DX Web Sites, Good or Bad?

Without a doubt, international spotting has caused a level of awareness of the dx activity which allows more stations to get there. It's a two edged sword, though. More people know, more people show up at once...pileups are more difficult for the guy on the other side. Of greater concern is that many hams think they should CALL the dx, just because they hear a whisper of him in there, and know the call from packet. A great many people..particularly on 40 80 and 160...can be heard calling when the dx is transmitting. They obviously can't hear the guy!
40 may be the worst, because you can hear a station weakly, with a low dipole....but you're probably 40 dB (that's 10,000 times) weaker than the stations HE can hear.
On balance, it still pays to tune the bands, be there at the right time, and have low angle antennas. I think there are more stations which are better equipped...particularly on 40...than there were 10 years ago. A KW and elevated GP doesn't quite cut it on the LP these days. I find myself waiting in line behind more guys with beams than previously.

 

At least he hasn't discovered DX nets!

 

I never understood the idea of dx clusters and sites. To me it's like cheating, I find hunting around and finding something a great deal of the enjoyment. Now rigs will tune in the dx for you also from what I've read!



If I were on the other end, being a rare contact, I actually wouldn't want the pileup either. Sure they're making the distance, but really didn't discover me!



Now there are times when you have to have predetermined meetings, but for just making contacts, and especially for rewards, I just don't get it!



Don't take offense, I may not know other valid reasons that make sense for someone else. It just would spoil it for me personally.



Rick

 

More than once, I have become a "victum" of a "spot", of rare DX on a cluster.
It seems that DXers that use the cluster, tend not to "check" the frequency to see if there is any ONGOING QSO there. They just know that there is "rare" DX that was spotted there. So, these guys fire up and call there, regardless.

I dislike clusters allot.

 

Hey you never know what you can find on 10M at midnight. I worked Maine using 25 wats cw with a dipole in my attic from Central NY on SKN back in 1995.

 

Clusters certainly have changed the hobby. Tuning and listening skills used to be more important than having a powerful transmitted signal. The hours saved by the clusters have saved a lot of time for busy hams but not without side effects. A high country count has lost most of its glitter. The same has happened to the pride one can take in a clean sweep in SS and most of all in hunting counties. Early recipitents of worked all county cerificates reflected working RESIDENTS in over 90% of the counties. Today, the majority of counties are earned by working mobiles who claim to be traveling through the counties. The certificate simply reflects hanging out on nets and working these mobiles. It doesn't mean much anymore, especially when many mobileers admit to leg pulling on their claimed counties. It is funny to them but tarnishes the award. Some awards such as WAS or WAZ with residents only still demonstrate good achievement, especially when they are done with no outside help such as spotters or nets. One learns after a while that others really don't care much about our awards so I guess the main judge of value is ourselves. 73,

 

Agreed. For me listening for dx is like fishing. When you snag one, its worth the wait.

 

If you want a challenge,Try working vhf/uhf without Propagation web pages,you will miss 90% of your contacts,waitng 3 min. for an amp to warmup? haven't you heard. Its called the transistor. Stop Whining & Enjoy The Hobby
>(Ø¿Ø)

 

I wouldn't say I'm spoiled, but I do like HF very much but, I cut my teeth on weak signal work on VHF and UHF for 30 years and got tired of working only 1500 to 2000 miles with the max of everything, power and antennas. Got 45 states confirmed on 6, 32 confirmed on 2.


Therefore, I am not whining as you so eloquently put it. I do enjoy the hobby very much. As to there not being any propagation web pages, sorry, there are. They are out there. Just look at the DX Summit web site it has propagation information up thru microwave!


As to the 3 minute warmup on the amp, sorry, it's a requirement for the tubes. For my money and simplicity of operation, transistors can't come close to the power and simplicity of a tube amp. not yet at least.

 

They do make pile ups grow. They also take some of the listening skill away from DXing, although the mutual self help started with VHF DX nets and repeaters 20 or more years ago.

I'm a Luddite, so I don't use them.

 

Because of my limitations of living in an aparment, I usually can not hear what is listed on the clusters. I like using them myself so I can at least tell what band is open. If I do hear a pile-up, I will try to work it. If I get in, I get in. If not, there is always someone elsewhere in the band that I will be able to work.
It really depends on if you want to use the clusters only for your contacts or use it as a tool that shows you what bands are doing what.

