[nrv-hams] DX on the air this week

[Kay Craigie]

For those who are on HF and are interested in working DX, this week and the
coming weekend will be a good time to go hunting for DX.

This coming weekend is the CQ World Wide DX contest, phone version. It
starts at 0000 UTC October 30 (that's 8 PM local time on Friday, October 29)
and ends at 2400 UTC October 31 (that's 8 PM local time on Sunday, October
31).

>From now until the contest starts, some DX operators in interesting places
will be on the air tweaking up their stations and you can work them before
the contest bedlam begins. The pile-ups may not be very big, making it
relatively easy to log nice new ones.

During the actual contest, you and the DX will send one another an exchange
consisting of the signal report and the CQ zone number. The signal report is
always 59. CQ zone numbers are 01 to 40. Your CQ zone number is 05. So a
typical exchange would be something like this:

He says: G3ABC QRZ?
I say: November three kilo november
He says : N3KN five nine one four
I say: five nine oh five (or simply, "five nine five")
He says: G3ABC QRZ?

G3ABC, a station in England, is in CQ zone 14 (hence the "one four"). He
doesn't want to know my name, my town, how many watts I'm running, my
favorite flavor of ice cream, or anything else other than my callsign and
"five nine oh five." He doesn't want to hear "please copy" or "your signal
report is" or "my zone number is." He wants to hear "five nine oh five."
Period. If he gets my callsign wrong, I get him to correct it *before* I
send my exchange (which is why I sent it phonetically in the first place).
Also, avoid cute, non-standard phonetics. This is the time for "Kilo alpha
four foxtrot bravo november," not "Keep all four fish browning nicely."

Unless you plan to submit an entry in the contest, which you probably don't,
it is not actually necessary for you to log the CQ zone number. So you don't
have to obsess if you aren't sure you got it right. As time goes by, you
will pick up on which countries are in what zone, but it still doesn't
matter unless you get to the point of turning in an entry. For the curious,
a CQ zone map is on the web at www.mapability.com/ei8ic/maps/cqzone.php. 

Can you work stations in the USA in this contest? Well, technically yes, but
I really don't recommend it. Not a good time to try to fill in your blanks
for Worked All States. The only USA stations you should call in this contest
would be in Alaska and Hawaii. I'll be happy to explain the relevant rules,
if anybody cares.

Friday night is usually kind of a buffalo stampede, and newcomers may find
the pile-ups are too big to be fun. Try again on Saturday and Sunday. If you
need QSL card routing information, I'll help you get that info after the
contest.

What if DXing and contesting are not your trip? Try working 12, 17, and 30
meters during the contest period. Contesting is not allowed on those bands.

73 and have fun - Kay N3KN