Embedded Files
Contacting stations in exotic locations, rarely activated,
gives me a real buzz.
HF DXing is a challenge I enjoy,
particularly on CW.
I make about 6,000 QSOs per year
as ZL2iFB, plus another
few thousand contest QSOs
as ZM4G or ZM4T.
Given my location
down here on the Far Side
virtually all of them are DX!
I've been licenced since attending an after-school electronics club run by physics teacher Graham G4AVV and his student Colin G4CWH, among others. Graham and Colin taught a few of us the theory, and in turn when they left we taught boys in the years below us. The Radio Amateurs’ Exam was the first public exam I took. I taught myself CW straight away after a short a break to complete my O-levels and got my CW pass on May 2nd 1979 (yes, more than 3 decades ago!). My call G4iFB came through shortly after. [Colin, thanks for threatening to do nasty things to my insides if I got a Class B VHF licence. You were right. HF is for grown ups and CW is definitely the more civilised mode.]
I enjoy HF DXing whenever I can - around ZL dawn (sometimes) and dusk (most evenings) on the low bands (30-40-80m, with no antenna for 160m at the moment) and for the odd spare hour in the middle of the day on HF since my home office is my shack, conveniently enough. I keep an ear open (just the one) for the 10m beacons some days too.
I’ve caught some good high-band openings including a solid long path run into Europe on 15m that someone kindly recorded and published on YouTube video to show off their fancy instant-reversal Steppir beam (nice!). A 15m QSO with my friend Jean 5T0JL led to a nice chat on email about HF propagation and skeds on the high bands including 12m: Jean ran 90W to a vertical and I was using 100W to a simple wire loop on 12m, so that was clearly a magic path.
One Saturday morning in August 2011 I heard my pal Paul ZL4PW CQing on 17/CW. We worked easily enough on weak groundwaves. An hour later, I heard him CQing again, but this time with a curious multitone signal. It sounded like the normal groundwave sig - a normal sine tone - plus a slightly higher frequency signal with a raspy note, presumably an auroral reflection with a bit of Doppler shift. 10m opened to most of NA shortly afterwards, and just after lunch I was amazed to work ZD8D on 30m. Even 12m flickered briefly to life a few times. A fascinating day’s DXing!
One ZL evening in December 2011, I was getting ready for a sked on 12m when I noticed very strong echoes on my transmission. In fact, I was sure I could hear more than 1 echo, so I turned on the audio recorder and sent a spaced-out string of fast individual dits to check. This blue audio trace shows one of the roughly 50wpm dits captured by Audacity:
Yes, that’s right, there are 3 echoes! The first echo could have been a reflection from some sort of reflecting surface - a patch of E-layer ionization perhaps - about 9,000 km away from me, or perhaps an artifact in the transceiver or PC. The second echo delayed by 161 milliseconds had done about 48,000 km, or roughly once around the world. The third and final echo arrived back here about 300 milliseconds after the dit went out. Travelling at 300 million meters per second, I calculate it had done a 90,000 km round trip, meaning twice around the globe! Wow!
Long path signals are quite distinctive, for example here’s a clip of John 9M6XRO on 17m, with an LP echo so strong that it is hard to make out his CW characters.
Using an audio spectrum plot and Audacity’s cursor, I measured the delay at 83 milliseconds. Travelling at close to 300 million metres per second (speed of light), John’s LP signal must have gone an extra 24,900 km (0.083 x 300,000,000 / 1000) compared to the SP signal. John is close to 8,000 km away from me, so his SP signal would have taken at least 27 milliseconds to arrive here by the most direct route. Adding 83 to 27 milliseconds gives the total delay for the LP signal of at least 110 milliseconds, representing a distance of no less than 32,900 km i.e. 24,900 + 8 ,000 (phew!). The earth’s circumference is about 40,000 km, so either my measurements or maths are wrong, or the speed of light or Earth diameter are wrong (!), or more likely the signal took a slightly shorter round-the-world trip than the true long path, especially if we factor-in the likely extra distance between the ground and the ionospheric layers that reflect signals. It may have cut corners along the grey line but, still, it’s close enough to LP for me.
I heard another triple echo on my own signal on 12m in May 2013, with the delays measured at about 70, 161 and 300 mS again. I’m puzzled why the 3rd echo wasn’t at 322 mS ... maybe it took a shortcut along a greyline ‘duct’ rather than following a true great circle path?
For the record, on both occasions I was using the K3’s fabulously slick QSK+ setting, with the KPA500 running 500 watts out to a full-wave 12m wire loop antenna. It probably helps that the loop is close to omnidirectional.
By the way, QSK sounds horrible on some rig/amp combinations: for example, listen to this short soundbyte of 1A0C on 30m. This is staccato CW - the CW speed is quite high to start with but shortened CW bits turn some of the dits into blips. I measured the bit lengths on his “5NN”. While the dahs are reasonably consistent (86 and 97 milliseconds in this case), the dots vary widely between 13 and 33 ms, averaging a little under 23 ms.
