I think directional CQ's can be used very wisely but how they are used
depends a lot on where the DX is and their knowledge of propagation.
I imagine almost any location will have areas where propagation only
exists for a short time to those areas and other areas where they have
propagation over a much longer time period. For instance, DXpeditions to
VU4, VU7, BS7 etc. only have a short time when they can work this part of
the USA. They probably can work JA's for half a day on the same band. It
would make sense for them to call "USA only" during that hour or so and
work JA's when they don't have limited openings to this and other areas.
DXpeditions to the mid-Pacific have propagation to EU on the low bands
till the sun rises in EU. They have propagation to the USA during part of
this time but they continue to have propagation for another 4-6 hours to
the USA. After the sun rises in USA they still have propagation to JA.
It would make sense to work only EU till they lose propagation, then USA
till they lose propagation, then work JA's for a while.
Some past DXpeditions didn't do this.
Clipperton Island is in an interesting location. It appears it's in the
same region that has Mountain time in the USA. The sun rises there before
it does in California. So on the low bands they would want to work both
USA and JA's till their sun rises. So maybe non-directionsl CQ's are the
best bet under those circumstances.
It definitely takes some planning and study of propagation charts to make
most DXers happy.
73, Zack W9SZ
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008, Peter Dougherty wrote:
At 10:52 PM 3/16/2008, Charles Harpole wrote:
Many recent DXpeditions have, in my opinion, over-studied the data to serve
"under served areas", have propagation charts, and be extra aware of their
"important position" as the only (last?) hams to be at that locale. One
effect is the extensive use of DIRECTIONAL CQs... usually "only EU" or
"only NA."
This is one of my biggest gripes in DXing (well, that and "by the numbers").
Human nature says that whenever you exclude a group of people for whatever
"good" reason you have, the excluded will generally take offense and
resentment will start to form, regardless whether this is rational or not.
As such, there really is only one solution to this problem, and that's to
open it up to everyone, everywhere for as long as possible (though I do think
looking for the hardest parts of the world from where the DX is operating on
the low bands, at the grey-line, is excellent operating practice). What this
means, on the other hand, is the DX station needs to be skilled enough to
handle the onslaught of callers from everywhere and have equipment and
abilities to work the pileup down efficiently.
The other problem with directional calls is CW - It's very difficult on CW to
convey a sense of where you want to hear from. It's easy to send USA or NA,
but that leaves out Central and South America - would the DX want those too?
Or does he really JUST want the US/Canada? Ditto for calling for JA, but
leaving out the rest of Asia, VK and ZL, or EU but not Africa, the
middle-East or western Asia, etc. It's easier on SSB and RTTY, but still, the
longer it takes to say WHO/WHERE you're listening for, the bigger and more
unruly the pileup will get.
It's easier for the pileup and the operator to send "XX1XXX QRZ UP" than
"XX1XXX QRZ EU AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST ONLY" or whatever. Sure, the wall will
become louder on and near your QSX, but just work the loudest ones.
Eventually you'll either get tired and go for an 807, or you'll run out of
59++ signals and you'll get to dig deeper to the ones who are "only" 59, then
the 57s, then the 55s, etc...at least till you get spotted and get another
round of 20-overs calling you again. If you have a rock-solid wall of noise
with nothing leaping out at you, expand your QSX range to 5 or 7 kHz on SSB.
Maybe even 10 if it's unusually bad. Work the edges, pick off the big guns.
Eventually, you'll settle down to a single QSX with luck, pick 'em off with
little effort. I sure can't speak for HS-land, but when I was on C6 I found
that to be the easiest way to make Q's...take all callers. Though I DID take
EU only for a couple of hours one night as I wanted to boost my country count
a little.
Regards,
Peter,
W2IRT
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