[Elecraft] Split DX

Sat Feb 23 01:56:51 EST 2008

There is another very good reason for split operation, and I've seen  
the VP6DX ops doing this successfully as well.

With, for example, the 20-, 40- and 75/80-meter allocations being  
different for hams in the various parts of the world, it's not unusual  
at all to see the DX station calling from whatever their particular  
mode's sub-band might allow, and attempting to work ops in other parts  
of the world that are restricted to a different frequency range.  It's  
also very common to see a DX station purposely working split from a  
sub-band that is restricted to higher-class licensees just to keep  
down the on-channel QRM, staying, for example, in the less-crowded  
Extra CW bands.

A week ago, I worked VP6DX on 40 meters SSB late at night.  The German  
op was calling on 7095, which is restricted to non-voice modes in most  
of the non-Pacific US, announcing he was listening on 7265, or  
wherever the broadcast QRM was the lightest.  Interestingly, since  
traffic was quite light, he announced that he was also listening on  
7087 for EU hams.  He ping-pong'ed us all back and forth, taking one  
from 7265, then one from 7087.

On 15 meters, VP6DX was transmitting on 21002, in the Extra portion of  
the band, and listening on 21027, where non-Extras could call, etc.

73,

Dave K7DAA
http://www.k7daa.com

On Feb 22, 2008, at 2:51 PM, Richard HIll wrote:

> Which brings us to The Complete DXer.  OK, coming from a novice--the  
> sport
> of breaking a pile up is listening to the DX, identifying who just got
> called, finding that op's frequency, and then learning how the DX is  
> moving
> after the contact, and being in the right place so be called next.
>
> The pileup gets spread out by the DX moving his RX frequency after  
> each QSO
> (keeping his TX frequency constant).  You could just sit on one  
> frequency
> and call till the DX goes home or you get lucky, or you could take  
> Bob's
> advice and develop skills described quite well in the book.
>
> Being a new ham and new to DXing, and having read Bob's book--it was  
> a real
> thrill to make one call contacts in major pileups with 100 watts  
> from an
> IC-718 and a low dipole.  Even better with a K2 or K3, but I did not  
> know
> better then (2002-3, near the top of the solar cycle)<grin>.
>
> Also helps to understand a bit about propagation and pick your best  
> chances.
>
> Rich
> NU6T
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Tom Hammond
> Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 2:14 PM
> To: Brett Howard; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Split DX
>
>
> Hi Brett:
>
>> 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.
>
> That's almost certainly what you're hearing... the end that the DX
> station is listening to... called 'the piluep'...
>
>> 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.
>
> It's a matter of the DX station being able to BE HEARD once a pileup  
> of
> callers has grown.
>
> If the DX station is working everyone 'simplex' (e.g. on his transmit
> frequency), it won't take long before many of the calling stations  
> start
> (0r continue) calling the DX station long after he has already  
> picked out
> a station and is attempting to complete a contact with that station.
> However, due to the fact that a number of callers continue to call  
> ON TOP
> of the DX station, no one can hear the DX station, or at least can't  
> hear
> him well enough to complete the QSO... so everyone continues to call  
> and
> the DX continues to try to work (or pick out) a single station from  
> those
> calling ON HIS FREQUENCY.
>
> If however the DX says he's listening "UP 5", "UP 10", or "Up  
> wherever",
> he then is able to move the callers (the pileup) off of HIS transmit
> frequency, so that all the callers can hear him when he responds to a
> calling station. Additionally, the pileup will naturally spread out a
> bit (generally around a central listening frequency) so the DX  
> operator
> will be able to tune through the pileup, picking out individual  
> callers
> and (generally) working them at a much faster rate.
>
> There have been really excellent ops in the past who could 'handle' an
> on-frequency pileup as swiftly as those working split, but those ops  
> are
> few and generally far between.
>
> The next effort for the DX operator is to not allow his pileup to  
> become
> 1) too unruly, and 2) too widely spread out such that it covers too  
> wide
> an amount of the spectrum. Most times, a goos CW op can keep his  
> pileup
> mostly contained within 5-7 kHz without too much difficulty. The  
> exception
> sometimes being when it's a really rare country and there are  
> (literally)
> several hundred, or more, callers all screaming at once.
>
>> 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?
>
> Generally "UP 5" is a very commonly used split. I believe the VP6DX  
> crew
> is using WIDE splits in order to keep THEIR signal well out of any QRM
> from callers, and to keep it from being too close to the upper band  
> edge
> of the US extra class bands. They have been specifying splits which  
> allow
> all classes of licensee to call them... the calling split freq being
> just a few kHz above the bottom of the General Class band segment.
>
> 73,
>
> Tom Hammond  N0SS
>
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