Pileups

Pileup management advice for DX stations

Take command of your pile. Be clear, fair and reasonable. Lots of DXers will be desperately calling so do your level best to work them as efficiently as possible. Adopt a consistent rhythm and sensible speed for the conditions. Ignore the lids - don’t rise to their bait. Pick out callers that synchronise with your rhythm [hint: they may not be the loudest but they are hearing you OK].

Practice and hone your pileup management skills, preferably off-air using the outstanding freeware program PileupRunner by Alex VE3NEA.

Learn how to drive your rig and PC before getting to an exotic QTH. Be sure you know how to:

• Operate split (set and check it).

• Lock your TX VFO (or use a memory).

• Adjust your receive filters, notch filter and DSP.

• Listen on your TX frequency for dQRMers and split-challenged callers (if you can, listen with the volume down in one ear only: don’t work anyone on your TX frequency by mistake or you will cause chaos!).

• Log and correct QSOs.

• Send standard messages using memories or macros (consistency helps).

Take maximum advantage of your QTH. If you are on a desert island, find a suitable location right on the beach if you can, as close as you dare get to the sea (simple vertical antennas work extremely well right at the water’s edge or even better on a short pole in the water - you simply can’t get a better ground plane). Next best would be a high cliff-top site with excellent take-off over the sea in the main directions of interest. Mountain tops, hill tops and even hotel roofs make good locations too. Don’t forget to order good propagation before you leave home ....

If the pileups get too unruly for you, consider calling and working, or excluding, specific areas/continents and only if absolutely necessary work by numbers. Don’t spend too long on any single area or number: cycle through the complete sequence at least once every 10 to 15 minutes. Keeping the pileup under control is an important job for you. If you are too slow, the mob will get impatient and tempers will fray. Play the game.

Send your own call frequently , ideally during every QSO but if not at least once a minute or so. If you hear anyone sending QRZ or CL?, that usually means you are not IDing often enough, and it encourages the frequency kops. Don’t rush it: send your call slowly and carefully every so often. If it is garbled and gets listed wrongly on DXcluster, some of those calling you will log it wrong.

Take extra care logging when you are either tired or working flat-out. Simple typos (such as entering an oh instead of a zero) are hard to spot by eye (although slashed-zero fonts such as Monaco help in that case). On CW and data modes if not SSB, have your computer send the logged call as part of the exchange, as a sanity check. And if the pileup gets too monstrous or the DQRMers and kops too disruptive, just shift to a new frequency and for a while at least enjoy working genuine DXers who are not totally hooked on their DXcluster dripfeed ...

Repeat at least the corrected part, if not the entire call, of anyone whose call you did not send correctly the first time.

Failing to do this leaves the DXer uncertain whether the QSO was completed and leads to additional but unnecessary “insurance” QSOs. Get this right and the callers will love you. Get it wrong and they will challenge your parenthood, create dQRM on the frequency and be somewhat uncomplimentary about you on DXcluster and DX reflectors.

Use all available tools to focus on one caller at a time: notice their tone, rhythm, accent, strength etc. as well as their callsign. Concentrate. Use the filters and DSP if they help. Turn the beam if you can.

Keep your sending speed in check, no matter how big the buzz you are getting, as accuracy comes first. Use “Farnsworth” extended inter-character gaps on CW for the slower callers, especially if they are evidently having trouble copying you.

Be aware of, and take advantage of, propagation making the best of short greyline openings, long paths, sporadic E, tropo etc. Listen hard for weak DX callers . If you hear or work some DX in a run of routine QSOs, put the pileup on hold for a moment and call specifically for more of the same DX to take advantage of the opportunity which may be just a brief opening.

Remember: you are in charge. Avoid turning the pileup into a bun-fight by doing what you say: if you say “Standby Europe” (or “NO EU” on CW and data), studiously ignore any and all Europeans who call until you say “Europe go ahead” (or “EU NW” or “CQ EU”).

Operate split - always! Tell your callers what to do: use “split” or “UP” often. Give them a clue about when and when not to call (e.g. be consistent in your use of “thanks” or “TU”). Help them discover where to call, either by saying something specific like “listening up five” or “listening two-fifty for North America” on SSB or “UP1” on CW, or being a bit more vague if you need to spread the pile out (“UP” or “DN” work fine).

Be considerate to other users of the band and be extra careful if it is crowded, for example in a busy contest or if other DXpeditions are active at the same time. Don’t step on someone else’s toes by dumping your pileup on top of them - in other words, listen to your chosen RX frequency range before announcing it. Restrict your pileup’s bandspread by working within a sensible range of frequencies (e.g. spread no more than twenty kHz on SSB, no more than ten kHz on CW).

Focus on callers who are precisely synchronised with you, as they are evidently hearing you OK. If their timing is way off, move swiftly along: you’re wasting time.

