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

[KE1F Lou]

All what is said is true.

Dx also should listen on his own TX frequency and when they hear a 
carrier QSY +-1 and let the DQRM-er QRM an unused frequency.

Just a suggestion.

73 Lou  KE1F

On 3/15/2015 12:48 AM, W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote:
> 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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