In conventional Morse code, a dit should be one third the length of a dah. On average, 1A0C’s dits were only one quarter of a dah (I’m being generous due to the measurement difficulties: those 13 ms dits were only one seventh of a dah!). The bits were shortened variably, most likely due to low quality QSK. The op could have counteracted this by reverting to semi-break-in or increasing the CW weighting on his keyer, or of course buying a better radio and amp, but he probably just didn’t realise.
Strong echoes on SSB make it sound as if two stations are doubling when there is only one - here is a clip of ZL2JBR one morning on 20m: by chance he was beaming NW from Wellington while I was beaming SE from Hawkes Bay. After turning our beams towards each other (NE and SW respectively) we had a solid QSO on ground wave.
My DXCC records
My DXCC records
After more than a decade as ZL2iFB and ZM4G with over 130,000 QSOs in the log, I have worked and confirmed 332 all-time DXCC countries (2 of which are deleted), earning mixed, CW, Phone and Data DXCCs, DXCC Challenge and single-band DXCCs on 8 HF bands from 10m to 80m.
I’m on the verge of qualifying for DXCC Honor Roll with just these ten DXCC entities left >
I'm looking forward to working Bouvet Island soon!
This is my DXCC awards table on LoTW:
I'm making about 20 QSOs on an average day, more than that on FT8 thanks to the automation that lets me multi-task - working on the main screen while keeping a weather eye on JTDX on the side screen.
I don’t run full-auto FT8.
What’s the point?
No fun in that.
Right now though, I'm virtually QRT, taking a break since April 2022, largely due to the sudden unexpected demise of both my K3's.
Here is my mixed-mode all-time DXCC breakdown by bands (DXCC doesn’t count on 60m):
For the DXCC Challenge , I have filled 2,374 band-slots, 98% of which (2,335) are confirmed:
The WAZ (Worked All CQ Zones) table is filling out nicely, aside from 6, 60 & 160m anyway:
CQ zone 2 is surprisingly difficult from ZL. We have to battle the US and EU hordes over a mostly weak and fluttery polar path.
Odd, then, that we can work OX, TF and the rest of VE without too much trouble.
Anyway, I relish the challenge.
Wouldn’t want DXing to be too easy!
For WAS (ARRL Worked All US States), I’ve worked all 50 US states on 10 through 40m but I’m missing South Dakota on 80m, most of the US on topband and all of it on 6 and 60m:
To fill that final 80m WAS slot I could:
Call "CQ SD" in our evenings.
Watch the FT8 decodes for stations with gridsquares in SD.
Make skeds with active and willing South Dakotans.
Work more 80m US contests, especially those in which states are part of the exchange.
Set DXcluster alerts in Logger32 for SD stations I have worked on other bands.
... or simply spend more time on 80m whenever the path to NA is open.
HF beacons
HF beacons
I sometimes monitor beacons while working (one of many benefits of working from home). While we had sunspots, I logged about two hundred 10m beacons, most running QRP to verticals.
Comprehensive beacon lists are maintained by G3USF and WJ5O.
It is disappointing that not all beacon keepers mention their beacons on their QRZ.com pages or publish information about their beacons elsewhere on the Internet, even the basics such as the location, power and antenna. Why they would go to the trouble of installing, running and maintaining a beacon and yet not publish this information puzzles me.
Beaconbytes
Beaconbytes
I record the beacons to help ID the weak signals we often receive here in NZ. Aside from the beacon message text, the exact frequency (well, exact according to my K3’s VFO display, calibrated against WWV) and characteristics such as its strength, keying speed, timing, tone of the signal and any anomalies (e.g. does it chirp?) are often enough to ID a beacon reliably without necessarily having to wait to hear its full callsign. In the case of those annoying beacons that only send their calls infrequently, it’s a big time saver that lets me log more DX beacons while the band remains open.
When the 10m band is wide open in ZL, there may be more than 50 beacons to ID and log at any one time: that hyperlink points to a 13-minute MP3 recording of me systematically tuning through the 10m beacon sub-band from about 28186 (VK5KV) to 28300kHz, (K6FRC/B) back in 2010, pausing along the way to ID and log the signals using their callsigns if I catch them or their messages or characteristic signals if not.
Another way to monitor the beacons is using an SDR to watch the entire beacon sub-band at once: here is a screenshot from my FunCube Pro+ dongle showing the horizontal timeline traces of about 90 audible 10m beacons >
That near-vertical swipe near the top is someone tuning about 100 kHz HF across the beacon band, I guess - a reasonably strong and clean carrier anyway.
The weak and fuzzy sloper near the bottom could be an RF emission from the sun (a 'sweeper') or some nasty sproggie from our IT equipment, drifting HF over about 20 kHz.
