Topband: What IS troubling about this report....

[W0MU Mike Fatchett]

Much of the time it is a simple mistake.  I did it to the E30 tonight 
and I am trying to be very careful.  I changed bands and came back and 
the split was cancelled.   I was that Lid.

Usually a simple up up is fine but the cops have to go off on rant. Then 
I hear up, I immediately look to make sure split is on and the b vfo is 
in the pile.

Many people simply do no listen or are chasing DX on CW when they have 
very little comprehension of CW and are lucky to send their call and be 
able to understand it when called.

The new disturbing trend I have seen is that nobody listens or cares 
what the DX asks for on Phone or CW.  The Dx calls for the W6 and W1 N3 
K4 PY2 etc all continue to call and call and call attempting to cover up 
or bulldoze the station the DX wants to steal that contact.  I have 
watched my P3 where the station who the DX wants to work was pretty 
clean and then 10 people show up on that frequency.

This was a behavior that used to be carried out generally by a country 
in Europe in the 80's.  Apparently it has now caught on all over.  This 
behavior is wrecking the rate that the DX could be going as he has to 
ask for fills 2 or 3 or more times.

Mike W0MU

On 3/14/2015 9:04 PM, Tom WA2BCK wrote:
> Glenn,
> Your summary was wonderful and loaded with excellent advice. I often 
> wonder why stations persist in calling on the DX stations transmit 
> frequency. Surely by now, the entire ham radio community must realize 
> that DXpeditions operate up or down and usually do not answer calls on 
> their own transmit frequency.  It continually amazes me how many times 
> people call on the DX stations transmit frequency. It is sooooo 
> frustrating! I don't know the appropriate solution but I would like to 
> broadcast to the entire ham radio community to listen when the 
> operator says UP.  Thanks for allowing me to blow off steam!
> Tom
> WA2BCK
>
> -----Original Message----- From: James Rodenkirch
> Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2015 4:39 PM
> To: Top Band Contesting
> Subject: Topband: What IS troubling about this report....
>
>
>
> ....from one of the K1N ops is there is nothing new here.....all of 
> his dozen plus points is/ae SOOOOO fundamental to anyone chasing 
> DX.......terrible operating habits or approaches by the majority of 
> the DX chasers, obviously...
>
> I did work K1N with QRP power on 80, 20 and 15 so feel fortunate to 
> "squeak in," so to speak...72, Jim Rodenkirch K9JWV
>
>
> 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. Euro-pean 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: (This applies to US hams as well for 
> more distant
> DX operations – N8PR)1. Not listening to the DX operator. 2. LISTEN to 
> and
> LEARN the rate and rhythm of the operator. 3. LISTEN to WHERE the 
> operator is
> listening, and to his PATTERN of moving his VFO. You MUST 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 callsigns. 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 callsign. 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 IN-TELLIGABILITY, 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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