DX window 75m reminder for Generals

[SR385]

Generals, myself included, should be reminded that the low range of access is 3.800 LSB....

This means using LSB that you must be UP from 3.800 at least half the bandwidth you are running for transmit.

This means you cannot work in the DX window below 3.8, it means that typically you should be at 3.803 or higher or your sideband will be below your privileges.

A ton of new generals are working in the DX window and people are taking notice...and calls. It will eventually hit a boiling point if people don't have awareness of the issue.

In a nutshell, as a general, you won't work DX on 75m until you upgrade. The DX regions can't work where you are permitted, so if you hear them, you can't respond....unless they are working split and listening for you 3.803 and higher.

 

[WX2MIG]

A good reminder SR385....

I just made that very mistake on 40 meters this morning. Heard a station calling on 7.175.5 Mhz, and answered him. After the QSO started I realized my mistake, and made it as short as possible without being rude to the old timer.
I shouldn't be any lower than 7.178.0.....:redface:

Hope nobody rats me out......

 

[EDUK8TR]

Yes, a good reminder indeed.
Just one of the several reasons why I wanted to upgrade. Of course even after that one needs to be aware of the band edges to the CW portions.

 

[rfoverlord]

Ah! so it's not just me noticing it. thanks for the reminder, that i need to upgrade. I heard a couple of OO's on the local repeater 2 nights ago discussing this issue, so it might be becoming a problem.

 

[WX2MIG]

This whole thing kinda makes you wonder if there aren't a few Advanced and Extra guys trolling those band edges looking for Generals to slip up and answer them out of band.....:glare:

In the last couple of days I've noticed a lot of activity on both 40 and 20 meters right on the line between the General band, and the Advanced/Extra band.......

 

[SR385]

I brought it up in particular due to the wall of noise that K5D is making and the UK has been open in the window very frequently as of late. Both of them are being contacted by generals frequently. I often sit and listen when I'm bored.

I also hear people being politely corrected and ignoring it and continuing to work the window.

I actually make log entries if I hear someone particularly bad. LID LID LID LID with notes as to what they were doing, so if I run into them later I won't respond back.

K5D themselves haven't exactly had much etiquette either. They are doing dumb things saying Listening up 2 to 3 hundred without any concern for the people occupying those frequencies at the time. So they are below 3.8 and telling people they are listening from 3.81 to 3.82, no particular frequency. So DXers being the wolf pack that they are, just start keying up on top of people.

What's nice is, propagation has been strong enough that our conversations interfere with the DXers and run them off, but it takes a good fifteen minutes to make the point. One gets very adept at hearing through intentional QRM on 75m...comes in handy.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

K5D themselves haven't exactly had much etiquette either. They are doing dumb things saying Listening up 2 to 3 hundred without any concern for the people occupying those frequencies at the time. So they are below 3.8 and telling people they are listening from 3.81 to 3.82, no particular frequency. So DXers being the wolf pack that they are, just start keying up on top of people.

This is nothing new and is VERY common and not just limited to the K5D expedition. It spreads the herd out a bit and makes it easier for the DX station to hear an individual signal out of the thousands calling him at the same time. I'm not saying that the QRM factor is OK but rather that I can understand the reasoning behind the practice.It also allows the lower power stations a better chance at being heard as they may be lucky enough to hit a freq that has far fewer legal limit (or higher) operators on at the time.

 

[SR385]

Oh yeah I get why they do it, it's just not fair to other users of the spectrum at all. For one station to lay waste to such a large swath of spectrum...it really shouldn't be done.

The utter lack of common courtesy by DXers doesn't help it as it is nearly impossible to run the calls smoothly. I think this adds to this aberrant way of running the pileup.

