[South Florida DX Association] BS7 operation tips from K32ZO

Sun May 6 20:42:56 EDT 2007

Excellent report.

Thank you for taking the time to share.

Terry - W6LMJ

On 5/6/07 6:28 PM, "Bruce Phegley" <bphegley at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> 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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