Topband: K1N 5,399 q's on 160 M

Wed Feb 18 23:33:46 EST 2015

                             note to all  stateside K1N  detractors 

Here are some things that will hopefully be in the  DX'ING FOR DUMMIES BOOK

1. K1N is over. I am not convinced that any group anywhere did it better.
that applies to all bands more specifically 160 meters.

2. NEWS FLASH!  There will be other dx peditions in the future. Only 2 days
notice??? We Had several months notice of the proposed K1N operation. If you
are not subscribed to the daily dx,  the weekly dx, the NJDXA bulletin, the
ARRL DX Bulletin,the KB8NW DX bulletin some of which are free, you should
look into it. Engraved notices were not sent out and it is your own fault
for not having enough notice.  

3. Missing  K1n which was basically in your back yard should be part of your
"lessons learned"  after action  report. If your station could not make a
K1N contact, it  was either an operator malfunction or your station needs
some work.

4.  If you do not have an extra class license, upgrade it or stop
complaining about it.  No code licenses have been here for years. CW is no
longer a barrier to upgading your license. There are 11 year old kids with
extra class  licenses. Take your  radio clubs next license upgrade class. If
I were you I would  Sign up for that class  TODAY.  Think of it another way.
If you can operate CW, that gives you 9 more band opportunities where you
can work them. why limit yourself needlessly.  Bonus, even more band
opportunities are available if you radio does RTTY.

5. No antenna for 160 or 60 meters?  Start building your antenna TODAY.

6. No match box to load your antenna up on other bands?      Buy or build
one TODAY.

7. If your xyl is nagging you about Saturdays spent listening to the dx
bands?  Send her out to a spa for the  day you want to devote to dxing. You
might be surprised to find her asking you if you have any other days you
would like to devote to dx-ing. In some circles this is called a win-win
situation.

8.If your radio does not do 20 kc splits,  TODAY would be a good day to
upgrade your radio, buy or build a VFO
  Or live dangerously and read the manual for the radio you have now.

9  Be there !! You can be right at your radio and still miss announcements
of where the dx is listening.  If you are out of the room listening on a
speaker 15 feet away it is easy to miss the DX station announcing he has
shifted from listening 5 kcs  up to listening 5 kcs down. Listening from
across the room almost assures that you will miss  announcements of this
type, especially in a heavy DQRM situation such as EU only, NA only, ATNO,
QRX-5 fueling generator etc. 

10. Requesting or suggesting the dx station should go to another band,
general sub bands or other requests via DX-Watch  or sending a thank you on
the  packet cluster? Please know that the individual operators on most
dx-peditions are not watching the dx cluster nor do they have dx watch on
their cell phone even if they had enough signal to do so.  Further, most of
the american dx ops do not know all of the sub bands by memory and for sure,
the dx ops from other countries do not know and could not care less about
the general sub bands.

11. Just because a web site mentions or does not mention a band, or sub band
or a band they plan to concentrate on does not mean they will or will not
cover it. Radios and antennas  fail or may have to be shared between several
bands. If you read the pre dx-pedition freq plan  for K1N.  Their initial
plan was to work 10M SSB  and not do any 10 CW.  Even so, I noted a
significant  amount of Q's were made on 10 cw.  Again, you have to BE THERE.
You snooze?
YOU LOSE !!!

12.  Most importantly of all,  If you did not CONTRIBUTE to a specific
DX-pedition,  I really think you should refrain from complaining about it. A
list of donors can often be found on the dx-pedition web site by clicking on
the donor button.

13. If you are a casual  weekend dx'er with a casual station,  you should
not be surprised or disappointed when you get CASUAL RESULTS.

After reading this if you are still looking for someone to blame when you
miss the next dx-pedition, take
A long look in the mirror.

 73

Chet N4FX

-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 12:44 PM
To: topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: K1N 5,399 q's on 160 M

Larry .. don't jump all over me .... what exatcly was "in my control" of k1n
? --- sure i could risk a fine by calling on 3775 ....

I listened almost 10hrs straight (my wife not exactly happy - on saturday ),
while cleaning my radio room up ( garage) and via remote in the living
room... i didn't ever hear a notification that he was listening ... up at
3800+ ... plenty of notices of 70Khz up. ---- and frankly .... do 100% of
the hams have radios that are capable of splits that wide .... i see why
heathkit twins were popular !!!

*I'm asking what did i miss* .... besides not having a extra call .... 
its obious -- and ill state it any ways .. that i couldn't advance my call
to extra in 2days ...

I probably got my self banned from dxwatch.com for making requests for some
one to ask k1n to go to general .....

were there 2ops on one band ? one working the Tx radio and another in the
general portion ?, it was not mentioned on their web page.

I hope ANTO is going to be adhered to ... it sounded like a good idea to me
...

I guess i'll upgrade my call ... it is disappointing that location will not
be operating again for more than 10+years.

I never thought of trying to get ahold of the chopper pilot to pass a
message .... that was a good idea.

PS ... i can't use a tuner i don't have -- ref to 60M (mfj-1798 antenna) 
.... Im not a DX chaser .. i'm the normal "once in a while" weekend guy 
that has a hobby that the XYL tolerates.

On 02/18/2015 08:56 AM, Larry Burke wrote:
> With all due respect, Mike, these things are within your control and the
> DXpedition should not be held responsible for you not being able to work
> them. You'll find DXing way more fun when you upgrade (although K1N DID
look
> for Generals on some bands). With regards to 60m, many operators there
find
> a way to load their existing 80/160m antennas. At least one guy who worked
> them on that band uses what he calls a Bird Feeder -- which is in no way
> resonant on 60m.
>
> 73, Larry K5RK
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike
> Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 10:12 AM
> To: topband at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: Topband: K1N 5,399 q's on 160 M
>
> im sure i could of too ...
>
> i heard them for hours on 80M (3705 +70Khz) .... some times even 20 over
> S9 but never ventured above 3800 .... cept once some one got them to go to
> 60M ... and of corse i didn't have an antenna resonant for 60M .....
>
>
>
>

-- 
Mike KC7NOA

_________________
Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband