[OKDXA] INTERESTING MORNING

[Kim Elmore]

I need to be more active. Honestly, though, I'm finding DXing less 
enjoyanble lately. The howling masses are simply clueless and it's 
deeply frustrating. I fancy myself to be an OK DXer. I understand 
split, I can even use it properly, and I know what a receiver is. In 
fact, I tend to listen far more that I transmit, and I can usually 
find something that either I haven't worked, or hasn't been posted on 
some cluster before I find it.

But recently, it's simply a total cluster, ah, party. I'm not talking 
about frequency cops or the knuckleheads that QRM the DX. I'm talking 
about participants in the pile. I don't see how some of these idiots 
manage to work anyone because they never, ever stop calling. Ever. 
They don't listen -- I doubt they'd ever know if the DX calls them. 
It's utterly maddening. And this is CW!  I simply don't do phone DXing much.

Used to be that I could find the guy the DX calls, watch a few 
exchanges, take a pretty good guess at where the DX will listen next, 
and usually snag what I'm after -- though not right away. Might take 
a couple of days before propagation favors me. And, I might get out 
gunned (I don't have fantastic antennas on 125 ft towers -- I'm a 
moderately well-equipped station with run-of-the mill antennas that 
are nothing to write home about), but at least I'd know when and who 
the DX is calling. Lately, it's been simply indecipherable on many 
occasions. I can usually hear the DX make a call (though sometimes 
only about half the time due to ninnyhammers) but I can't find the 
guy he's working because so many alligators never shut their mouths. 
That keeps me from finding any pattern, such as working their way up 
the band, or down the band, favoring the edges, of the pile.

Whuf!  There. I feel better, now.

Kim Elmore, N5OP