you are sticking around or not. Someone may wish to tell you that the person you are calling is on another repeater, for example. You don't need to give your agenda for the day, or announce when you will be back on the air. If "status" confuses you, then simply don't use it. Just clear and leave it at that..

Failure to clear causes a lot of uncertainty. Other people don't know if you are finished or not, making it a good way to irritate people. You don't need to clear if you throw out your sign and no one responds, because you never had control of the frequency to begin with. You don't clear after every transmission, either -- only when the conversation is finished.

When you "close" (end a contact), both people need to clear. In the case of a failed call, there is no second person. Closing is a topic for another post. 

At this point, I've covered how to throw out your sign, make a call for another operator, and how to clear. 

EDIT: The exchanges in this series are completely fictional. The call signs were chosen at random from my log book.