6m is not the only magic band. Listen to TP2CE/B on 10m running just 450mW on the far side of the globe, and even more remarkably AC0KC/B with a measly 50mW (equivalent to a quarter of a million kilometers per watt). 50mW would barely power a very dim torch bulb, even one of those brilliant white LEDs would be pathetically weak. And this is CW, remember, copied by ear, not some fancy digital mode integrated over a period and decoded by computer.
TP2CE-B.mp3AC0KC-B.mp3A number of fishing buoys mark drift net positions with beacon transmissions (illegally) within amateur bands. Some sit rather annoyingly in the 10m beacon sub-bands. Most send a few seconds of carrier (which usually starts up with a chirp), then a short 'callsign' in Morse (1-3 characters, chirpy again, chosen by the fishermen), then go silent for a minute or so.
C.mp3D.mp3NZ.mp3In our mornings, I hear them due East of NZ, possibly floating around the Pacific towards central America or in the Caribbean, perhaps even further away. One or two come up in our afternoons when propagation swings North and then West towards JA and VK. Despite running QRP to CB-type vertical antennas, their saltwater ground plane is enough to launch the RF over thousands of km via skywave, much further than is necessary for the net-hunting fishermen who presumably have a fairly good idea from GPS as to where their nets were and I guess listen on ground wave as they approach over the final few km.
NCDXF beacons
NCDXF beacons
4S7B.mp3JA2IGY.mp3RR9O.mp3YV5B.mp34U1UN.mp3KH6WO.mp3VE8AT.mp3ZL6B.mp34X6TU.mp3LU4AA.mp3VK6RBP.mp3ZS6DN.mp35Z4B.mp3OA4B.mp3VR2B.mp3CS3B.mp3OH2B.mp3W6WX.mp3
The NCDXF beacons are a useful guide to worldwide HF openings on 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20m. Simply monitor a single frequency on each band to determine which beacons are audible. Using specialised beacon-monitoring software has additional benefits e.g.
Faros uses the time of arrival of beacon signals to distinguish short from long path openings;
Beaconsee can frequency-hop, following a given beacon from band-to-band to compare signal strengths at different frequencies;
Logger32 plots whichever beacon is currently transmitting on the frequency of your receiver on a world map;
The software uses the published beacon schedule to determine which beacon is transmitting in each band's time slots, so if you don't copy or can't hear their callsigns transmitted in CW, you can still easily tell which beacon you are listening to.
The NCDXF beacons are remarkably useful propagation tools. Like all 24x7 beacons, however, they inevitably suffer occasional outages and glitches, for example OA4B transmitting in all its time slots on 18MHz instead of moving band-to-band, VK6RBP with ALC problems and CS3B with ALC problems and instability. Find out about planned (and unplanned!) engineering works on the official NCDXF beacon site.
I urge regular users to contribute to the NCDXF to express your support for the beacon ops and help keep the beacons running. NCDXF is also a major sponsor of DXpeditions.
Please avoid transmitting on the NCDXF beacon spot frequencies
(14100, 18110, 21150, 24930 and 28200 kHz)
and the beacon sub-bands (e.g. 28160 to 28300 kHz).
They may seem vacant but there are DXers like me
listening intently for very weak beacons.
CW
CW
Check out what the History Channel has to say about Morse code, invented by Samuel FB Morse (nice initials!), Joseph Henry and Alfred Vail, and used for telegraphy over wired and wireless circuits since the mid-19th Century. It was used for the first ever round-the-world radio contact between stations 2SZ at Mill Hill School in London and 4AA at Shag Station near Dunedin. To commemorate the 90th anniversary of that historic QSO in 2014, the UK authorities gave special permission for 2SZ to be aired from the same school, and it was a big thrill for me to contact them during the Oceania CW contest. With modern equipment, aerials and scientific knowledge, round-the-world contacts are no longer as rare ... but they are still special.
I have been using CW almost exclusively since I was first licensed in 1979 and discovered that 100 watts or less goes much further on the key than on the mic. Even with QRO I still love CW, perhaps because CW is a more universal language than SSB. Nearly everything gets abbreviated - whether you're a ZL or a JA, "73" sounds and means the same thing. CW is more bandwidth-efficient than SSB (approximately 4 Hz per WPM for a well-shaped CW signal, according to K3WWP, so less than about 150Hz at normal CW speeds) and much easier to filter out QRM. Even polar flutter and auroral Doppler shift sound OK on CW. OK OK so the computer digital modes are even better still but then the computer does all the work, and since I work in IT, typing is not my idea of a fun pastime.
FOC_Guide_to_Morse_Code_Proficiency.pdf
International Morse Code, plus various procedural aspects of sending and receiving telegrams, are specified by ITU-R recommendation M.1677. If you care about CW, please pay attention to the prosigns (such as ...-.- “end of work”) that should be run together as one continuous character, not separate letters. ...-.- might be remembered and written as SK or VA but should not be sent that way.
I can’t see much point in learning and using the AC prosign for the @ symbol in email addresses when the shorter “AT” works perfectly well and is universally understood. Likewise “DOTCOM” or “DOTNET” or whatever are self-evident whereas the dot/period/full-stop character is rarely used by hams.
