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DX Lately?

T23 said:
What kinda wattage should one be pushing for good skip? and would a preamp help?


T23
Click to expand...

Preamps merely make your noise floor higher, but can OCCASIONALLY help.

Height is might. Get that antenna 30+ ft in the air.
Antenna design. You'll do better with a yagi than a simple dipole.
Feedline. Don't skimp! RG8U / Belden 9913 / LMR400 for runs greater than 50 ft.
Lastly, wattage. This is by far the least important.
 
I typically notice the static on Ch19 elevated, then I just start roaming through the channels until I find one with a strong signal (that's DX, not just local guys chatting)...typically I see Ch20, Ch26, Ch28, and Ch32 most often, but I have DX'd on pretty much all of them at some point.
 
Well I went into town today, and about around 3:30pm EST there was a whole pile of skip rolling in, activity on almost evey channel but still now contacts for me.


T23
 
I heard Hawaii and Australia on Sunday but did not get a contact with them. I took my antenna down to work on my tower to get it ready for a beam and put an A99 up temp on a piece of pipe strapped to my deck railing about 36ft but it just does not dx like the maco 5/8 did.
 
Usually, if your setup is working properly, if you can hear them, they can hear you. I'm using a inverted-v dipole in my attic and I can make DX contacts with under 20 watts. Listen for stations calling and then wait for a pause and jump in. How you call them could make a difference also. If you hear a station calling CQ DX, call their unit number a few times and then say your unit number and say "trying". Then they know you're trying to contact them and will respond. I find having proper audio helps also. Booming audio makes it hard to understand you in a pileup, make sure you have loud but clear audio and you speak clearly. :D

T23 said:
Well I went into town today, and about around 3:30pm EST there was a whole pile of skip rolling in, activity on almost evey channel but still now contacts for me.


T23
Click to expand...
 
skips been hot here in the northwest since november 1st.. pretty much a daily event,, it starts with mexico and south america, then later in the afternoon the east coast starts coming in strong.
 
I was out for a few minutes today, and while I was able to get my numbers called on 21; they were so weak I couldn't pull them out. It wasn't great, but at least its there.

Washington and the rest of the NW was great on the trip out here...much better than the NE.
 
Yesterday I got into it a little bit...

Talked from southern Washington state and got hold of North/South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York...even got some Louisiana in there for a bit. I was working channel 21, 26, and 28 with very good results. Not bad for a mobile, PC76XL / 1x4 FatBoy / 102 inch whip. I was told I was booming into Philadelphia.

Skip was in and out as I was driving around...going from nothing to a lot of static, and a pile up. It was fun, and got my name called a lot...128 portable in Washington State. I get a chance to play in DX land so infrequently, I feel clumsy getting into the mix when I do.

:thumbup:
 
Talked to 43WR-137 in Australia today for a minute on 38/LSB.

However, the best contact this week was with Belfast, Ireland on the 17 meter band.
5/9 contact - both ways.
Just blew me away . . .
 
About less than a month ago I was listening to a guy in puerto rico on 10 meters coming in at 5/9.


T23
 
I'm in Chicago and DX here consists of California,Oklahoma,Texas, and Canada. Made 1 contact yesterday with 247 in Austin Tx at about 3pm and one today at about 4:30pm with "iceman 122" in Ontario, Canada. I can hear a lot of world wide radio out of cali but can't get a response.:sad: By the way this is on 38LSB.
173 Chicago
 
I have been having killer conditions most of my break from work saturday thru yesterday. All over both coasts on AM and SSB. Talked to 2 stations in Newfoundland. Monday around noon I was all over Europe with 300 watts. Recieve I was getting them like 5 4 or 5 5. They said I was slamming over there with reports of 5 7 to 5 9 and one guy telling me 5 9 but said I was in the red at 30. Made my day and caused a pileup. It was in there about 30 mins and would have made more contacts but they were all over each other.
 

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