Realization

When I read about the DXpedition to Glorioso Island I became very intrigued. On almost every list of the 'most-wanted' or 'most-needed' countries, Glorioso ranks highly. I've seen it as high as #4. When I saw how long they planned to stay I thought that I might have a chance, especially towards the end of their stay.

Yeah right.

With my extremely modest station I've had trouble even hearing them for any length of time. And forget trying to figure out any pattern to help guess when you might catch them on a particular band. About the only 'guaranteed' appearances that I've been able to deduce have occurred on bands that I have no shot at. I'm not sure what's made them seem so elusive?

It doesn't help when they (the DX) says "5-20 UP". That seems sort of wide to me and kind of presumptuous in the sense that they may generate pileups that interfere with ongoing QSO's. A 5-10 split would seem a little more reasonable. I've read that they've experienced equipment problems, both with radios and with keeping antennas in the air. And I hear that they have to take mandatory breaks to perform maintenance on the generators. That's what I "hear" and read.

But the most disheartening thing has been the continuous and intentional QRM. It seems especially harsh on 30 meters for some reason. Frankly, the QRM has been so strong and unrelenting that I can't hear them with any degree of certainty of who they're coming back to. And, if I can't hear them the majority of the time, I'm not going to just call blindly hoping that I'll get lucky.

I had hoped that the QRM'ing would taper off after a few days. No such luck. Several posts online are blaming the spotting networks. Maybe. I don't know. The entries I've seen have been over the top, rude, and often obscene. At this point, whenever I see them spotted, I'll give a quick listen but each and every time there's a bunch of LIDS on the frequency.

Unless something changes, I guess I'll miss out on this one. On the plus side, there does seem to be other DX on the bands that isn't receiving the attention of the hordes calling Glorioso, making it easier to work.