[SEDXC] Feedback and Lessons by W0GJ (K1N co-Team Leader)

[Bob Allphin]

Hi Kiyoshi,
   Altho I didn't write the article in which this advice appeared, I know 
that Glenn would be delighted to see it circulated worldwide.
Bob

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kiyoshi
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 2:42 PM
To: 'Ralph' ; sedxc at contesting.com
Cc: sedxc at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [SEDXC] Feedback and Lessons by W0GJ (K1N co-Team Leader)

This is excellent Feedback and Lesson for DXers.   I would like to obtain 
permission for forwarding this to some DXers who I know and probably not 
subscriber.    May I forward this to my friends mostly in JAs?

de...Kiyoshi, K4ST in CA


-----Original Message-----
From: SEDXC [mailto:sedxc-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ralph
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 8:25 AM
To: sedxc at contesting.com
Cc: sedxc at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [SEDXC] Feedback and Lessons by W0GJ (K1N co-Team Leader)

I thought this was an EXCELLENT report from Glenn W0GJ (K1N co-team leader). 
If you haven’t seen this before, it’s a valuable read for every DX’er...

Ralph K1ZZI
>From Glen W0GJ operating at K1N (as reported in the "Gray Line Report" of 
the Twin Cities ARC:




GOOD ADVICE FROM SOMEONE WHO WAS THERE!

Feedback and Lessons

I learn a lot from every DXpedition I've ever been on.  I've put together a 
summary of my two weeks of operation from Navassa. I'm sure all of my 
teammates will concur with what I've observed and learned. European stations 
complained a lot for the "short time" we worked Europe. QUITE THE 
CONTRARY!!!!

This is a MOST interesting point of discussion! If you look at the times in 
our logs, we spent MORE time working Europe than working North America. Our 
Club Log statistics, however, show that North America had 58% of the 
contacts, Europe 32% and Asia 6%. WHY, then, if MORE time was spent working 
Europe, was Europe about half the number of North American contacts??? 
Simple answer: RATE.  Period.

When you listened to us working North America, we could cruise right along 
at 300-350 Qs/hour, or more! I often saw the "rate meter" hanging around 
500-600 Qs/hour. (I heard that someone on the team was clocked at 1,200 
Qs/hour... on 160m!!!!) When working Europe, we would be extremely lucky to 
see rates of 100 Qs/hour. European signals are as strong, if not stronger 
than North American signals, in the Caribbean. The west coast U.S. is much 
harder to work than Europe. South American signals were among the strongest!

Here is a note I received after I returned home. It is from a well-known 
DXer in Europe:

"I listened to XXX working US pile-up on 80m. Fantastic, at least 10 QSOs 
per minute, and when he turned to listen for Europe, the rate was only 10% 
of that. Same on the other bands and modes."

The problem is THROUGHPUT. Rate. Efficiency. Cooperation. Whatever you want 
to call it. For the time we spent working Europe, we should have MORE 
contacts than with North America, but that did not happen. It COULD have 
happened! No one more than me would like to have seen the European Qs 
outnumber North American Qs. For the "next one," I have some suggestions to 
help DXers, including myself, and particularly DXers in Europe, to be more 
successful.

Here is what I see are the issues

1.     Not listening to the DX operator.

2.     LISTEN to and LEARN the rate and rhythm of the operator.

3.     KNOW where he will listen next if you expect him to hear you! How 
simple is that? It is part of the hunt. and the fun of DXing... and getting 
rewarded!

4.     Learn to use your radio (split/simplex, etc.).

5.     Do NOT jump to and call on the frequency of the last station worked. 
The DX station will NOT hear you, because the din is total unintelligible 
chaos. Move UP or DOWN from that frequency, as we on our end were 
continuously tuning up or down after each Q. So, if one jumps onto the 
last-worked frequency, we will not hear you, even if you were the only one 
there, as we have already tuned off that frequency.

6.     TURN OFF ALL SPEECH PROCESSORS AND COMPRESSION! Do NOT overdrive ALC. 
There is a night and day difference in listening to NA/AS and EU pileups. 
The horrible distortion makes it impossible to copy many, if not most 
European call signs. I don't know what it is, but I would bet that mic gain 
and compression controls are "firewall forward," all the way clockwise. 
There were MANY loud stations that we did not work, COULD NOT WORK, simply 
because we could NOT understand their terribly distorted call sign. Have you 
ever listened to yourself in a pileup? We gave many stations a "19" signal 
report. Very loud, but extremely unintelligible! You want to have 
INTELLIGABILITY, not distortion!

