[Today’s run: rest day]
I have been able to contact three DXpedition operations in the last few days: 3XY1D in Guinea on the West Africa coast, TX7M in Marquesas and T32C on Christmas Island (both in the South Pacific).
I’ve been having good luck using the TenTec Century 21 for this. The Century 21 is a direct conversion rig with about 20-30 watts output. This is all CW (morse code).
DX operations frequently work split, meaning they transmit at one frequency and tell you to answer them “up” (or sometimes “down”). A few kHz above there will be a gaggle of signals of people trying to talk to the DX station. The purpose of split is to allow people to hear the weak DX station even though there is a big dog-pile of other signals. It puts the burden on the DX guy to sort out a signal he can understand.
The Century 21 has double-signal reception, you hear everyone on both sides of zero beat.* It has a pretty wide ranging RIT (receive increment tuning) via a knob on the front, and a zero beat button. The RIT lets you change the frequency you are listening on, as compared to the frequency you transmit on. If you push and hold down the zero beat button the RIT is taken out, so you hear on your transmit freq.
The conversations are very short.
DX: “QRZ” [who is next?]
cacophony as everybody sends their call sign
DX station picks one guy out: ” K2XYZ 599″
K2XYZ: “599 tu” [tu for thank you]
DX: “QRZ” [sometimes putting in his own call sign]
I use the medium CW filter setting, about 1.0 kHz.
So, the way I do it is I first park myself in the middle of the dog pile. I tune the RIT so that I’m hearing the DX station fairly well. If the split is not way too wide I can even go to the far sideband (usually the low side) of the DX station. If I’m still hearing the dog pile it will be little squeaky signals. So I’m hearing the DX: boopity boopity, and the dog pile: squeaky squeaky.
The key that works for me is to push that zero beat button and find the “K2XYZ” which the DX station has picked out. I tune the main tuning knob to zero that guy while holding the zero beat button. I have to listen fast because “K2XYZ” is just going to send his “599” and be gone. If I zero him, when the DX sends his next “QRZ” I’m ready to transmit right in the spot he just was listening on. It may take a few exchanges for me to catch a “that guy” which I can hear well and zero on quickly.
Turning the main tuning knob will make the DX station sound a bit different when I let up on the zero beat button. But if I have him isolated well and if I’m already close to the zero beat spot then it’s not a problem.
Let up the zero beat, hear the DX call a station. Push the zero beat and move the main tuning if I hear that station. Let up the zero beat and send my call.
——
*If you enjoy CW and all you have ever used is single-signal superhet radios, get someone to loan you a double-signal direct conversion radio for awhile. Using this method, the double-sided reception actually helps because you can swing farther away from the pile-up and still hear the DX just fine.