[Elecraft] Split DX

[Brett Howard]

I've not ever really worked a split DX station and ever since getting the K1
I've been working on building up my CW skills.  I've gotten to where I can
get the jist of the info at 14WPM w/ 20WPM char speeds.  

 

I've heard frequencies where it seems like nothing is going on and then all
of the sudden 10 stations light up.  I'm assuming that this is a split DX
and I'm only hearing half of it.

 

But anyway it doesn't make much sense to me.  So granted a station can
listen to both frequencies at once and I'm sure transmitting station is
probably only listening when he's not transmitting (unless he has two
separate radios and two separate antennas).  This just seems like a waste of
bandwidth especially if he's not doing full duplex.  

 

Is there a common split distance so that one may easily find the other half
or do people usually just go digging till they find it?