It’s odd that KN (go ahead named station) and BK (break) are usually sent as prosigns but don’t appear on most ‘official’ lists of Morse prosigns. Maybe in theory they should be sent normally with letter spaces, but in ham usage they have evolved into prosigns. In contests, I tend to send “TU” as a prosign to save a few milliseconds, ending every QSO with an “X”, a kiss. Seems appropriate to me and, so far, nobody has complained.
CQ Magazine’s annual DX Marathon
CQ Magazine’s annual DX Marathon
CQ Magazine's DX Marathon is a DXers’ competition to work the most DXCC countries plus extras (such as the Shetland Islands and Kosovo) and CQ zones during the calendar year. There's a competitive element to it with plaques and certificates for the leaders in various categories but it's not a contest, and casual entries are very welcome.
Here's how to prepare and submit your entry, step-by-step:
Soon after the end of the year, extract and save your complete year's log as an ADIF file. Note: if you expect to be busy or on holiday early in the new year, you can prepare your entry earlier ... and update it if you work any new ones late in the year.
Download the official entry spreadsheet from the CQ DX Marathon website and save it somewhere handy.
Download the ADIF to CQ DX Marathon utility by Jim AD1C (tnx Jim, what a star!).
Install and run the utility:
Enter the station info, then point it at the ADIF log from step 1 and the spreadsheet from step 2.
It hunts for all the CQ zones and countries in your log and magically completes the spreadsheet for you.
Check the spreadsheet carefully for errors such as busted calls and zones:
The 2022 helpful hints on the DX Marathon website are very helpful.
There are many busted DXcluster spots ... but that's OK because you always double-check a spotted DX station’s callsign before logging a QSO, right?
Try not to claim the same QSO for country and zone credits, just in case the QSO is disallowed. Better still, only claim QSOs that you are confident were genuine, completed properly and ideally confirmed (e.g. on LoTW or in DXpeditions' online logs). Tip: take extra care over log accuracy when working especially rare DX stations. Tip: within reason, try to work them on whichever bands and modes you care about - don't rely on a single QSO ... but don't get too greedy, hogging all available slots or making duplicate QSOs. Everyone deserves a chance!
Write some soapbox notes on the spreadsheet. Interesting comments may feature in the DX Marathon write-up that appears in CQ Magazine around the middle of the year.
The spreadsheet must be uploaded or emailed to logs@DXmarathon.com no later than 2359z on January 5th of the following year. The deadline is tight so why not open your calendar now and set yourself a reminder?
Before the deadline, check your inbox for a confirmation email that the entry has been received. Double-check that your entry is shown on the list of entrants at the DX Marathon website. [My 2015 log was submitted and confirmed by email but mysteriously disappeared from the entrants’ list due to gremlins in the system. Luckily it was found ... and I won the Oceania plaque that year.]
Take note of any feedback from the contest adjudicator such as apparently invalid claimed countries or zones (usually zone 2) and fix them if you can before the deadline (correct your entry form and re-submit it which replaces any earlier one/s in the system).
Wait patiently for the results. Logs in the running for top honours are thoroughly checked: I know because John K9CT dug out an obscure ZB pirate in my 2016 log. I had no idea the QSO was bad.
This year’s event started on January 1st so, if you are 'DX', don’t be surprised if I call you on several bands having already worked you in previous years! Likewise, I’m happy for others to call me at least once per band and mode per year - well as often as you like really. If I’m not busy, let’s have a chat. If I’m running a pileup or contesting, please don’t be offended if I exchange a brief greeting and quickly return to the waiting pile.
By the way, although CQ Mag offers us no way to track our performance during the year, the CDXC DX Marathon Challenge and league tables on Club Log are a useful substitute, highly motivating. How are you getting on relative to your peers this year? Are they edging ahead of you on certain bands or modes?
DXpeditioning
DXpeditioning
There are many reasons why DXpeditioners enjoy DXpeditioning but top of most people's list, surely, is "To have fun!". In this context, having fun generally involves:
Making QSOs as efficiently, if not necessarily as fast, as humanly possible: accuracy matters more than rate and sometimes conditions or abilities dictate a slower pace
Meeting lots of old friends and making new ones (both in the team and in the pileup)
Working as many different (“unique”) callsigns as possible, not just filling lots of band-slots for the big guns
Working real DX, the rare & surprising stuff, unusual paths, novices, the 100w/G5RV brigade and QRPers
Using different bands and modes, often including things you wouldn't normally do at home
Taming the technology, putting out a good signal and hearing well
Dealing effectively with the piles and zoo creatures, getting better at it and at the same time learning to be a better DXer
Elmering - teaching novice DXpeditioners the ropes - and learning new tricks from more experienced peers
Getting on the air from exotic far-off places, not just idly dreaming about it (and ideally making time for sightseeing!)