 

I believe DX Clusters serve a purpose, and both help, and hurt. I frequently use them to try to keep an eye out when I'm doing other things and can't stay on the radio. Sometimes I jump on and work the rare one I'd otherwise miss. They do attract what I call "the swarm" when someone spots you....it's an obvious, immediate increase in callers. That's a good thing if it's slow and the DX station needs to increase his rate, but it can help create a mess and slow things down when conditions are good.
Many times, however, I've been alerted to DX in a direction that I was not listening, and would have missed if not for the spot. (such as: I'm beaming Europe, and a weak Pacific station is on I couldn't hear without turning the Yagi.) I've been happy more than once to be monitoring the DX Cluster while operating.
True that many spots are useless, depending on location. Others are very valuable. When you can actually hear the rare African spotted by some other DX, it makes dealing with the "false spots" not as annoying.
I often find it helpful to analyze past DX spots by callsign at DX Summit http://oh2aq.kolumbus.com/dxs/ to discover rare DX operating habits when I'm "on the hunt" for a new one that I've not yet found. If you see that he gets on most Friday nights for 4 hours, then I don't need to listen for him the other days of the week; I'll be there listening when he calls his first CQ on the next Friday night. This helped with bagging several evasive targets that I've needed this past year. The site is also good for finding QSL and QTH info.
If people wait for a spot to be posted before they do any listening, they miss out on lots of DX. This can be a sign of laziness, I suppose. Many good DX stations never get posted, I've noticed. I attribute it to differences in opinion on what's DX, and who's on at the time. To serious DXers, a UA, JA, and many common countries won't be worthy of a spot, but to many others, it is a most desirable contact. I've observed that spots drop off drastically when stateside is asleep.
Don't like pileups and competing with everyone else? Don't. Listen and find your own. That's probably the best way, anyway. Don't want to spend $ on a decent antenna system? Don't...find a cheap, used yagi someone's replaced and clean it up. Build your own wire beam or quad. Three elements puts you in the game. No tower? Find a cheap push-up mast or build one with 2X4s. I've found that by looking, you can find some really good deals. (Like a 60ft Rohn tower with yagi and rotor for $250. Free yagis for take-down. Aluminum for free=40M vertical, etc.) Network, meet others that are interested in the same things, talk. This is a hobby primarily involving communication. When there's a will, there's a way! (Nothing happens until you get purpose...)
73, Mike AL7KC

 

K2WH, did you really mean to say that???? You're going to admit that you own an amp that needs a three minute warmup, then you're going to claim a budget limit????? Now, just whose leg do you think you're fooling here?

Last I looked, the three minute warmup amps all had 8877s, 3CX800A7s or 4CX800A7 tubes, and not a one of them is a budget amplifier. They're all bloody expensive.

If you really had any sort of monetary limitations, you'd be using a 3-500Z based amp (instant-on) or a multiple 811/572B amp (also instant on). You can't fool us! If you have a 3-minute warmup limit, then you have got money to burn!

Besides, we never got an answer to the question:

"Why didn't you call him barefoot before the amp warmed up?" There might be a 3 minute requirement for the tubes to warm up, but there's no requirement that you wait for the amp to call the guy, you know!

As far as spoiled on HF - for some of us, that's life. I have time to get on the air maybe once a week for an hour and an occasional evening. I'll be damned if I'll resort to DX clusters or DX nets, and I'm very pleased to say that I've now worked 195 countries since September, of course with very few QSL'd. There are some major big time VHF weenies who live near me, and I'll tell you this - their lives revolve around ham radio. They schedule work around openings. I ain't retired yet, so I can't do that! Them's the breaks, eh?

MB

 

This article is about DX Web Sites and not me. Stay on the subject.

 

With the introduction of any new technology there are some who resist adoption of said technology. However, it is a proven fact that someone who recognizes the benefit to be derived from adoption of the technology and does so, places everyone else in the position of playing "catch-up."

Due to my busy schedule I find it difficult to spend hours "spinning" the dial hoping to find a new dx station . . . due to that I find it helpful to periodically check the dx spots.

From the view point of being the dx station (HP in '80-81, YS '81-83 & HL '87-'88) before the introduction on dx clusters or websites there were time when I needed a particular US state on a specific band and would have relished the ability to post such a notice on the clsuter.

So, DX clusters/websites, personal preference, I guess.

Hutch