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DX'ing
For most ham radio operators DX'ing is talking to someone in a different
"country", which is sometimes misleading. For DX purposes it may be a different
country, or a part of your own country that is separated by a large distance.
For a ham in the lower 48 states of the United States this means that Hawaii and
Alaska are DX, even though they are also states. Canada and Mexico are also DX
even though we share a border with each one, and for some people they are only a
stones throw away.
There are a lot of countries that have a large ham population, and you will find
it easy to work stations in those countries. Most of the countries in Europe,
many in South American and the Caribbean, and some in Africa have hams on the
air every day. New Zealand, Australia and Japan also have hams on the air every
day. You shouldn't have any trouble working someone in these countries if you
have a radio capable of transmitting 100 watts even if you are using simple
antennas.
When you get to the countries that don't have resident hams on HF, or maybe no
hams period, it gets a little harder. Some countries have banned all amateur
radio, so until they change their minds you probably will not hear anyone from
those countries. Other countries permit ham radio, but no hams live there. Or
the ones that do don't operate on HF very often if at all. In those cases every
once in a while a ham or group of hams will go to that location and operate just
to give people the chance to work that country.
If the country is rare, meaning that no one operates from there very often, then
there will be pileups. Pileup is a strange sounding word if you haven't heard it
before, but it describes the situation perfectly - a lot of stations all piled
up on a small frequency range trying to work one station. For a really rare one
the pileups can be huge. There are two things you can do when you hear a pileup
for one that you need. One - you can tune on and avoid the pileup, or two - you
can jump right in and try to work the station. Before you do either take a look
at the notes on the Pileup page.
Even if you don't have a super station you can still bust a lot of pileups if
you take the time, have patience, and don't lose your cool. A while back there
was a new country on, VP6DI on Ducie Island. This little island had just been
approved as a new DX entity and every DX'er in the world wanted to work them.
What kind of chances did I have of working them with 100 watts and a simple wire
antenna, not even a good wire antenna at that? Well, slim and none. You do have
to be honest with yourself going in. I guess I must be a glutton for punishment
because I spent several nights trying to work them on SSB. I knew I stood a
better chance of getting through on CW, but I could never find them on CW.
Finally one night I found them working CW on 15 meters, and after a little
trying I got through. Was it a lot of work? Yes! Was a little luck involved?
Probably a lot of luck. But I worked them, and got the QSL card from them to
prove it. So the little guy can get through if he tries hard enough and long
enough.