Why I hate working Split Operations

It really sucks when a DX pile-up station DOESN'T work split.

LOL

DX pile-ups need to be setup split.

 

Split is good. Up 2 means "I'm listening up 1.6 to 2.4" Setting one fixed listening frequency and never tuning has the same effect as simplex. Got a newer rig with a fishfinder? You'll get a great idea where to transmit.
Mike N3PM

 

Ah. No one is saying you have to work them. They do not take up much space, really. If you don't want to work them, just spin that VFO knob or band-switch and play somewhere else.

Personally, I like it when DX run spilt. It gives them a chance to work more people and it gives me a better chance to work them. How is that bad?

 

hilarious fluster cluck of epic proportion

There. I fixed it for you.

 

So DX operators specify a vague receive frequency as they expect to get flooded with responses, so by specifying a range the callers are spread out thereby limiting contention? Is that an accurate understanding?

 

YES PAUL YOU ARE SO CORRECT.....

AND BESIDES
lots of listening/ timing Are the key.

YOU WILL HEAR A LOT OF THIS


THREE CHEERS FOR DX PILE UP'S AND QRO OPERATIONS.

 

Okay, thanks for confirming. I didn't know that was a thing (I have no DX experience). A vague RX frequency makes much more sense in that context. Learn something new every day.

 

The most fun part of operating split is figuring out how the DX op is listening. Take some time before jumping in to analyze how the DX is working stations. Does he have a pattern? Does he move up or down the band slightly after each completed QSO, and then at some point return to the lower end of his split? Does he take "tailenders"? If he's on CW and is using a very narrow split UP, does he ever listen about the same distance DOWN?

The hardest Ops to work use a seemingly random approach over a wide frequency range. Sometimes in that case I find it's best to locate the upper edge of the pileup and go just slightly above that and call there. With a random listener, ideally you want to find a quiet gap in the pile and just stay there.

Of course you might finally figure out an Op's MO and be ready to pounce only to hear the dreaded "QRX 1, we're going to change Ops".

 

That was only the case for those who didn't know how to zero beat.

 

You have an FTDX5000MP, right? That box has 2 independent receivers built in.

No.

The whole point of working split is to get the multitude that are calling to s-p-r-e-a-d o-u-t and NOT transmit all on top of each other. Giving an exact frequency does the exact opposite; everyone will just transmit on that frequency and it's as bad as ever.

You have to remember what the band sounds like to the DX station, not what it sounds like to YOU. Also that it's the DX's game, not your game.

Then don't. Florida isn't a rare state; the rare DX almost certainly doesn't need yet another Florida QSO.

 

Split wouldn't be necessary if everybody gave their entire callsign phonetically, just once, immediately after the DX station stood by for calls. It's the guys who repeat their entire callsign or their suffix; the ones who use "timing", they try to be the last caller in the hope that the DX will pick out their callsign; the guys who wait until others have finished calling before they begin to call; the ones who "drop-in" their call before the DX station completes a contact, forcing a repeat of information, etc., etc., etc. As others have mentioned, this is what causes the QSO cycle to be 10 times longer than it would be if everyone behaved like mature adults instead of like selfish idiots. A lot of the DX operators cause their own problems by working these rude callers, it becomes an unmanageable zoo and degrades into chaos. Split operation helps this problem a little bit but it does nothing for the guys who insist on "grand-standing" when they do make contact with the DX. Mature adult behavior would be the ultimate fix for both issues. For a more detailed rant on working stations in a pile-up, see my bio page.

 

Then the one that gets picked out says..."What's your call again?"

 

That won't work beyond a certain size of pileup.

Imagine a few dozen stations, all of them on exactly the same frequency, all of them fairly loud. How does the DX even begin to pull a callsign out of that wall of sound?

If everyone did that, the advantage would go to slow talkers with long callsigns. Which would cause more and more folks to talk slowly.

Calling when the DX is obviously working someone else is rude. All the rest is strategy.

One more:

There is NO REASON to say any of the following:

"please copy"

"QSL?"

"Roger?"

"Ummmm"

"Ahhhh"

"By golly"

and other filler words

No need for any of them.