View Full Version : Extreme DXing
KJ4VTH
06-09-2012, 02:21 AM
There's a station operating from a fairly rare country and he is adamant that those calling him should be for new country contact only.
Despite his requests he has some folks calling him two or more times in the recent past. He seems to have had his fill of such nonsense and called some of them out to the effect of 'What's wrong with you? Are you even listening before you call?'
God bless him and I am grateful to add another entity to my log and he has much more patience than I might have in the same circumstance.
K7JBQ
06-09-2012, 02:41 AM
Who, pray tell? And yes, bless him.
Of course, if he does this every time he comes in, it keeps folks from some of the newer awards. But to do this on a semi-regular basis is cool.
73,
Bill
KO6WB
06-09-2012, 02:54 AM
That operator would probably do just as well by search and pounce. That's where you look around the band and contact those that are already operating. Make the contact and move before there is a spot made. No pile ups, no strain and it is the folks that are already operating that reap the benefit. This is unlike the custom of being spotted and having a feeding frenzy pop up on the band from folks that never operate unless it is a DX station they want. Think about it, you would be rewarded by a DX station because you are actually on the air and that station heard you and contacted you.
Now I'm going to take my idealistic thought away for now.
73
Gary
N0AZZ
06-09-2012, 09:16 AM
Spotting programs are one of the best things to ever happen period only those who are unable to work a pileup complain about it.
I heard a rare one exclude an entire country Spain for there rude ops a lot of them all at once. I did work him on 2 bands and may never hear him again ZD8.
KC2SIZ
06-09-2012, 01:19 PM
Spotting programs are one of the best things to ever happen period only those who are unable to work a pileup complain about it.
.
Not true. I can work a pileup, but don't enjoy them and will go to great lengths to avoid them. I don't chase awards and for me the romance of ham radio is lost when you're fending off jammers and cops. I can't believe that I'm the only one who feels this way. And I don't like spots precisely because they're pileup creators.
KD0CAC
06-09-2012, 01:55 PM
Religion washing over into ham radio , and every other facit of life .
There is only one way to be a ham , its my way - bad , wrong etc.
Its a big hobby , or can be , just find what suits you and enjoy .
If there is something on air you do not like , then don't play .
If the Extreme DXer wants to operate with some rules , then there they are .
I would like to see more stations , tell bad behaving operators that they will not be responded to .
Bad behavior will only increase if it is always just given what it wants , it seem a few generations ago , the pets and children have taken over and run the pack :)
NN5AA
06-09-2012, 02:29 PM
Religion washing over into ham radio , and every other facit of life .
Elaborate on that statement, please Sir .
AB1QP
06-09-2012, 04:14 PM
Not true. I can work a pileup, but don't enjoy them and will go to great lengths to avoid them. I don't chase awards and for me the romance of ham radio is lost when you're fending off jammers and cops. I can't believe that I'm the only one who feels this way. And I don't like spots precisely because they're pileup creators.
No, you are not the only one.
AB1QP
---->> i. use. your. radio. frequencies.
HS0ZIB
06-10-2012, 01:38 AM
That rare station you mention is not me (XZ1K), but I operate using search and pounce, because it is the 'fairest' way to give everyone a chance to work my small station. I found that if I stayed on one frequency, within a few minutes the spotters created a massive 'JA wall' of callers, and it was totally impossible for anyone outside my immediate region to get a contact.
As has been said S&P rewards those who are calling CQ ...
Simon
Watched the spots of late and worked Yemen, Bhutan and a couple other new ones. That being said, I'm not so sure I like the spotting. It did help me but if internet DX spotting went away and I had to hunt for them I wouldn't be totally distraught. Or even mildly distraught.
K7JBQ
06-10-2012, 05:55 AM
Bob,
We have always had spotting. Before the Internet, there was packet cluster. Before that, there were DX announcements on DX club repeaters. Before that, there were telephone trees. Before that, there wasn't radio.
