note to all stateside K1N detractors
Here are some things that will hopefully be in the DX'ING FOR DUMMIES BOOK 1. K1N is over. I am not convinced that any group anywhere did it better. that applies to all bands more specifically 160 meters. 2. NEWS FLASH! There will be other dx peditions in the future. Only 2 days notice??? We Had several months notice of the proposed K1N operation. If you are not subscribed to the daily dx, the weekly dx, the NJDXA bulletin, the ARRL DX Bulletin,the KB8NW DX bulletin some of which are free, you should look into it. Engraved notices were not sent out and it is your own fault for not having enough notice. 3. Missing K1n which was basically in your back yard should be part of your "lessons learned" after action report. If your station could not make a K1N contact, it was either an operator malfunction or your station needs some work. 4. If you do not have an extra class license, upgrade it or stop complaining about it. No code licenses have been here for years. CW is no longer a barrier to upgading your license. There are 11 year old kids with extra class licenses. Take your radio clubs next license upgrade class. If I were you I would Sign up for that class TODAY. Think of it another way. If you can operate CW, that gives you 9 more band opportunities where you can work them. why limit yourself needlessly. Bonus, even more band opportunities are available if you radio does RTTY. 5. No antenna for 160 or 60 meters? Start building your antenna TODAY. 6. No match box to load your antenna up on other bands? Buy or build one TODAY. 7. If your xyl is nagging you about Saturdays spent listening to the dx bands? Send her out to a spa for the day you want to devote to dxing. You might be surprised to find her asking you if you have any other days you would like to devote to dx-ing. In some circles this is called a win-win situation. 8.If your radio does not do 20 kc splits, TODAY would be a good day to upgrade your radio, buy or build a VFO Or live dangerously and read the manual for the radio you have now. 9 Be there !! You can be right at your radio and still miss announcements of where the dx is listening. If you are out of the room listening on a speaker 15 feet away it is easy to miss the DX station announcing he has shifted from listening 5 kcs up to listening 5 kcs down. Listening from across the room almost assures that you will miss announcements of this type, especially in a heavy DQRM situation such as EU only, NA only, ATNO, QRX-5 fueling generator etc. 10. Requesting or suggesting the dx station should go to another band, general sub bands or other requests via DX-Watch or sending a thank you on the packet cluster? Please know that the individual operators on most dx-peditions are not watching the dx cluster nor do they have dx watch on their cell phone even if they had enough signal to do so. Further, most of the american dx ops do not know all of the sub bands by memory and for sure, the dx ops from other countries do not know and could not care less about the general sub bands. 11. Just because a web site mentions or does not mention a band, or sub band or a band they plan to concentrate on does not mean they will or will not cover it. Radios and antennas fail or may have to be shared between several bands. If you read the pre dx-pedition freq plan for K1N. Their initial plan was to work 10M SSB and not do any 10 CW. Even so, I noted a significant amount of Q's were made on 10 cw. Again, you have to BE THERE. You snooze? YOU LOSE !!! 12. Most importantly of all, If you did not CONTRIBUTE to a specific DX-pedition, I really think you should refrain from complaining about it. A list of donors can often be found on the dx-pedition web site by clicking on the donor button. 13. If you are a casual weekend dx'er with a casual station, you should not be surprised or disappointed when you get CASUAL RESULTS. After reading this if you are still looking for someone to blame when you miss the next dx-pedition, take A long look in the mirror. 73 Chet N4FX -----Original Message----- From: Topband [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 12:44 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Topband: K1N 5,399 q's on 160 M Larry .. don't jump all over me .... what exatcly was "in my control" of k1n ? --- sure i could risk a fine by calling on 3775 .... I listened almost 10hrs straight (my wife not exactly happy - on saturday ), while cleaning my radio room up ( garage) and via remote in the living room... i didn't ever hear a notification that he was listening ... up at 3800+ ... plenty of notices of 70Khz up. ---- and frankly .... do 100% of the hams have radios that are capable of splits that wide .... i see why heathkit twins were popular !!! *I'm asking what did i miss* .... besides not having a extra call .... its obious -- and ill state it any ways .. that i couldn't advance my call to extra in 2days ... I probably got my self banned from dxwatch.com for making requests for some one to ask k1n to go to general ..... were there 2ops on one band ? one working the Tx radio and another in the general portion ?, it was not mentioned on their web page. I hope ANTO is going to be adhered to ... it sounded like a good idea to me ... I guess i'll upgrade my call ... it is disappointing that location will not be operating again for more than 10+years. I never thought of trying to get ahold of the chopper pilot to pass a message .... that was a good idea. PS ... i can't use a tuner i don't have -- ref to 60M (mfj-1798 antenna) .... Im not a DX chaser .. i'm the normal "once in a while" weekend guy that has a hobby that the XYL tolerates. On 02/18/2015 08:56 AM, Larry Burke wrote: > With all due respect, Mike, these things are within your control and the > DXpedition should not be held responsible for you not being able to work > them. You'll find DXing way more fun when you upgrade (although K1N DID look > for Generals on some bands). With regards to 60m, many operators there find > a way to load their existing 80/160m antennas. At least one guy who worked > them on that band uses what he calls a Bird Feeder -- which is in no way > resonant on 60m. > > 73, Larry K5RK > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Topband [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike > Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 10:12 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Topband: K1N 5,399 q's on 160 M > > im sure i could of too ... > > i heard them for hours on 80M (3705 +70Khz) .... some times even 20 over > S9 but never ventured above 3800 .... cept once some one got them to go to > 60M ... and of corse i didn't have an antenna resonant for 60M ..... > > > > -- Mike KC7NOA _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
