Pileups and KPA500/ST0R

[bob finger]

I have been fascinated reading this thread.  Listening to the ST0R  
operation on many bands has been interesting to say the least.  You all
that complain about the radio not automatically going into split really
don't have a clue.  The K3 makes working rare dx a relatively simple
task, from the radio perspective at least.  Antennas help too of course.

One of the first rules of chasing dx in a split pile-up is knowing where
the dx is listening.  You can't learn that if you are not in split
before you ever make a call!  Listen!  Find out how he is operating and
where he is listening.  Once you know that simple fact getting in the
log is pretty easy.  90% of the callers in the ST0R pile are calling
blind, and wasting their time and energy.  Be one of the 10% that think
before transmitting and you will be in the log.  The guys at ST0R are
super fine ops.  Wish I could say the same for everyone calling.  I have
spent many hours listening to ST0R, have them in the log wherever I
wanted and have a TOTAL trasmit time of maybe 5 or 6 minutes.  I've been
listening for maybe 10 or 12 hours.  I used the amp on 20, because that
is the band that counts for me.  Other band q's were with the k3
barefoot running only about 50 watts.  Its a bit more of a challenge
that way for me.  Okay off soapbox now.  73 bob de w9ge
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[Tony Estep]

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 7:22 AM, bob finger <[hidden email]> wrote:

> ....Listening to the ST0R operation on many bands has been interesting to
> say the least...

===========
There's a pattern that recurs whenever a new, highly desirable one goes on
the air. The first day or two, there's a large contingent who call on the DX
frequency. These attract an equally large contingent of up-cops who drive
everyone crazy. This leads to long profane name-calling exchanges on the DX
frequency, and frustrated guys deliberately jamming the DX. It's worst on
CW, but phone is similar.

While all this is going on, it's hard to work the new one because he's
frequently covered up by all this nonsense, and of course the pileups are at
their max size as well. However, a well-placed call as Bob describes may
well snag him anyway.

Then after a day or so, the wackos get tired of it and go away, and the
pileups are more orderly, and they get smaller as time goes on. An op who
listens may get him without a lot of pain. (However, ST0R has had one
unusual quality. The phone pileups were so wide (up to 15 khz) and so deep
for several days that the ops were spinning their receiver dial between
QSOs. Finding the last station worked didn't help, because the next one was
up to 10 khz away. By now, the ST0R piles are down to normal size.)

This DXpedition has provided a clue as to how many DXers there are in the
world. So far, they've made QSOs with about 17,000 hams. Since everyone
needed them, presumably when they leave South Sudan, we'll have a rough
count of how many guys in the world wanted a new country enough to work
them. It was pretty chaotic at the beginning when all 17,000 were trying to
cram their call into the same little space of bandwidth.

Good DX,
Tony KT0NY


--
http://www.isb.edu/faculty/facultydir.aspx?ddlFaculty=352
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