[South Florida DX Association] BS7 operation tips from K32ZO

Bruce Phegley bphegley at bellsouth.net
Sun May 6 18:28:16 EDT 2007




Now that the BS7H 2007 DXpedition is history, I should acknowledge
that I underestimated the ability of the 20 meter band to open early
to that area.  Most days BS7H could be heard on 20 by 1045Z and was as
loud as they would get by 1110Z.  I worked them on 20 CW at 1047Z.

It pays to listen carefully to what the operator sends.  Operator
9V1YC would occasionally send something like "32" in a quick
transmission where he gave only the two numbers and nothing else.
These transmissions were separate from his "TU  NA UP" or "W9XXX 599"
type  transmissions.  The minute he sent "32" I went to 14032 and
called.  Only one other op figured it out, and he got him first, I got
him next.  Two calls and BS7H was in the log!  After I worked him
nobody else remained on 14032 calling him.  There was still a big mess
of callers in the area 026-030.  Later he sent a quick "35" on three
occasions and NOBODY took him up on it.

I had correctly stated in my predictions that on 40 meters the Grey
Line would be good because the sunrise here and sunset there occurred
within a few minutes of each other.
The problem turned out to be that on most days the ops didn't come up
on 40 until it was well past sunrise here.  But on Friday morning they
were there at the right time.  I first heard them at 1010Z while
beaming short path.  I had been hearing JA's quite loud which is why I
was beaming that way.  BS7H was quite loud and very good copy on short
path and I
called them a couple of times that way.  But the pile-up calling them
was massive and when I heard West Coast powerhouses like W6KH calling
them again and again I figured there was no way I could break through
the West Coast curtain without some sort of "edge".  So I took my own
advice and turned the beam on the grey line path.  The band
immediately became more noisy because I had to beam over some
thunderstorms in the Southwest, but the important thing is that on the
S-meter BS7H came up about 10 db from what they had been on the short
path even though the copy might not have been quite as good.  Then I
tuned through the mass of callers to find an open spot and found one.
Three calls later BS7H came back to "K4ZO".  I went back, gave my call
again and a report, and the op came back "K3ZO TU NA UP".  What a
rush!   That was at 1020Z.  By 1025Z they had dropped 10 db on the
grey line and were now loudest on the short path,  so the Grey Line
opening was very short and I had the good fortune to be there at the
right time.

73, Fred, K3ZO





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