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.

A new operating method

Someone needs to write a book on an aspect of ham radio that seems to be wildly popular but hardly addressed in any books that I can find. It's not a new mode - it involves modes already in use - and it doesn't require much skill, at least not from what I can tell. Maybe it does and I've not yet uncovered the secret. It's a new operating method.

As far as I can tell, it goes something like this -

You search the web for DXpeditions and make detailed notes about when they're supposed to start, times they intend to operate and the frequencies they plan to use. Then, as the time draws near, you make sure that your antenna is in order, that your linear amplifier is in top-notch shape, and that your keyer and microphones are all functioning perfectly.

The next part is easy. You wait until you see the DXpedition listed on the spotting networks. You make note of the frequency and quickly tune to their transmit frequency. There's really no need to worry about whether they're working split - you won't need the frequency they're listening on.

Then, as soon as you're able to hear the DX station transmitting, you decide whether or not you want to send an endless string of dits or dahs. Or, for extra fun, you can even alternate. You make sure that your amplifier is in the transmit mode and you let it rip. Right on the DX's transmit frequency. You do this as long as you're able to stand it. Or, perhaps you shove a book against the keyer and let it do the work for you.

And that's it! As far as I can tell, that's all you have to do. Sounds easy, I know. Surely there must be more to it and perhaps some of you can enlighten me as to whether or not I've got it completely right. I know there's some variations I've not covered. For instance, you can forgo the keyer altogether and use your microphone to transmit music or obscenities. I'm not sure what level of license you need to do this, or whether you need one at all.

It may sound as though I'm making light of this practice. I assure you I'm not. It's worse than I've ever heard it. What's the answer? I don't know. I'm at a total loss. How can this be dealt with? I don't know of any way to identify or pinpoint the people who seem hellbent on doing this. And as far as I can tell, they're winning.

Hex beam finally permanent

Since last December I've had a love-hate relationship with the multi-band hex beam that I bought from WI4USA. Initially I waffled back and forth on the performance - I seemed to be getting out just fine but the noise level was so high at times that I could barely hear who I was calling. Then it nearly was destroyed in a freak snowstorm. Then I suffered because of not being able to raise it above 25 feet. Then my rotor failed.

Well, enough whining already. I've now installed a brand new ham duty rotor and managed to push my mast up to 40 feet, placing the 20 meter wires around 45-46 feet. It now clears the roofline of my house and I'm beginning to feel better about its performance. The noise level has dropped dramatically, although there are still certain directions that are quite a bit noisier than others. Thankfully the interaction with my roof and gutters seems to have diminished. And its now as quiet as my wire antennas are - for the most part. And some signals are 3-4 S-units louder on the hex. My SWR has dropped as well, although I never felt as though I could complain much about that when it was lower, it fell within claimed specs.

But despite all the improvements, there are some realizations too. This weekend I could hear a fellow ham who lives in the same county working stations in the Asian contest that I couldn't even dig out of the noise. I could hear some - and even worked a few - but not many. Most were unintelligible. Clearly he could hear them (and they could hear him). Switching to other antennas, however, revealed that the hex was at least making those I could copy much louder. Without the hex, I wouldn't have heard hardly any Asians.

The realization is that he has a monstrous Force 12 yagi at 100 feet and I have a small antenna at 45. But it's still a step in the right direction. And not bad, especially considering how tough this continued low point in propagation has proven to be.

If I had it all to do over again, I think there's a good chance that I would have gone in another direction. But in fairness to the hex, I am able to work almost anything I hear in Europe and most of the Middle East and Africa. And the problem until recently has been actually hearing the DX. I don't anticipate doing anything to change the setup until the next sunspot cycle kicks in. By then I may be quite pleased with my little antenna.

What's your station's "ratio"?

I was reading an older post on Eham the other day and it really started to make me think about my own station and my spending habits. Over the past couple of years I've made what I consider to be some good purchases and some boneheaded purchases. And when it comes to the boneheaded purchases, the vast majority of them ended up becoming repeat purchases, as in I had to buy something else very similar to replace my initial mistake. Those kinds of deals can not only blow a ham's budget in short order, but infuriate you at the same time.

But the gist of the post I read was about how to build your station by following a simple rule of a ratio. The goal was not to build a superstation, rather to work towards developing a station that will be somewhat competitive in contests and certainly competitive in the DXing realm. As someone who enjoys participating in some of the major contests but often uses those to hunt for new DX or as a backup QSO for unconfirmed countries, this article was right up my alley, despite the fact that it was nearly 8 years old.

The author said that you should strive to have a 50:50 (or 1:1) ratio between what you spend on radios and assorted items (no mention of amplifiers) and your antennas. This struck me as a reasonable premise, since there's a similar theory that's used in audiophile circles, only it's a ratio of what you spend on your amp/CD player/turntable compared to your speakers. Why spend $5K on an amp, only to play your music through $500 speakers?

As with most Eham articles, the commenters spent a lot of time trying to shoot holes in this approach, but many agreed. And, naturally, it turned to the absurd (again, as with most Eham articles), why can't you have 45:55? What's wrong with 70:30? Blah, blah, blah.

But what this did is make me think about my own station and what my own ratio might be. I have 2 primary HF radios. I bought both on the used market, but I spent roughly $2500 for a Yaesu FT-1000MP with several filters and in like-new shape, and an Elecraft K2 in nearly pristine condition. I'm very pleased with both. Ignoring all the peripherals, like keyers, computers, monitors, switches, I then spent roughly $1200 on a multi-band vertical and a hex beam, including a 40 foot mast. Hmmmm, my ratio is nearly 2:1 in favor of equipment. I've spent twice as much on radios as I have antennas. Toss in those other assorted items and it gets even worse.

So what does that mean? Is my station crap? No, of course not. Even though I've blown this suggestion out of the water, I feel that I'm able to do pretty well on certain bands, even with conditions as they are. But it has made me realize that perhaps the other stations, the stations that I'm contacting, are doing the majority of the work. They're hearing me because they have lots of hardware in the sky or because I'm at the right place at the right time, or because I'm simply patient enough and listen a lot more than I call. It's certainly not because I'm delivering a killer signal. Average, at best.

And, fact is, if I only had ONE radio instead of two, then my ratio would be right at the recommendation.

Now, to see if I can get more hardware in the sky!