As much as you might see and believe that snagging that rare DX is a function of the best radio coupled with the best antenna, I'd like to dispell that myth by relating to you an experience of mine from February 2008 when I managed to work VP6DX on Ducie Island (about 9000 miles distant).
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I enjoy DXing and I enjoy the challenge of getting heard when a rare station (often a DXpedition) is working a huge pileup. With my seriously compromised antenna steup this has always been something where I firmly believe that it's not about the radio or the antenna, it's all about operator persistence and guile.
My Ducie Island experience is a case in point. I'd been looking forward to trying to work VP6DX, if nothing else because my wife's name is Dulcie, which isn't a million miles away from Ducie. It was also going to be a new one for me to add to my country count. Your reasons for chasing that particular DXpedition may vary, hihi.
At that time my radio was a Yaesu FT-950 and the antenna was a random (and I do mean random) length wire sloping from an upper floor window down to the back fence of my property. I was using an LDG AT-100 Pro antenna tuner which was able to give me a good match on most bands where I was hearing VP6DX, who were mostly audible to me on 30m and 40m CW in my early daylight hours.
I spent a lot of time listening to the huge pileup trying to sense the VP6DX operator's operating style and management of the pile. How many stations did he work on each frequency before tuning through the pile? What was the extent of the pileup? Where were the quieter spots on the fringes where I might be more likely to be heard? Through all this I would be sending my call where I thought they might be listening, trying to get that elusive contact. I have to admit that it was at times a little demoralising hearing them working station after station close to where where I was transmitting but never coming back to me. This went on for many days on both 30m and 40m with no success.
However, on the morning of the 23rd of February 2008 I got lucky. I was hanging out on the upper edge of the pile (which seemed a little smaller and quieter by this time as they neared the last few days of the DXpedition) sending my call whenever the previous QSO concluded with the usual "5nn tu".
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| VP6DX online log showing my 40m CW QSO |
I have to say that I was thrilled to hear the beautiful sound of "RIF ?" coming back from VP6DX. I replied with my full callsign and heard what I had long waited for, "G0RIF 5nn" to which I replied "5nn tu" and that was it, VP6DX was in the log.
I then had a nervous wait to confirm that I was in their online log before requesting a physical QSL card from their QSL manager.
I duly received my VP6DX QSL card and this is now a precious reminders of that QSO and the time and effort that went into securing that contact. More than anything though it is a permanent reminder that no matter your radio and/or antenna, sometimes it's more about your persistence and skill as an operator that yields results.
So don't despair, even when you feel that you may not have the equipment required to snag those rare ones, you should be motivated by my experience and recognise that it really isn't all about the equipment. It is often very much about the operator.
Good DX all and 73!
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