Use narrow filters to single out specific callers. Patrol systematically through the receive range when things are quiet but be prepared to move swiftly through the range when the heat is on. Pointedly ignore the alligators, callers who interrupt QSOs or call blindly as they are certainly rude and are probably not hearing you well enough to make a QSO efficiently anyway. If you decide to warn them, avoid giving their full callsigns as that confirms you are hearing them and they will just continue.

If you can, monitor your own TX frequency on the 2^nd RX and if you hear anyone calling you there, send “UP” more often [but do NOT work them!!].

NOTE: even if you have published ‘preferred frequencies’, don’t stick to them slavishly. DXers will find you wherever you are. DXpeditions that have unwisely chosen and stuck to low band frequencies permanently masked by QRM in some parts of the world have missed out on QSOs and annoyed DXers unnecessarily. Clever DXpeditioners nudge their TX frequencies a few 10s of HZ to dodge the idiot dQRMers, and aim for frequencies between the round 100Hz frequencies of DXcluster spots (e.g. they might transmit on say 28010.05 or .15 rather than exactly 28010.1).

Be careful not to link your VFOs if you are using the K3. If you don’t know how this happens, or how to unlink them, read the manual or ask someone who knows. It’s a common rookie mistake, specific to the K3.

More generally, using any unfamiliar rig, take a moment to figure out how to use the VFOs, split and XIT/RIT. Double-check the VFO displays and TX/RX indicators.

[Hint: if you hear an unruly mob of pileup cops on your chosen RX frequency telling your callers to QSY! QSY! UP! UP!, there may well be another DX station using that frequency ... so it’s probably worth shifting your pileup. If you hear the cops on your TX frequency, you either need to say “UP” more often, or QSY.]

Maintain a consistent rhythm to avoid encouraging other callers to call over the top of QSOs in progress. Ignore tail-enders and, if they are really rude, silently blacklist blind callers and dQRMers, at least for a while. If the QRM is so horrendous you can only pick out a partial call, send just the partial to encourage that station to try again, hoping that others will wait.

Listen at least as much as you transmit. Use your filters etc. to the best effect and make a special effort to pick out weak callers, whether DX or QRPers (ideally both!). If you hear a weak caller but can’t quite get his call, try again. Persist. He is probably DX, maybe QRP, and is trying hard to reach you. Take your time to make someone’s day.

Repeat whatever characters of a partial call you are reasonably certain about. Try to avoid sending question mark - to lids, “?” means “Go ahead”! Focus on the specific tone and rhythm of the caller, and persist doggedly until you get his complete call. If you make a genuine mistake and nobody returns to your first or second offer, say something like “No copy, QRZ” (or “NIL QRZ” on CW) and return to normal calling. If you are reasonably certain the caller had, say, “W3X” in his call, ignore any unrelated callers: working them ‘to get them out of the way’ inadvertently encourages the pile to ignore your instructions.

As a last resort, make up a fictitious full callsign to complete your partial, have a phantom QSO with it, and move along. Don’t log it though!

If you send someone a report but they do not respond, two things are likely: either they cannot hear you (possibly due to QRM on your TX frequency from pileup kops and lids) or you have made a mistake with their callsign. If the station you are working responds with their callsign but does not send you a report, listen extra carefully to the callsign in case you made a mistake. Persist with them until you get their correct callsign and their report to you (which is a clue that you now have their callsign OK).

If you hear someone you have just worked immediately or soon after calling you again, check your log carefully, repeat their call back to them and say something like “QSL” or “You’re in the log” to confirm and complete the QSO unambiguously for them. If you made a mistake in the log, correct it, apologise and patiently confirm their full call on air.

To cut down on insurance QSOs, update your online log as often as you can, at least daily if possible. Gaps in online logs, and real-time updates from places without reliable Internet connections, cause more grief than not using online logs at all!

Periodically, ask your pileup to QRX while you call specifically for DX callers, QRPers and anyone who hasn’t worked you before on any band/mode . Listen extra carefully for weak signals and ignore the alligators as best you can. Turn the beam - make the effort. If a QRPer, rare DX or first-timer gets through, you will be making someone’s day extra special and perhaps teaching those alligators a lesson in humility and operating technique (some hope!).

If you find you are being monopolized by callers from a given region, it is better to ask them to wait (e.g. “NO EU” or “JA QRX”) than to call another specific region, since there may be DX callers waiting for their chance.

If you hear and work some DX (such as long path Africans), ask the pile to wait while you call for more of the same (“EU QRX EU QRX AF AF AF ONLY LP”). Give the Africans a few minutes to round up their DX pals and call you. Some DX openings are very short and the DX that made it through your pile has probably been calling patiently for ages. Stick to your guns: if after saying AF ONLY you work anyone clearly not in AF, expect to be hounded by yet more rude and ignorant callers.

