7 May 2012

DX Chasing (no thanks)

Chasing DX is just not my thing any more. For example, on 10m CW this afternoon there was one heck of a pileup of stations trying to work 7O6T in Yemen. This is a rare country but those who get through tend to be the stations with the BIG beams, high power and who call and call. Occasionally, a QRP station with good skills can manage it. On rare occasions I have found DX before the pileups or the DX cluster shows it's there and then a QSO is possible.

But basically I am past this stage in the hobby now. I prefer to explore new things, experiment and have fun. I know that if I had 400W+  and a big beam up high I could work the world if I was patient, but having amassed well over 100 countries worked with 5W SSB/CW it matters not to me that I don't work that rare DX.

On VHF and UHF it can still be fun though, and counting squares is still my answer to train spotting, HI.

5 comments:

tmw said...

I perhaps don't have much of a competitive nature, but there is just so so much more to radio than working the grid that I'm often surprised when many of my conversations with hams turns out to be about dx. I know it is a huge thing, but I spend all of my time thinking about a low parts count project, or digital signal processing. I sincerely appreciate this post, and all of them as always!

Roger G3XBM said...

Hi tmw,

Like you, I get more fun from working out how to squeeze a quart from a pint pot: in my case doing what others have managed with fewer parts in a more simple way.

73s Roger

Michael, AA1TJ said...

Ditto that! :-)

Bert, PA1B said...

Hello Roger, most of the time I avoid pile ups. But when a station is calling and now and then there are no callers, that is the moment for me. In this way I worked Murat A61Q . New DXCC for me!
But I also enjoy a QSO with 50 mW or less.

Unknown said...

Another ditto from me. :)

When you read the forums and blog posts about working DX it seems clear that working pileups and other peoples' bad operating makes DXers annoyed and frustrated. So why do it?

Who needs a hobby that gets you stressed and angry? I had a job that did that...