[ADXA] Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues?

[EJ Jones]

Great post!  Don’t forget 6 m. This is the time of year that I focus on scoring new band countries on 6.   There is almost daily propagation into South America now for those who are new to the band.  In the next few weeks, there will be most likely lots of openings into Europe and Asia. Check out 6 m if you haven’t operated that band before.  Almost all DXing is on 50.313 FT8
EJ

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From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of w5zn at w5zn.org <w5zn at w5zn.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 9, 2023 6:49:19 AM
To: adxa at mailman.qth.net <adxa at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [ADXA] Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues?


Greetings ADXA Folks,

When Eddie Cochran's song "Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues" was released in August, 1958, summer was in full force. The weather here in Arkansas has now turned "summer like" and the focus we had on radio through the winter months dissolves into outside activities and other interests. DX activity and reflector traffic diminishes. You might say we suffer from summertime radio blues!

Once daylight savings time kicks in I begin the effort of removing all of my low band receive antennas (about a four day job for one person) to allow for summer hay cutting out in the fields as the low band season in the northern hemisphere is winding down. The major contest season is over as well. Before we fall too deep into radio depression, though, an assessment of DX during the past six months is in order so we can plan and look forward to the 2023-2024 season.

Activation of the #2 and #3 most needed DX entities was exciting in its own right but to have the upper bands, 10, 12, and 15 meters explode with significant propagation was amazing. Whether it will continue is yet to be seen but if the current propagation trend is any indication the doomsday predictors of a Maunder Minimum can just go sit in the truck next to the TV personalities that masquerade as a weather predicting meteorologist!

We all nabbed a new one, at least on a band, during the past six months.......yes even the old dogs of ADXA whether they will admit it or not!! After two years of nothing new on 160 meters due to COVID I was able to add 3 this past winter with the most exciting being Eddie, XV1X, in Viet Nam on 160 CW early one morning that brought my band total to 286.

There were days when the spots posted on our reflector were coming in so fast it looked like the DX cluster during CQWW and we were chasing DX all over the bands, night and day! Now, the summertime blues are taking charge, major DXpeditions and DX contests have ended and will not fire back up until the fall. We're all outside doing "summer things".

So where does that leave our passion for DX? For those of you who have been around for a while and read my past posts, you know now is the time to plan for the fall-winter DX and contest season. If you wait until then you've missed the train. Now is the time to review your station, your operating technique, and make a list of things that need improvement. Don't just sit around a think (dream?) of what you wish you could do or what you would do if you just "had the time". Get those thoughts out of your head and on paper, write it down, then spend a little time developing a plan to accomplish your goal. Some of my projects take a long time, even years to complete. I pose questions to those who have been successful in accomplishing a similar task and I write it down and assess how that would work in my station configuration. I'll even talk to or visit someone I don't like if I can learn something from them (oh yea, I have a list of those folks!!). I read a lot (I don't really watch television so cut that out and gain some time!) and study the topic I want to implement here. Sometimes I don't understand what I'm reading, so I read it again, and again if needed until it sinks in.

If you're a serious DX'er, learn that sleep is secondary to working a new one! Yea, that's right - DX and propagation don't always work on your schedule. Some of you have seen the card in my shack with the picture of a very mean, grizzly coyote that is growling with the caption "You can't run with the BIG DOGS if you pee like a puppy!" Real DX'ers will be awake and at the radio when a new one is on. I have two old dog DX buddies in ADXA that are always on to nab a new one when I am regardless of the time of day or night and we're exchanging texts about who is hearing the station. The importance of that goes much farther than bragging rights. If one of my buddies can hear the station and I can't, I'm reviewing his station installation and why he's outperforming me. It might simply be propagation, even if we're close, but maybe I need to improve something in my station.

You can do this. START NOW! You can't work ten projects at the same time but if you prioritize your list you can begin to work them down one by one.

By working your plan, you'll be ready to "GET IN THERE AND WORK 'EM!" when the DX starts pouring in.

73 Joel W5ZN
ADXA President


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