73,
Bill
KF6ABU
06-10-2012, 06:15 AM
Bob,
We have always had spotting. Before the Internet, there was packet cluster. Before that, there were DX announcements on DX club repeaters. Before that, there were telephone trees. Before that, there wasn't radio.
73,
Bill
You didnt have w3lpl robot spots on every station cqing though, automatically, 24/7. I hate that guy.
Find a station cqing you need, 3 or 4 people calling him. If you are not within 2 qso's, w3lpl's robot spots it, and now 50 people are calling. If its somewhere in Europe or Africa, I now get to wait for everyone on the East Coast with a better station.
Bob,
We have always had spotting. Before the Internet, there was packet cluster. Before that, there were DX announcements on DX club repeaters. Before that, there were telephone trees. Before that, there wasn't radio.
73,
Bill
Didn't have packet clusters or internet spotting sites when I was first licensed. Packet wasn't even around yet and even a 2 meter repeater wouldn't exist in my hometown for ten years yet. Somehow we survived, and worked DX too. :)
You didnt have w3lpl robot spots on every station cqing though, automatically, 24/7. I hate that guy.
It would be trivial to build a system that calls CQ with random, rare DX callsigns on random frequencies. Put up a few of those, and people would figure out pretty quickly that the W3LPL robot was spotting useless info and stop using it. But that is completely illegal, so I don't recommend that anyone actually do it.
KC2SIZ
06-10-2012, 01:57 PM
That rare station you mention is not me (XZ1K), but I operate using search and pounce, because it is the 'fairest' way to give everyone a chance to work my small station. I found that if I stayed on one frequency, within a few minutes the spotters created a massive 'JA wall' of callers, and it was totally impossible for anyone outside my immediate region to get a contact.
As has been said S&P rewards those who are calling CQ ...
Simon
Yes, I've often thought that spots must be a real pain in the behind for people operating in relatively sought after DX locations. Don't get me wrong, it'd be great fun to work a pileup from time to time and to hear 50 different stations calling you. But to have that happen every time you call CQ? Man oh man, that would get old very, very quickly. Search and pounce is definitely the way to go. Or I suppose you could call CQ but stay on no frequency for longer than, say, 10 minutes.
K7JBQ
06-10-2012, 03:25 PM
There have always been DX stations that did just that.
And even back during Cycle 19, pileups grew quickly. After all, when tuning the band, it's pretty hard to miss a pileup.
73,
Bill
Search and pounce is definitely the way to go. Or I suppose you could call CQ but stay on no frequency for longer than, say, 10 minutes.
Spotting programs are one of the best things to ever happen period only those who are unable to work a pileup complain about it.
Definitely not true.
I bust lots of pileups and I like the idea of people having access to DX spots but I absolutely, positively do not think we should give every idiot and malcontent with a radio real-time play-by-play information about where to intentionally jam or carelessly ruin others' day by tuning up on frequency, constant-calling or whatever.
The worldwide anonymous cluster system has consequences. I have participated in a number of popular DX chat rooms and it's really striking the fun you have when you have twenty or fifty pairs of ears but no ability for the crazies and jerks to get the information that those ears are finding.
I would like a system that was internet-based but worked more like a phone tree.
If I were in a DX club and we had a phone tree and noticed that KX3YXZ always caused trouble when we called him up, eventually people would start to regularly "forget" to call KX3YXZ. "Oh, look, my copy of your needs list didn't have that one on it..." "Oh, your line was busy, sorry!"
We need a DX spotting system with actual identities that works more like that.
And even back during Cycle 19, pileups grew quickly. After all, when tuning the band, it's pretty hard to miss a pileup.
Sure, but you were more likely to have a pileup that was made entirely of people who can actually hear the DX on their radio and find his transmitting frequency.
I think someday we'll look back on global broadcast DX spotting kind of like how we look back on un-regulated incredibly polluting coal burning factories that used to fill our cities...