Being a pleasure to contact, spreading joy and happiness
Staying fit and healthy but getting absolutely exhausted, in a nice way
Being a great ambassador for amateur radio
Gaining the respect of fellow DXers and DXpeditioners.
Likewise, there are many reasons why DXers enjoy chasing and working DX:
Collecting sets and awards - QSLs, DXCC, WAZ, IOTA, stamps, points, what have you
Beating rivals, mastering the challenge and earning bragging rights
Meeting old friends and making new ones
Making connections with exotic, far-off places that non-hams would struggle to even point at on the map
Discovering and exploiting different propagation modes and paths
Self-improvement - becoming more skilled, competent and accomplished, learning better techniques, getting slicker with every pileup (which includes learning from the idiots what not to do!)
Proving and improving the entire system - the antennas, equipment and operator
Enjoying the chase as much as the catch: if it was all too easy, it would no longer be fun
Being a pleasure to contact, spreading a little joy
Gaining the respect of fellow DXers and DXpeditioners.
DXers living in exotic places often grow tired of endless rubber-stamp QSOs. My late friend 5T0JL, for example, preferred not just to swap reports but wanted to find out operators’ names at least. It’s his choice: if someone is running a pileup, it’s up to them how to run it. Always listen carefully to the operator’s instructions, and failing that take your cue from what the DX op and other callers are normally sending. Just as it is considered impolite and inconsiderate to monopolise the channel by sending a long brag file to a DX station that is running a decent rate on one of the digital modes, it is equally rude to blurt out just “five nine” or “5NN” to someone who is routinely swapping names etc. Be nice!
In 2001, I joined the Voodudes’ DXpedition to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for the XT2DX operation in CQ WW CW. We transported the entire multi-multi station from Ghana to Burkina overland in a hired minibus and set it up on the roof of an hotel. It was a real blast - although I have plenty of contest experience, it was my first real experience of being at the DX end of a pileup . I joined the lads again in 9L a few years later.
I was part of the Oceania DX Group’s VI9NI team in 2006 for CQ WPX CW. The contest entry was a flop but the trip was fun.
The opposite happened with a short break to Rarotonga, operating as E51iFB from a fabulous holiday QTH that just didn’t work out on the radio somehow. I could hear OK but evidently couldn’t be heard, and to cap it all my laptop’s hard drive expired taking the whole E51iFB log with it. :-( It’s a good thing I didn’t make many QSOs really.
I'd love to do more DXpeditions, in particular I want to visit the Galapagos Islands HC8 to combine amateur radio and following Charles Darwin's exploration of the exotic fauna and flora that has evolved there (takes me back to my genetics training). Perhaps one day I’ll get the chance to hand out the Galapagos multiplier in a major contest ...
Lee ZL2AL put me on to the fabulous DXpedition videos by James 9V1YC (originally on DVD, now online). The BS7H story is amazing - to see 4 self-contained stations perched on rickety wooden platforms on rocks about the size of a rug, the largest remaining bits of a dead reef still above water at high tide, in a war zone in the South China Sea, is almost incredible. They were fortunate to have such good weather as I’m sure the slightest of squalls would have been catastrophic. The “discussions” about whether DXCC rules should continue to permit such an entity rumble on. Rising sea levels due to global warming will probably result in deletions of some of these wet specks of rock before long, once they no longer poke above the sea even at low tide: perhaps then those American hams who are still in denial about climate change will finally accept the inevitable.
VP8THU was a “micro-light DXpedition” using small barefoot transceivers. Given that they must have spent a fortune getting the team there, it seems odd that they would skimp on equipment and settle for poorer signals, but still they made a respectable number of QSOs. Watching them ferry people and equipment from a dinghy up an icy rock face, and back again at the end, is best done from behind the settee - a bit like the BBC’s “Dr Who”, too scary for kids to see out front.
The vids are well worth watching, whether you just work DXpeditions, dream of joining one or are actually planning one for real. It’s a shame James 9V1YC doesn’t at least make a guest appearance in front of the lens though: I guess either he’s not keen on letting someone else hold his expensive camera or he’s camera shy!
The DX Code of Conduct
The DX Code of Conduct
As a contributing author to the original DX Code of Conduct, I’ve adopted my own personalized version:
I listen loads more than I transmit. I listen even harder as I get closer to Honor Roll - more elephant than alligator.
When calling someone or CQing, I call briefly and then listen for a reasonable interval. I don't call continuously, and I don't call at all if the DX is clearly calling someone else. If I'm not sure, I listen more and transmit reluctantly, leaving more time for others to call. See 1st bullet!
I only call someone if I can copy them sufficiently well to complete a QSO. Until then, I hold back ... and listen intently.
I don't transmit on the beacon frequencies!
I distrust DXcluster and RBN spots and always make the effort to listen to confirm the DX callsign myself.
In QSO, I send my own callsign frequently, usually on every over even when contesting or running a pileup. When things get frantic, or if someone successfully tail-ends, or if a pal who clearly knows its me calls in, I may not ID every single time ... but I try not to make anyone listening-in wait long to find out who I am.
