Q&A for How to Call CQ on Amateur Radio

This means that WA2PQX want only stations in the lower 48, and in this case WA2PQX only wants people in his own country (USA).

First, listen to the station calling and see if they're looking for something specific, like a continent, country (USA or K, W, or N), state (Florida or FL), or call area 0 thru 9. Then, you call them and wait 5 to 10 seconds for them to call back. If they call any letter or number in your callsign, then you call back with your callsign slower and clearer. Then, you give basic information like a signal report and location (nearest big city). After that, you can either chat or part ways and find someone else to call.

You can, although it is more common on repeaters, whereas on shortwave (HF) calling CQ and answering someone else's CQ are the common methods used.

CQ stands for the French word meaning "security" or "pay attention." It means that a station operator is looking for someone to talk to, chase DX (often as CQ DX) or respond for testing/checking their setup. For example, "CQ CQ CQ, this is (insert call letters twice) calling CQ on (the band you're on) and listening."

Proper etiquette is typically their call first then yours. As for phonetics, people use the aviation standard by default, or you can also come up with your own (as long as there is no swearing).

You probably mean CQ POTA. POTA stands for "parks on the air" or hams at various state or national parks around the world. Each park has a serial number with the country's prefix preceding it. For example, a park in the USA will be something like K-12345 with each park having it own number. Canada would be something like VE-12345.