[ADXA] The Lunacy of DX

Fri Jan 26 19:11:54 EST 2024

Greetings ADXA Folks,

First, a definition for you:

lunacy /loo͞′nə-sē/

1.	Mental derangement; craziness.
2.	Intermittent mental derangement attributed to the changing phases of the moon.

The TX5S Clipperton Island DXpedition has been quite interesting and began with some of the most bizarre responses from radio amateurs since, well, since the last big DXpedition 4W8X!

The TX5S gang had a great idea, lets establish a groups.io chat page where our pilots can post news and answer serious questions from DX’ers. Close to 1,000 initially signed up, including me. I wanted to keep up with the news “directly from the horse’s mouth”. The boat arrived at the island after about an 8-day voyage and Chief Pilot WX4W posted a schedule of when and how things would be moved to the island within the next 12 hours. This would begin with survival facilities (tents, food, water, etc.). Almost immediately the lunatics had escaped from the asylum and the most ridiculous questions were flying all over the groups.io chat page:

Is that really them on 40-meter CW? (it was a pirate which was clearly indicated by the schedule WX4W just posted)

Why don’t they have the “live stream” running? Is it not working?

Will they be on 160 meters tonight?

Can you please tell the 40-meter CW op (the pirate!) to send slower?

Why isn’t the OQRS working?

There’s a sale at Penny’s !!!

OK, I made up that last one (a line in the movie “Airplane!”) but it amplifies the foolishness of the real sampling I just listed from the chat and remember, this was all within an hour after the official announcement that the boat had just arrived and they were preparing to offload.

Have DX’ers become such lazy spoon-fed mouse clicking wannabe hams that they have lost all common sense? It appears so, but thankfully I was proud to NOT see any of the ADXA folks contributing to this nonsense. DX’ers have the best stations, DX’ers are the best operators, DX’ers are the best problem solvers and know how to immediately work through difficult situations that arise with their station (like FUV did today!). That is our ADXA focus, not on ridiculous nonsense and foolish questions in some social media chat room.

After several hours of very hard work the TX5S team had the camp established, antennas erected, and radios set up. They were off and running and on the air. That is when the ADXA folks sprang into action to “GET IN THERE AND WORK ‘EM”. The bands were flooded with stations calling TX5S from all over the world. JJJ observed “Where did all these folks come from that I've seen on 160m the past few days?” Well, those were the true DX’ers just like us, that I described above, not the mentally deranged people lounging out on social media who can’t read an official post and contemplate what is occurring in the real world. EJ noted we did have a full or near full moon out this week! 

This is a sad state among some hams. Why did they even get a ticket? Having an amateur radio license is special. You have earned the privilege to be part of a licensed radio service defined and published in the international radio regulations so it is imperative that we act like it. To quote the mom of a close ham friend of mine from years ago “Not everyone is supposed to have a ham license!”. All I have to say about that is moms are usually right!

So, if you read this as a bunch of whining and grumbling you missed the point. ADXA has strived to provide opportunities for you to obtain knowledge and experience to improve your station and operating skill, to be a proud DX’er that “has the best and is the best”. After observing how you ADXA folks presented yourself during all of the great DXpeditions so far this season, you are!

Please continue to strive to be a top notch, world class DX’er. Now, GET IN THERE………………………….

73 Joel W5ZN

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