I listen on the frequency before and while transmitting (including while working split) to avoid causing interference. I never tune up on the DX frequency, in his QSX slot or on top of another QSO ... in fact, using no-tune amplifiers, I don’t tune up on-air at all.
I’m careful to work split whether the DX says “UP” or the pileup is clearly off frequency, and I always listen first. I use a one-button macro to configure my K3 instantly for split.
When I’m operating split, I try to keep the pile quite close to my transmit frequency so that everyone can hear the pile to one side, even if I don’t send “UP” every time. I try hard not to spread my pile so far that it dominates the band and causes QR .. but I expect callers to listen first on their transmit frequencies.
Hint: if I’m working a CW pile, don't zero-beat with me too accurately. Shift off-frequency a bit to make it easier for me to differentiate you from other callers. I normally run my RX filters at about 2.8kHz bandwidth and listen on the HF side of my carrier so there is a good chance I will copy you if you call on the high side.
We all occasionally make mistakes but there are more than enough frequency kops out there. I certainly don't shout "UP! UP! UP!" like a demented parrot or transmit profanities because I know that will QRM other, more considerate DXers patiently listening on the side.
I won't interrupt a QSO but wait patiently for a contact to end before calling in. On the very rare occasions that I tail-end to catch a friend, I send my callsign quickly, once, at precisely the right moment, and listen. I don’t send any more info than absolutely necessary.
If you call me while I am still talking to someone else, I am unlikely to contact you, especially if you are so rude and inconsiderate as to call me at length or repeatedly. Please shut up, be patient and listen carefully to what I am sending. I normally end my QSOs with “SK” and I try to remember to send “QRT” or “QSY” before I leave ‘my’ frequency. If the frequency ‘belongs’ to the other station but you want to work me, you might be able to catch my attention by sliding up ~1kHz and calling me, if the frequency is clear.
Before calling CQ, I normally send "QRL?" and listen, by which I mean "Is this frequency already occupied?" The anticipated response is either complete silence which I take to mean “All clear: go ahead Gary!” or else "QRL" or "Y" or "R" or "C" or whatever, indicating that the frequency is indeed busy. Hint: if you send "QRL" on my frequency without the question mark, I presume you are telling someone else (who I can't hear) that the frequency is busy , hence I will not respond. If you then start CQing, you will probably cause me QRM. Please don't omit the crucial "?" in "QRL?"!!
I hold back if the DX operator calls specific geographical areas other than PAC, OC or VK/ZL, unless I’m convinced that he really means “CQ not EU” or “CQ not USA” or “CQ not JA”. It is rare to hear “CQ PACIFIC”, “CQ OC” or “CQ VK/ZL”, so much so that I normally spot anyone doing so on DXcluster, while I’m calling them, in the hope that other locals will join me in calling the DX.
On CW, I routinely use QSK (full break-in) which works extremely well on the K3. Feel free to drop in your callsign while I am still transmitting a CQ: if I hear someone on my frequency, I will normally stop transmitting as soon as I notice them. That doesn't always work, particularly if there is QRM and QRN or if I am deafened by my own echoes, but I do my best.
I will normally try to match your CW speed. Send at whatever speed you find comfortable, from 5 up to about 40 WPM (the edges of my comfort zone). I'll be happy when the speed pot on my MM3 is finally worn out!
When a DX operator calls me, I repeat my callsign if he has copied it incorrectly. I persist doggedly until I am sure he has my call correct. The rest (including his report) can wait. If the moves on to the next QSO without confirming my call, I will call again because I hate being “NIL” (Not In Log).
If you call me and I respond but bust your call, repeat your call until I get it right. Just be sure to listen in case I am in fact working someone else with a similar call to yours.
If I send "CE3?" I am explicitly asking the station whose callsign begins with CE3 to call again. Similarly, if I send “XY” I am listening carefully for the person whose callsign contains that precise sequence of characters. If your call does not match, then QRX: you will get your turn. If you hear me sending "CE3XY CE3XY CE3XY?? KN", especially if I slow right down as well, that's a giant clue that I am rapidly losing my patience with rude out-of-turn callers and may shortly QRT to cool off and regain my composure.
I hate partials. If you call me, please give your full callsign or I may pointedly ignore you. Correct identification is a legal requirement in many countries. It is inefficient and annoying to deal with the ignorant callers who repeatedly send partials at me. Life's too short for partials, except perhaps when someone has most of my call and requests a fill-in, and even then I normally repeat the missing bit once or twice and then send my full call for good measure.
Outside of contests, if I hear two or more people calling me at the same time, I tend to go for the weakest ones first in the hope that they might be DX or QRP. In contests, I go for the snappiest, clearest callers in order to maximize my rate, unless I catch the feint whiff of a new multiplier.
If you run QRP, it's up to you whether you sign "/QRP" (if your license allows it), simply mention your power in QSO, or don't let on until you send me your QSL card. Although it's not always possible, I may turn down the wick at my end for a two-way QRP QSO although I would prefer to make the entire QSO on QRP before putting 2xQRP in my log and QSL cards.
