[PaQSO] why more dx interest than west coast?

[Michael Coslo]

There are a couple reasons, IMO.

Propagation - There are many more logs so far this year submitted from DX stations, and I'm expecting more. I haven't kept track of the number of DX callsigns per Operator, but I think that Al's 95 DX contacts has to be some kind of record. I'll know more about the west coast Ops as more logs come in.

With our shutdown time at night, we are off the air before the West coast comes in well on 80/75 meters, so that's one less band to use.

20 meters is a goldmine. We try to attract OOS Ops with the Good Neighbor award for Ops on 20 meters.

For a multi-Op multi station, it isn't too bad to work both. During the day, one station can be on 40, another on 20 or above. One operator on one radio has a tough choice though.

From the logs, it doesn't look like too many people use that second receiver to look at multiple bands. 40 is usually hopping enough that it would be difficult to pay much attention to the second band.

Some other hints for increased operation above 40:

In long parties, we typically work each other down the bands as propagation changes. During the day, we can try working up the bands. Ask the other Op if they want to try 15 and 10. Or even 6 meters. Eventually the activity will be noticed, and we spread out along the bands.

	- 73 de Mike N3LI -