7.     Give your call sign ONCE and ONLY ONCE! DO NOT KEEP CALLING! Call. 
Listen. Call again, if needed. Listen. Listen. We would tune on by those who 
did not stop calling. We are looking for RATE and getting stations into the 
log. You should be, too!!!

8.     If the DX station comes back with your call-sign, DO NOT REPEAT YOUR 
CALLSIGN, AS WE ALREADY KNOW IT, or we would not have answered you. Many 
stations (in all modes) would repeat their callsign two, three and even four 
times or more! This was so frustrating at times, that we would just move on 
to the next station. We ONLY want to hear "5NN" or "59" from you. Anything 
else is a total waste of time. Let me repeat, if we come back with YOUR call 
sign, DO NOT REPEAT it back to us! (Did I repeat myself?..... forgive me!) 
It CHEATS others out of a chance to get into the log. Only repeat your call 
sign if it needs correction, and then let us know it is a correction. Our 
propagation windows and time on the island are limited, and we need to 
maximize the opportunity for everyone. SPEED and EFFICIENCY ARE OF UTMOST 
IMPORTANCE!

9.     LISTEN to the DX station come back to some-one. IF THERE IS NOTHING 
CLOSE TO OR RESEMBLING YOUR CALLSIGN.. SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!!!! This needless 
interference slows things up, and lessens YOUR chance of getting into the 
log! We are focused on the call sign we heard and do not hear you, only your 
QRM.

10.  Take some time to listen to the next DXpedition working North America, 
and listen to the rate and rhythm of the operator. It is fast, quick and 
efficient, and more people get into the log! Then listen to him work Europe. 
The wise operator will catch on quickly to what it takes to get into the 
log!

11.  SPREAD OUT! Our highest rates (for any continent) were working the 
center and far edges of the pileup, where there was less QRM. Weak stations 
were much easier to work than loud stations in the middle of the pileup. If 
we say, "Listening 200 to 210," 70% of the pileup sits exactly on 200 in an 
unintelligible din, 25% of the pileup sits on 210 and is almost as bad. 5% 
of the pileup will be spread out somewhere between 201 and 209, making them 
very quickly put into the log. S P R E A D O U T ! ! ! ! Dare to be 
different! Dare to be heard!

12.  LOUD is NOT better! MORE AUDIO/COMPRESSION is NOT better! Finding the 
spot to be HEARD is the MOST important thing you can do to get into the log. 
My biggest thrill (and I'm sure on both ends) is finding the lone weak 
station and getting him into the log, quickly.

13.  LISTEN to the DX operator's INSTRUCTIONS! As we would constantly tune 
our VFO, if we find a clear spot, we would often say, "33" (meaning for YOU 
to transmit on 14.033, 28.433, etc). A few would listen, and get into the 
log very quickly. You cannot hear these hints if you keep calling,calling, 
calling, calling ... Many times, I would say, "listening 200 to 210," and 
after a while, would say, "listening 240 to 250." Often 30 to 45 minutes, 
even and HOUR later, I would find MANY still calling on the original "200 to 
210"... of course, they would never show up in our log, as I was not 
listening there. LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN and LISTEN SOME MORE. The less you 
transmit, the better chance you have of get-ting into the log. You must know 
where I am listening, if you really want to get into the log.

14.  LISTEN to the "good" guys who make it into the log. Study how they do 
it! It is not easy to find the "good" guys, as they are quick and efficient 
and are in the log and gone, long before anyone can find them. They don't 
transmit much. They are listening.

15.  LISTEN to the "bad" guys. It won't take you long to find them. They 
keep calling and calling. They aren't listening to find out where to 
transmit, or they wouldn't be calling. How simple is that?  Being LOUD 
helps, but not if the DX is not hearing you! If you don't want to get into 
the DX log, just ignore the above suggestions, and keep calling, calling, 
calling...  I wish you the best of luck. You'll need it.

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