I enjoy making new friends and I’m thankful for the contacts I make. I routinely confirm all of my QSOs within hours via LoTW. I respond 100% to the cards, Club Log OQRS and email requests I receive, although it can take me months. If you want my card, by all means ask for one during the QSO, email me (ZL2iFB@gmail.com) or make a request through Club Log’s OQRS facility. Please email me if you feel you have been waiting too long for a requested QSL, or if a confirmation does not show up on LoTW (maybe I busted your call, or maybe I was working someone else).
I respect my fellow hams and try to earn your respect. If you think I am being inconsiderate, operating badly, or ignoring legitimate callers, please email me about it, preferably with an audio clip or screenshot of whatever caught your attention. We can all improve our techniques. Seriously, I welcome learning opportunities and honest feedback.
Thank you for reading this far. Please encourage others by referring and ideally linking to the DX Code of Conduct from your QRZ page, your personal website, DXpedition website or other ham websites. Talk to your pals at the radio club about it. Mention DX-Code.org in DXCluster comments or on-air. Most of all, don’t let your standards decline to the level of the assorted idiots and dQRMers. Together, we can make a difference, and best of all, I know it works - check out my DXCC tally above!
PS If you are one of those ignorant oafs who rudely and persistently interrupts my QSOs,
ignoring my pleas to shut up and wait patiently, go take a long walk off a short plank.
I keep a personal blacklist. You won't appear in my log. I won't confirm our QSOs.
“It’s not wasted time to stand by
and let someone else complete a QSO:
you can learn a lot by listening”
Wise words from my pal John ZL1BYZ
Japanese city and gun awards
Japanese city and gun awards
JARL, the Japanese national radio society, offers an award for working Japanese cities. I stumbled across this after noticing yet another JA special event station with a weird callsign sending its JCC number to strings of JA callers on 40m. Google found the JARL page listing those JCC numbers and with a bit of digging and guesswork, I found this brief page about the JCC award. The basic award requires QSLs from at least 100 of the nearly 800 current Japanese cities, ignoring the deleted cities (which I hardly dare ask about).
There is a similar JCG award for working at least 100 of the 396 current guns ... not, not that kind of gun, a Japanese gun is evidently a “regional congregation of towns and districts”, not unlike the districts or parishes of G-land I guess, making this award vaguely similar to the dreaded Worked All Britain award.
JARL’s main English page for all its awards is here.
HF propagation
HF propagation
On the topband reflector, N7DF noted that changes of the direction in which the interplanetary magnetic field impinges on earth's magnetic field (known as Bz, apparently) affect propagation on all the SW bands. The 24 hour and 7-day magnetic data from NOAA did indeed show a correlation between Bz (the yellow plot) and the outstanding 10m conditions I experienced over the previous weekend:
Notice the yellow Bz plot (and orange Theta and green Phi) dips to the negative region on the 13th and again on the 14th and 16th. These were the very periods when 10m conditions peaked for me. According to N7DF, the periods of change between Bz+ and Bz- correlate with enhanced LF conditions, while the stable Bz- periods correlate with enhanced HF conditions.
... Unfortunately, this is yet another lagging indicator that doesn’t help DXers predict when conditions will peak.
But, still, it’s an interesting aside.
Likewise with the Space Weather Overview image from NOAA >
Those yellow peaks on the X-ray chart were flares, while the red, orange and yellow bars on the geomagnetic chart reflect a Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun that sent the A- index to about 100, generating auroras and all but wiping out HF propagation (and the FOC BWQP contest ) for a day or so. The few DX signals I could hear on 15, 20 and 40m were weak, and my kW evidently wasn’t enough to reach most of them on CW ... but I did contact ZG2TT on 15m using FT8 with 200 watts out to my 5 ele monobander beaming due East, receiving a -14 dB report.
NOAA’s D-RAP page shows when HF conditions are lousy due to heavy absorption caused by solar flares. Bright green, yellow or red areas on the map mean weak or inaudible signals on the high bands, whereas normally all we see is dark colours meaning daytime D-layer absorption on the low bands. Fade-outs due to solar flares (as in the example below) can last just a few minutes up to several hours.
This was just a few minutes after a flare wiped out 5X0NH’s signal on 17m: both short and long path between ZL and 5X pass through the polar regions where the orange and red shading indicates significant HF absorption.
Operating single-band on 15m in the 2012 WPX CW contest gave me the chance to study the way the paths change with propagation. Towards dawn and dusk, DX signals from the Far Side often appear at strange angles of azimuth (e.g. UK stations that are normally worked by beaming due North or South can be strongest to our East or West, and at other times I had some good runs while beaming at the South Pole) but the mystery is solved by looking the great circle map: the grey line between night and day snakes its way around the world giving those odd angles as it passes either end and, usually, give substantially stronger signals for a while.
