Topband: Calling without hearing (was CQ 160 WW)

[Ford Peterson]

Pete, OK1RP wrote:

...snip...

> So what do You thing about changing the behaviour on Top band? Seems 
> to be a fashion to call CQ DX cause it shows to others "hey I am 
> DXer". From ownself experiences I can not recommend > if my setup is 
> not fairly DXer setup then it more saying to others "hey I am crazy 
> or in worse case I am LID"...
> 
> ...or am I wrong?
> 
> 73 and CU on Top,
> Petr OK1RP
> (ex OL1BVR)

Petr,

Welcome to topband.  Actually, CQDX makes considerable sense.  There are times when the band is open and nobody discovers it.  Last night the A and K were both at zero so I was on there CQing away when nobody else was to heard from anywhere.  There are unusual openings to various places that can only be found by probing.  The auroral oval causes all sorts of havoc for us northerners.  For example, I live in Minnesota, a very northern state just south of the magnetic north pole.  EU DX is rare around these parts.  And when it does happen, the signals are at levels that require ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) to dig them out of the noise floor.  Every once in a while--very rare--this is not the case.  And the signals can be pounding in when, amazingly, the east coast does not hear them at all.  Tree reports similar events from Oregon, much further west of me.  Is it a polar path?  A Pedersen Ray?  Who knows.  But the only way to find them is to check.  I often listen to guys like W8JI working DX, just to see if I can hear them.  The vast majority of the time, the DX is just a whisper from here.

Back in 2001, OK1TN was good enough to work me during the ARRL DX contest in February.  He was good enough to confirm it with a QSL card too.  But he is the ONLY OK1 in my log on Topband.  I would love to add OK1RP to that very short list.

So if you were to get on and send CQDX, you would have a pile-up if the US can hear you.  And those of us in the hinterlands can only hope that the east coasters will get bored with working yet another OK1 station at 10dB over S9 and let some of the rest of us have a shot at the rare OK1 QTH.

Again, welcome to topband.  And by all means, CQ DX for me.

73

Ford-N0FP
ford at cmgate.com