Really good stuff, Peter.
Wayne, N7NG Jackson Hole _____ From: kf...@njdxa.org [mailto:kf...@njdxa.org] On Behalf Of Peter W2IRT Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 10:23 PM To: dx-news@njdxa.org Subject: RE: [DX-NEWS] Best Practices for DXpedition Operating My opinion on this is pretty simple, and I've stated it repeatedly. For something in high demand (top-25 entity, for example) there have to be some clearly communicated goals from the outset. Establish those goals, do what you can to communicate them loudly and clearly to The Deserving and don't deviate from your plan unless your pilots convey critical information or your rates show a need to change. Be LOUD, work the areas with the best rates for as long as you can. Focus on the hardest-to-work region as propagation opens. Here's how I'd do it. 1) Priority is as many unique as possible for all time new ones 2) Once per mode and/or 3) At most once per band This means either no clublog greenies or work with the Clublog developer to come up with a module that shows bands and modes worked, but not a full band-mode matrix. The Plan: Planners must fully understand that there are three major centres of ham populations. NA, EU and JA. Within each major center is East Coast NA, West coast, central; Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe (and western Asia); JA stands by itself. NOT to marginalize SA, VK/ZL, OC and AF, but the highest rates will be had with the three major continents. NOW, with that said and understood: 1) One of the three areas of the world will be extremely difficult to work due to a polar path (Eastern NA to South-east Asia; south Pacific to Southern Europe, Caribbean to JA, etc). 2) Two of those three will have propagation on all bands and modes, and will have an opening 24/7 somewhere. I. As such, they MUST focus-tightly-on those in the first category. Like Martti on Scarborough Reef dedicating 3 hours to North America only. No exceptions. Following the terminator is an absolute must. If you're going to an ultra-rare place, you need someone good with propagation, who can read and understand the charts and formulate a concrete plan to use as a base. With the morning terminator an hour away from the Canadian maritimes, if you're in darkness, that's the time to start calling NA East Coast, for example. If you're on 3B9, as you go into dawn start calling NA West Coast (you'd have had all night to work NA East coast in this example). And so on. II. Keep one station on 20m SSB 24/7 if you have a large setup. If not, have one station alternating between 15, 20 and 40 SSB. Be as loud as possible! That's where you'll rack up the uniques. Better to go begging on 20 phone than have an international bitchfest that the weak guys can't get through cuz you're always trying for the margins. III. Make sure you have a skilled operator for CW and SSB who speaks fluent Italian and/or Spanish and/or Russian.and knows how to keep the howling wolves at bay. a. If necessary, make an example of a couple of egregiously bad ops and publicly NIL them, but only as a last resort b. Make it plain that if you're asked to stand by, if you don't, you will not be logged. Period. IV. When you first start, and when propagation is open wide, don't restrict callers. Loudest wins. Concentrate on rate, rate, rate and did I say RATE. Work the big guns. Work'em down as fast as you possibly can. V. When you have two wide open areas (NA and EU working Africa, for example), alternate EU only/NA only for reasonable times or if you have the stations to do it, EU on SSB, NA on CW, then switch after an hour or two. Or 10CW/12SSB to one continent, then the opposite. Something like that, so you don't p!$$ off entire continents. VI. Understand that QRM will generally start getting bad in areas where frustrated ops who haven't worked you yet start getting into the 807s and 813s after supper their-time. 2100-0100z,then 0400z to 0700z being the worst, in my experience. VII. When that slim window opens to the region (1) mentioned above, they get unconditional priority. Follow the terminator, but be aware of latecomers if possible. i.e. as the terminator moves into the US Midwest there may be some guys in Vermont or Georgia who are just getting fluke good propagation. VIII. Keep your rates high even as the operation wears down and don't worry about the 100W/wire guys for a few days-assuming you're going to be there for 10-14 days! The more big guns you get up front, the less effort to work the weak guys later on. Meaning less QRM. IX. In the second week, or last few days if a short trip, whittle it down to regions (NA East, NA Central, etc) and spend more time going after secondary targets (SA, Africa, VK/ZL, for example). Work split for US Generals. Pause at the top of the hour for QRP, mobile, or 'need-for-an-ATNO' callers when things slow down. Use these guidelines and anything from a top-5 to a top-100 will have as much success as possible. The threat to a good operation comes from two fronts. (1) Southern/Eastern Europen lids (and their U.S. counterparts) who cannot or will not be quiet and who ignore operators' instructions; (2) DX Hogs who'll be after you on 22-25 slots if you let 'em. If you have a major operation and want to work the band/mode hunters that's wonderful. As a hunter myself I truly welcome those 22-25 slots. But if you're a smaller operation, there for limited time or whatever, make your intentions in this regard crystal clear and don't let the Clublog charts overwhelm your operation. Here's an idea for those good at programming. How 'bout this. Hard-core DXers pre-register on your Website with an email address and callsign. When that call works the DX and the log is uploaded at some point, the Website generates an email to the DXer saying "you're in the log. Please do not call again on this band." Positive confirmation delivered as quickly as possible after each upload, so the DXer knows he doesn't have to dupe you for insurance, but also no public leaderboard for the global circlejerk that it can start. In short, I believe the single biggest challenge that inexperienced DXpedition teams face is not knowing who to look for when/where. Propagation will drive rates but at the same time, if you're a highly in-demand location in a difficult part of the world, you have to be prepared to sacrafice slightly higher rates in favour of working rare areas over harder paths. And finally, if your operation plans to heavily rely on QSL funding, don't neglect that part of the globe who pays the best! Just sayin'! ---------------------------------------------------- Regards, Peter Dougherty, W2IRT www.facebook.com/W2IRT From: kf...@njdxa.org [mailto:kf...@njdxa.org] On Behalf Of Dan M. Rod Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 10:25 PM To: dx-news@njdxa.org Subject: FW: [DX-NEWS] Best Practices for DXpedition Operating Looking at this situation when you are on the other side(DX Station),its not easy to help everyone with a new one, and there are some hams that have your countryon the log and they try to stablish some rag chew when you are calling dx !,pile up went crazy ,so you must try to be pollite and keep on going specially when there are just 3 persons doing Dx from your country. 73 and keep up the good work and please enjoy HAM RADIO HR2WW Dan ----------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe or subscribe to this list. 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