I’m fascinated by long path openings, not least because they offer a way to work DX stations that struggle via short path due to local terrain and QRM. It’s quite a buzz to break through a US pileup working an African station via their SP, since my LP to Africa passes over North America: all I need is for the African to hear my weak fluttery “DXey” signal as it pops up at just the right moment between the stronger US SP signals in their pileup, and for the US guys to give me a break, which mostly they do. I’m trying hard to train myself to pay more attention for LP callers in my own pileups too, so please don’t give up too easily if you are calling me on your LP though my SP pile.
I enjoy greyline propagation on 80 and 40m. The greyline peak within a few minutes of sunset and sunrise is quite noticeable on 80m, provided the QRN is low enough to differentiate signals from noise. Here is a website displaying lightning strikes >
Lightning in the Tasman Sea puts the QRN crashes above S9 on 80m.
Usually, the 80m noise floor reads about S4 on my K3 using the full-wave wire loop antenna. I’m not sure why the noise floor is so high - computer crud from the shack, I guess. More investigation required.
Configuring VE7CC’s CC User utility to connect to multiple DXclusters
Configuring VE7CC’s CC User utility to connect to multiple DXclusters
Using Lee VE7CC's CC User program to connect to your favourite DXclusters beats connecting directly for several good reasons, such as:
Auto-reconnect - if the link drops, it logs you back in.
Easier filtering - point-n-click configuration of the DXcluster filters for bands etc.
Sort spots by band, frequency etc.
Read announcements, cluster mail etc.
Merge spots from multiple DXclusters: connecting simultaneously to more than one DXcluster node with CC User is useful to maintain a feed even if individual cluster nodes drop out or get bogged down, and to merge spot feeds from different sources e.g. the members-only spots received from a private cluster plus general spots from a public cluster.
The default list of Telnet-accessible DXclusters in CC User does not include every single one, largely because they keep changing.
Here’s how to configure CC User to connect to an unlisted cluster, the CDXC private (members -only) cluster in this case:
On the top line menu, select Configuration --> Cluster (telnet)
Into the (normally empty) node box, type CDXC , then click Add [Note: it is also possible to add another DXcluster address to the default node data file, but if you later select the 'Update node list' option on this screen, your changes will be overwritten when the software re -downloads the default node data file from the WWW. So basically, don't bother.]
Into the address field, type cluster.cdxc.org.uk or the Telnet address for another cluster.
Into the port field, type 7300 - the most common port, although some - particularly CC nodes - use 7373 etc.
Click Apply to tell the software you intend to connect to the CDXC cluster.
Click Exit.
On the top line menu, select Configuration --> User info.
Enter your CDXC cluster login ID and password (obtained from CDXC) and optionally complete the rest of this panel with the appropriate info for your location, home node etc.
Click OK to save it
If you are currently connected to another cluster node, click the Disconnect box next to the node name at the top of the screen.
Click Connect to tell CC User to make a Telnet connection to the address entered in steps 3 & 4 and then submit your username and password entered in step 8 to log you in, and that should have you connected to the CDXC cluster.
Optionally set up the cluster info, band filters etc. using the Settings, Bands and other tabs in CC User, then click Tell Cluster to let the new node know about them. CC User doesn't do this for you: you need to configure your settings and Tell Cluster to send them to the currently-selected cluster, then pick any other connected cluster and Tell Cluster again to copy the settings there too.
VE7CC’s DXcluster node and CC User software has the option to deliver CW Skimmer spots from the Reverse Beacon Network. Skimmer spots show up when someone starts CQing on CW or RTTY, often before they are spotted by a human being. Personally, I like the fact that RBN spots everyone, not just “DX” - ordinary hams CQing, not just those with rare or exotic calls - so I have filled many ordinary band/mode slots for the CQ DX Marathon and caught up with non-DX friends that probably would not have been spotted, so I would otherwise have missed them unless I happened to be tuning past at the right moment. There are some disadvantages to RBN though, primarily busted spots ... but to be fair busted spots turn up on DXcluster too.
Logger32 can also collate spots from two different clusters - simply connect to the respective clusters from the Telnet and Local host tabs in the cluster window.
<Aside> To those who decry the use of all this technology: oh please, give it a break! Just because you prefer to hunt your DX “the hard way” doesn’t give you the right to complain about how others do it. We don’t constantly moan at you for being behind the times, it’s entirely up to you what technologies you do or do not choose to use. You may not know which end of a soldering iron to hold but you do at least operate a radio, don’t you? Isn’t that “technology”? Personally, I’m all in favour of hams continuing to push the technology envelope and share their creativity, time and knowledge so generously with their fellow hams. It’s all part of the ham spirit to me. YMMV. </Aside>
To hear really well, you need to be really really quiet.
Banish switch-mode power supplies.
Scrap those nasty plasma TVs and noisy CRT displays.
Hunt down and eliminate computer QRM.
Then, when you’ve cleaned up the neighbours places,
go home and re-check yours yet again ...
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