Two calls only.... "This here is W5......" People seem to be bad with both English and their numbers ;-)

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I can put up with the DXer's and dxpeditions any day over the weekend contesters.Now those are some RUDE operators. :angry:

 

[hookedon6]

This whole thing kinda makes you wonder if there aren't a few Advanced and Extra guys trolling those band edges looking for Generals to slip up and answer them out of band.....:glare:

In the last couple of days I've noticed a lot of activity on both 40 and 20 meters right on the line between the General band, and the Advanced/Extra band.......

we (my VE team members) used to do something similar all the time. after signing off a new general we would make a point to work him/her and then qsy for one reason or another to right at or slightly below the general fone band edge.
the next day we would mail him an OO-gram and bust his chops.

most of them NEVER made that mistake again

 

[WX2MIG]

I can put up with the DXer's and dxpeditions any day over the weekend contesters.Now those are some RUDE operators. :angry:

Amen to that brother, they pretty much killed the 20m band this weekend, but I have also witnessed some pretty despicable behavior on the part of the DX hounds. EA6JE Lou from Barcelona Spain has been booming in on 40 meters almost every night, he always generates a huge pile up here in the states trying to work him, I have tried several times to work him myself, but I patiently wait until he is finished with his contact and calls out QRZ before I bark out my call, I can't say that for hundreds of other impatient operators that I hear calling out their prefix and number right over top of an ongoing contact.
I usually give it a half hour, I figure if he doesn't hear me in that span of time, he isn't going to, and I move on.

Sooner or later a pimple has got to pop on the face of the sun, and when it does 10, 12, 15, and 17 are going to open up, I just hope I'm there for the first couple of hours that it does, cause that's when you'll be able to make a few nice casual DX contacts before the hounds get released....

 

[hookedon6]

... I have also witnessed some pretty despicable behavior on the part of the DX hounds... I just hope I'm there for the first couple of hours that it does, cause that's when you'll be able to make a few nice casual DX contacts before the hounds get released....

well,.... good luck with that:blink: , but with all the bozo's using DX CLUSTERS, it just aint gonna happen.
there was a time when you had to find your own dx, but now they just monitor a cluster. have you ever just been monitoring a freq and all of a sudden there are lots of stations just a kc away all yelling at the same time..... some one made a dx spot and they all jumped on it, even though they may not even be hearing the dx at all.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

well,.... good luck with that:blink: , but with all the bozo's using DX CLUSTERS, it just aint gonna happen.
there was a time when you had to find your own dx, but now they just monitor a cluster. have you ever just been monitoring a freq and all of a sudden there are lots of stations just a kc away all yelling at the same time..... some one made a dx spot and they all jumped on it, even though they may not even be hearing the dx at all.

DX clusters are both a blessing and a curse.I have used them a few times before to work a new one or to find out when a dxpedition is on the air but I have also been listening to a QSO in progress waiting to call and then hear nothing but QRM for +/- 5 KHz. Yes, it does take a LOT less than a few hours for it to become known that a rare one is on the air.

 

[WX2MIG]

To be honest fellas, I don't even know what a DX Cluster is, I'm still new at this HF thing, but I have already witnessed what you speak of a couple of times.
Seems the DX hounds don't care about well established scheduled HF nets like the Maritime Mobile net on 14.300 Mhz, or the OMISS nets....
Been sitting there waiting to check in and completely lost the net to QRM from a pack of DX hounds trying to work a European station 5 to 10 Khz away.....

 

[SR385]

well,.... good luck with that:blink: , but with all the bozo's using DX CLUSTERS, it just aint gonna happen.
there was a time when you had to find your own dx, but now they just monitor a cluster. have you ever just been monitoring a freq and all of a sudden there are lots of stations just a kc away all yelling at the same time..... some one made a dx spot and they all jumped on it, even though they may not even be hearing the dx at all.

Funny story, parallel to DX clusters.....fishing.

I'm near the shore in NJ and used to fish the jettys all the time. It was something I used to do to be alone and enjoy the surf. I was talking with my father-in-law about how in one particular spot the blue fish would get trapped between the jettys and I could stand there for an hour catching one after the other on light freshwater gear.

My brother-in-law asked when the last time was that I was fishing and I told him it had been over ten years at least. He told me not to bother going anymore....this is why.

When the fish hit now, everyone picks up their cellphones and starts calling. Evidently you can get easily over a hundred people rushing in to hit a school that is near to shore. People crowd you, block in your car etc etc. They told me it's completely ruined fishing along the shore now....pretty much a fishing DX cluster.