Ignore callers who only give partial calls - they are usually cheeky queue-jumpers. If you fall for their tricks, tell them very directly to wait their turn: the rest of the pile will silently thank you for being firm and fair.

Keep your cool! For example, if you get a partial callsign or suspect you might have made an error, persist doggedly until you are confident enough to complete and finally log the QSO. Always be as clear as possible in what you are sending e.g. send “<call> KN KN KN” or ”<call> ONLY!” to indicate that other callers apart from the person you are working should stand by, and stick to your guns . Make every effort to confirm full callsigns, or at the very least repeat the corrected suffix or prefix. If there is any doubt about someone’s callsign, immediately ask the caller to (re)confirm and wait for their response. Remember, you are in charge.

Keep to a reasonable, even-tempered speed - especially on CW. You may be comfortable working at 40+ WPM but few callers are as confident.

Remain polite and gentlemanly at all times. Thank the pileup for being patient with you and following your instructions. Acknowledge them for standing by while you complete a difficult QSO. Encourage good behaviour (e.g. callers from the correct area if you are working geographically) and ignore the bad (callers from the wrong area).

• Lock your RX frequency on the DX and turn off all automatic tuning (e.g. AFC and NET in MMTTY). Manually select your TX frequency, lock it or pop it in the memory and for sure don’t touch that VFO if the DX calls you! Keep to a sensible range but look for a quiet spot away from the DX stn’s TX frequency (up to 1 kHz away on PSK, probably more on RTTY) and stay put for a while. If the DX seems to drift off frequency, use the RIT on your rig to keep them in tune rather than moving your VFO or adjusting the receive frequency in software. Don’t forget to listen on your chosen TX frequency and watch the waterfall to make sure it’s still clear.

• Stick to the preferred band segments for each mode, especially if this is a condition of your licence. Avoid the beacon frequencies and, of course, listen first to find a clear spot.

• Always split. Never operate simplex. Avoid listening too close to your own TX frequency. Turn off all automatic tuning and lock your TX frequency to avoid wandering across the band. Use suitable filters to pick out individual callers. Remember your responsibility to tune within a limited range to avoid spreading the pileup out too far. If stations are clearly not hearing you well, double check that your TX frequency remains clear and don’t forget to send “UP” or “QSX 14085-6” or similar.

• Setup your digital mode software and macros appropriately . When calling DX in a pileup, give your own callsign two or three times and listen. It is not normally necessary to send the DX callsign.

• Get your macros ready e.g. in MMVARI: “$transmit$ $mycall$ $mycall$ $receive$” and “$transmit$ $call$ TU $sentrst$ $mycall$ $receive$” (note: using $sentrst$ lets you send genuine reports from your log)

• Make sure you can actually copy the DX properly and have his call correct (DXcluster is peppered with busted calls).

• The worst thing for callers is not knowing who got called due to QRM. Repeat a caller’s callsign at least twice and give your own callsign frequently, especially if there are other DXpeditions active at the same time.

• Get your macros ready e.g. in MMVARI: “$transmit$ CQ DE $mycall$ $mycall$ UP 1 $receive$” and “$transmit$ $call$ $sentrst$ $call$ $receive$” and “$transmit$ $call$ TU $mycall$ UP $log$ $receive$” (note: the leading and trailing spaces are important for readability)

• Be consistent and get into the rhythm for more efficient QSOs and to reduce out-of-turn calling.

• Use multi-frequency decoding software if possible e.g. $multirx$ in MMVARI. Monitor the pileup to identify who is working the DX and so where he is listening. Look for holes in the pileup in which to transmit. Stay well clear of the DX station’s frequency and respect the band limits.

• Use multi-frequency decoding software if possible e.g. $multirx$ in MMVARI. Monitor the pileup to identify numerous callers simultaneously. Avoid working callers too close to your TX frequency or out of band, and try not to let your pileup spread too far (no more than a few kHz please).

• Do not overdrive your transmitter. Apart from perhaps overheating and damaging it, your signal will probably become unreadable and create QRM for others. This is especially important if you are using AFSK with tones generated by a PC audio card. Use your rig’s transmit monitor function for a simple but crude quality check. If you have a separate receiver or a monitor scope, listen to/monitor your own data transmissions to check the levels. If not, find a local ham who is willing to help you conduct some tests, or use a web SDR. If you have trouble contacting reasonably strong stations normally, and especially if you receive reports indicating poor quality signals, check those settings again.

• Look out for well modulated signals and make certain your own signal is clean. Do not overdrive your transmitter and be careful not to knock the microphone or PC audio level controls once set. It pays to keep a written note of the correct settings. You should really have figured those out before you left home but small adjustments may be needed in the field: ask a local to check the quality and width of your data signal when you first set up, and act on any adverse signal reports.