DX Lately?

[office888]

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


T23

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.

 

[The Jerk]

Really? I NEVER get skip on AM....NEVER... on SSB its like I have a direct line to FL. and Cal. So...Go Figure...:w00t:


T23

I have skip on AM all the time...but its pretty rough to get heard sometimes.

 

[T23]

Is there a calling frequency for AM? Like 38LSB for SSB for example?

T23

 

[The Jerk]

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.

 

[T23]

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

 

[airplane1]

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.

 

[ZuMBLe]

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.

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

 

[parallax]

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.

 

[The Jerk]

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.

 

[The Jerk]

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.

 

[Robb]

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 . . .

 

[T23]

About less than a month ago I was listening to a guy in puerto rico on 10 meters coming in at 5/9.


T23

 

[TonyV225]

I would think there should be some nice windows opening in not long here.

 

[BammBamm]

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

 

[Mr Clean]

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.