[CQ-Contest] Callers on EXACTLY the same frequency

[George K5KG]

There were many stations calling DX stations dead zero beat (or nearly 
so) on their frequency.  This, of course, masked who the DX station was 
responding to, and was commonplace during the entire contest.

I was able to successfully break many of these pileups by calling 30-40 
Hz above the frequency.  If I missed the DX station's response, which 
happened many times due to the incessant callers, I would send a "?".  
Many times that would trigger the DX station to send my call during that 
quiet moment, thereby allowing me to complete the Qso.  If I felt that 
the DX station was picking up callers below his frequency, I would call 
30-40 Hz below the frequency.

I am providing this explanation in hopes that others will learn to NOT 
call dead zero beat on the DX station's frequency.

73, George, K5KG

On 2/22/2016 7:51 PM, Scott Ellington wrote:
> During some of my modest runs in the CW ARRL DX contest last weekend, 
> it seemed many of the callers were on exactly the same frequency, 
> making it really hard to pick out a call.  This phenomenon seems to be 
> getting worse.  I wonder if this is because many of them are just 
> clicking on a spot, and modern radios have such great frequency 
> accuracy.  It would help if operators using this technique would use 
> the XIT to offset 50-100 Hz.  (No more, or you'll end up too close to 
> the neighbors.)  If it doesn't already, perhaps someday software could 
> introduce a random offset.
>
> There were also, of course, some callers way off frequency.  It's best 
> to know just where your transmit frequency is, and to place it 
> strategically.
>
> 73,
>
> Scott  K9MA
>

-- 
George Wagner, K5KG
Sarasota, FL
941-400-1960