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/49-520x370.jpg
Some people saw no harm in it, a large portion were simply resigned to it for the sake of progress and jobs, and indeed they were probably a necessary step in modern living, which has many benefits. But someday when we have a better way where we can still get the benefits without the choking, suffocating miasma that comes out at the start, it will seem baffling that we ever did it that way.
KO6WB
06-10-2012, 07:41 PM
Like I've already posted, DX stations that do not desire pile ups will resort to search and pounce. This is effective and actually gives the DX station a chance to be involved in a casual QSO at least for awhile. Then move on to more quiet portions of the band before the thundering herd figures out where you are. Some operators actually get it. There's hope after all.
BTW a so-called rare DX station that works ten's of thousands of stations makes them something less than rare. To keep a rare status the DX would resort to the s&p and be more selective in who they will make contact with. Simple huh?
Have fun
73
Gary
sounds like you're talking about SU9VB
His station, he can call out what he wants to work and not work, and/or go QRT. Always the big dial in front of the radio....
You didnt have w3lpl robot spots on every station cqing though, automatically, 24/7. I hate that guy.
Find a station cqing you need, 3 or 4 people calling him. If you are not within 2 qso's, w3lpl's robot spots it, and now 50 people are calling. If its somewhere in Europe or Africa, I now get to wait for everyone on the East Coast with a better station.Have you told Frank how you feel about this?
N0AZZ
06-16-2012, 10:22 AM
Like I've already posted, DX stations that do not desire pile ups will resort to search and pounce. This is effective and actually gives the DX station a chance to be involved in a casual QSO at least for awhile. Then move on to more quiet portions of the band before the thundering herd figures out where you are. Some operators actually get it. There's hope after all.
BTW a so-called rare DX station that works ten's of thousands of stations makes them something less than rare. To keep a rare status the DX would resort to the s&p and be more selective in who they will make contact with. Simple huh?
Have fun
73
Gary
A rare DX Station having a "Casual QSO" I know of no rare DX that EVER wants to ragchew when he's on the air. They are there to make QSO's period with as many people as they can in as short an amount of time as possible.
NO ONE likes it when someone makes a contact with a DX station in a pileup and tries to start a conversion or tie the operator up in any way to slow him down. But you will see these idiots try and do this time after time they just don't get it.
KC2SIZ
06-16-2012, 10:41 PM
A rare DX Station having a "Casual QSO" I know of no rare DX that EVER wants to ragchew when he's on the air. They are there to make QSO's period with as many people as they can in as short an amount of time as possible.
NO ONE likes it when someone makes a contact with a DX station in a pileup and tries to start a conversion or tie the operator up in any way to slow him down. But you will see these idiots try and do this time after time they just don't get it.
If he's working a pileup then you're right: He sure isn't going to want to start chatting with you about the weather or your kids while there's an entire pileup of other stations waiting to give him a quick 5NN. At the same time, DX ops are only human. There will be times when they want to be on the air and not have to worry about a pileup. Once in a while, the DX op might want to spend a bit of casual time chatting about his station or something he happens to be working on. DX ops put their pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us.
KO6WB
06-16-2012, 11:25 PM
Quite true, not all DX stations crave thousands of contacts and I have run into some that have broke into a QSO to work you and have a bit of intelligent conversation. Even had special event stations want to carry on a chat just to get to the point where others have found out where they were, then the pile up begins.
The DX stations that do want to rack up thousand upon thousands of contacts are usually the DXpenditions and they are there for a short time then they return home and if they want they can do the casual contact thing.
The folks in the DX are normal everyday folks that will want that contact that they enjoy. It may be a ur 59 QRZed? type of contact but sometimes not. Most of the folks that want to work DX think that country or piece of rock exists just for them so they can work em.
Do what ever makes you happy but don't smash somebody elses joy just because.
73
Gary
KF6ABU
06-17-2012, 05:14 AM
Have you told Frank how you feel about this?
I have. I emailed him and asked him how to block his spots. It was not successful.
