[ADXA] ADXA Update - DX ALL OVER THE BANDS!

[Joel Harrison]

If you've been on the air and haven't been pumped, pissed, excited,
depressed, jubilant and angry the past week then please check your DX
heartbeat! BIG DX is all over the bands.

K5P is still in full swing. Pileups are getting weeded out so for our new
DX friends if you have not yet worked Palmyra the time is NOW! Remember,
an understand, you will NOT have another chance at this one for at least
15 to 20 years, maybe never. I fully understand, support and advocate that
family and work come first but manage your personal schedule and time,
burn some midnight (or early morning) oil. If you SNOOZE YOU LOOSE! and if
you remain an active DX'er, in 5 years or less you will regret not putting
forth this effort. K5P finally fired up on 80 meters yesterday morning
with a good signal. I can copy them very well on my 75 meter inverted V up
50 feet so don't think you need a massive RX antenna system to hear them.
160 meters continues to be good also but pick the band you are best on and
get them in your log.

VP8STI - the 3rd most needed DXCC in the world! Think about that and what
an accomplishment it is to work them from your station that you built!
When you're talking to your non-ham buddies that waste oxygen out on a
golf course and they rib you about ham radio ask them how many world class
golfers they competed with today and then laugh at them !!!! Ask them if
they competed on the same field with some of the world's most successful
business men, Navy Admirals, entertainers or engineers that designed and
built the worldwide cellular network and computer industry out on the golf
course today? Tell them YOU DID in an amateur radio competition today! And
if you're in the log you competed on their level and WON! Yea, the pileups
were hairy last night but hey it was night one of eight from the 3rd most
needed entity in the WORLD. LISTEN to the op, LISTEN some more, watch the
pileup and get the technique down and get in there and make some
calls.....just make darn sure you are SPLIT and xmitting UP !!! Don't be
the ADXA member that gets nailed xmiting on the DX stns xmit freq!!! 
:-)))

Still to come is VP8SGI South Georgia, A35T Tonga, FT4JA Juan de Nova and
another BIG ONE - VK0EK Heard Island in March. Start now and get your
antennas and station tweaked for that one. I experienced a problem with my
17 meter antenna late Sunday so I got out there in the freezing cold and
snow yesterday and threw a 17 meter dipole late up about 40 feet,
positioned for VP8. At the next meeting ask some of our old dog ADXA
members about some of the efforts they put forth in the heat of battle to
get a new one in the log!

Other low band reports - Ken, K4ZW is on now from Laos, XW4ZW but so far
no propagation to the U.S. Only a couple of stations out on the west coast
have heard him so far. He has also been on 80 meters in the evenings local
time. Listen along the gray line via a skewed path for Ken.

DU7ET Robert is on 160 every morning. He was very strong on the east coast
around their sunrise (SR) this morning. He was very weak and just at the
noise floor here today but has been very Q5 several mornings so far this
season.

The ON4KST Low Band Chat is a good place to check propagation reports.
There is a lot of BS chatter there but you can ignore that and just pay
attention to what others around the country are hearing on 160 and 80.

Don't have a Low Band RX antenna???? - Live on a city lot and don't
believe you can install an effective RX antenna for 160/80?? As Lee Corso
would say "NOT SO FAST!". Lots of hams are doing so with different RX
antennas modeled and designed for small spaces but BE CAREFUL.....do NOT,
repeat do NOT believe most of the advertisements you see out there today
boasting amazing results! Take some time and study low band propagation
and low band antenna systems. Ask questions of someone who has been
successful in this area and learn about them. Read and study about them.
There is a ton of good info on the internet (as well as two tons of bogus
BS) so I recommend you start by purchasing a copy of ON4UN's "Low Band
DX'ing" available from ARRL or one of their suppliers. If you're
interested in low band DX'ing, start there. Don't have time to do
something for this low band season?? Then start right now planning your
effort for next season. As the sunspot cycle declines low band propagation
gets better. I always start assessing next season's RX adjustment and
tweaking now so I can have my thoughts and plans in order when late
Sept/Oct comes around and its time to implement the plan.

Lots of exciting DX on the bands in the coming weeks. GL es Gud DX in the
pileups!

73 Joel W5ZN


www.w5zn.org