At 05:59 PM 2/21/2008, Dan Zimmerman N3OX wrote:
> I must admit the
> hours-on-end of EU only on the low bands got very tiring very
> quickly.
And yet they've made about a fifth of the QSOs with EU than they have
with NA on 160m and just 2/3 the number of QSOs with EU as they have
with NA on 80m. Go figure.
I don't actually have a problem with 160. Well, truth be told, I
don't have a problem with VP6DX at all...I think they're fantastic
and will likely earn the Best DXpedition of 2008 distinction. But
that said, topband is so quirky and with so fewer participants than
80 and 40 that I'll never ever begrudge a difficult topband Q to
anybody, anywhere, ever.
40 and 80, however, are a different story. They're putting huge
numbers in the log, but look at 40m, especially. As of 2/21, 0040z,
they were at 9010 to Europe on 40 and 7486 to NA. Holding NA ops back
until 3am (east-coast time) *every* *single* *night* has kept those
numbers a lot lower than I think they should be. 80's a lot harder
path and NA, despite being hobbled, still has more Q's there than
Europe -- 4557 EU versus 6461 from NA.
In the meantime, poor ZS's get stuck with a "whisper" and no one
straining to hear them in particular.
No, but they get very good prop. from 80-12m according to W6EL and,
if the piles were unregulated ("anybody, anywhere"), I'd bet a LOT
more ZSs would get through than "by-continent." Remember, ZS has a
shorter 40/80m window (roughly 0130 to 0600z) than Europe has, and
has stronger propagation - thus they'd beat out EUs. But since there
are a lot fewer ZS DXers overall than EU, the few minutes, total, to
work all ZS DXers over the length of the operation would be negligible.
Besides, when Petrus goes QRV from ZS8 next month, they'll have
*their* chip-shot to all possible bands from Marion over us OR Europe <GRIN>.
Peter, I'm sort of interested in seeing how this discussion plays out
on a reflector with some international participants ;-) I don't know
if you saw but the original poster KA3NRX in the epic eHam thread
managed to snag himself an 80m QSO (with 100W + G5RV I do believe)...
despite the frequent and thorough EU EU EU EU.
Hey, it bugged me too, until I stayed up 2 nights in a row and banged
'em out on both bands, both modes. XYL didn't appreciate it (ham
shack is next door to the bedroom) but such is life. I've managed 19
band-slots thus far and I'm hoping for #20 this weekend on topband
SSB, if the DX ghods cooperate.
The way the QSO stats and my personal experiences watching people work
this one have played out, the only people in North America adversely
affected by VP6DX's incessant EU'ing are the terminally impatient and
those who are scared of being awake after dark.
With respect, I disagree with that generalization. There are an awful
lot of casual DXers, as I brought up in the eHam thread, who work
full-time jobs and strong family obligations, who really only get 2
or 3 hours a night between supper and bedtime to play radio. Someone
who works in the city and has to be out the door at 6am, getting home
at 7pm (my wife's schedule - she works in Manhattan, I work from
home) just can't get up at 3 or 4am and expect to be able to be
functional at a high-paced job all day.
For single hams, or those whose schedules allow them the flexibility
that I currently have, that's fine - you work 'em where and when they are.
I'm sure the UA4's and OH's SM's and LA's who get approximately 30
minutes of propagation to VP6DX
If that's their ONLY window (that short a time frame - be generous -
1 hour, even) then a QRX for that region is absolutely fair and I
don't think anybody would be b-tching about it. But six or more hours
a night, EVERY NIGHT?
I'm sure the Africans who get even less propagation wouldn't
mind a standby for them... but if there are so few of them as to make
the rate *zero* on the average attempt, it's unlikely they're going to
get much window.
Actually, Africa generally has *better* propagation than Eastern
Europe and the Middle East. They're both in the southern hemisphere
thus will do a lot better. Check out W6EL Prop for various entities.
I inputted C5, C9, ZS and CN.
You can continue to think that it should just be "strong vs. weak"
I will and I do. I'm always in favour of "let the best signal win,"
with the one caveat being that the DX will be QRV long enough that
popguns and QRPers with attic-mounted moist pasta antennae will have
their shot.
without an appreciation of how much stronger a fairly weak NA could be
in VP6 than a moderately strong EU but I think it's going to get you
some bad karma Re: some very needed SE Asian expedition that just
works JA's all day ;-)
More power to 'em. If there's a one-hour opening between XY and W2,
*on* *any* *band*, then fine. I'll be glad to get a one-hour window
with JA standing by -- or if they'll only be there for 3 or 4 days,
again, fine. If it's a 3 week DXpedition to Bhutan (I missed the
first one - here's hoping another one starts up soon), I'd be
insulted to be spoon-fed and would PREFER to fight-it-out with the
world's big-guns for a shot at working them.
"I sincerely doubt we'll ever see six hours-on-end, every day, of
"NA only, EU-stand-by" when a DXpedition
starts up from some place where propagation to EU is better than it is to NA."
That would appear to be a different issue than your other objection,
that no one should be "spoon-fed"
Just sayin' is all. I don't ever WANT that to happen, just sayin'....
Regards,
Peter,
W2IRT
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