K5XI's DX Operating Tips

Someone sent me an e-mail once and asked if I knew of any DX operating tips available on the internet. I realized that I did not. But over the years I had acquired a little bit of experience at operating, and realized that I was not doing much to pass along that knowledge to others. So here is the substance of my e-mail response to him with my tips for working DX.

I. Equipment

  1. It REALLY helps to have a yagi antenna, even if it is mounted very low to the ground. I worked 256 countries with a 3-element tribander that was only 20 feet high. This is the MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do to improve your DX.
  2. The second most helpful thing you can do equipment-wise is run some power. 2KW is not required. But get an amplifier that runs at least 750 watts to 1KW if you can.
  3. Get on packet. And I mean the DX packet cluster, not the BBS stuff. You can work a lot of DX by catching packet spots. It is like having 20 or 30 receivers at the same time listening to different frequencies. Do not be deterred by those who would say the using packet is somehow "cheating". Those are the same people who criticized others for using a keyer instead of a straight key, for operating SSB instead of AM, for using digital read outs instead of analog frequency dials, for using a solidstate rig instead of tubes, etc. In any group of human beings, you will always find some who are resistant to change. The idea here is to have fun operating amateur radio. If you have more fun using packet radio, then do it. If not, then don't use packet. It is that simple. Don't let someone else dictate to you how you must have fun.

II. Operating Times

  1. I tried to be on the air at times when the competition was not so great, like in the wee hours of the morning. Just before sunrise is also an excellent time. I would operate 15 meters in the evenings when everyone else was on 20 meters. (Of course, we had sufficient solar activity to keep 15 open in the evenings, too). On 20 meters, the competition is awesome. Everybody has big antennas now, and runs high power. Breaking a pile up is tough. BUT, the same is not true of 17 meters, or 15 meters, or 10 meters. Those bands are where you can work the hard to get countries.
  2. Get there before the pile up. If you hunt DX by just tuning around and listening for pile ups, you are not being very smart about this. For example, get on 15 meters in the early morning before it opens, and be the first to find the DX when the band opens. Get away from the crowd. If you want to catch a DXpedition on 20 meters, then listen on 14195 KHz and catch them when they FIRST CALL CQ, answering them immediately before the pile up forms.
  3. Operate during the big DX contests! During those contests, the big gun stations are active with really big antenna systems, and they can hear your signal, even if you are a little weak. Catch them on the second day of the contest, when all of the other big gun stations have already worked them (or try the wee hours of the morning when the casual operators are sleeping). During a DX contest, you can work more than 100 countries on one week end. The following contests are the best:


IMPORTANT NOTE: In all of the above contests, be sure and work K5XI if you hear us on during the contest!

III. Information Is Power

  1. Know who is active. Read all of the DX newsletters you can find. Several are available free over the internet, such as the ARRL DX Bulletin, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, and the Italian 425 DX bulletin. So when you hear a pile up, you will not have to be one of the lids who QRMs everyone else with stupid questions like "Who's the DX?"
  2. Know what frequencies are being used. If a DXpedition is active, then make note of any published operating frequencies or listening reports. Check the packet clusters for frequencies of reported activity. You can get a world-wide report from the OH2BUA WebCluster or the JA packet cluster, both of which are available over the internet. You can search the packet spots by retrieving the last 100 spots, click on the "Edit" menu on your web browser, and select the "Find" function. Search for the callsign of the DXpedition. You can find every spot for that station using this method. Then go and listen to those frequencies and try to catch the DXpedition when they first show up on one of those frequencies again. The objective is to overcome limitations in your ability to break pile-ups with a modest station by listening constantly to a particular frequency, and catching a rare DX station when they first call CQ on frequency.
  3. Know what time to be there. The activity reports also give times. Make note of the time of the report, especially if the report is from a station in your part of the world. If someone in your area had propagation to the DX location at the time of day indicated in the report, then it is likely that you will have propagation at the same time of day. Some DX stations tend to be active at the same time every day. Look for them at those times.

IV. Other Tips

  1. Operate CW. It is easier to work DX on CW than on SSB, although skill can be more of a factor on CW.
  2. Call CQ in the "mornings". Try calling CQ in the wee hours of the morning stateside. Remember, it may be early evening in the Pacific. Call CQ occassionally and you may actually get an answer. Try calling CQ to Africa after sunrise on 15 meters or 10 meters. Some Africans do not care for DX pile ups and short signal report type exchanges, but may actually answer an CQ. This works a whole lot better, however, if you have a good signal. If you only have a vertical antenna, then try calling CQ in the wee hours of the morning on 40 meters.
  3. The best DX tips I ever saw in print were in a couple of books and articles published by Bob Locher W9KNI. Try "The Complete DX'er" by Bob Locher (1983), published by Idiom Press, P.O. Box 583, Deerfield, IL 60015. I think it is available from most amateur radio stores that sell books. He primarily operated CW, but his wisdom applied equally to SSB operation.
  4. Pray for sunspots!

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Last updated 20 October 2001