Lurking, Waiting and Scheduling: Circumventing the Pile Up

Now that the Ducie island VP6D DXpedition is wrapping up I thought it worthwhile to review a few of the less competitive techniques for working the rare ones. I used all of them for at least one band slot to work VP6D. I call them "non-competitive" since none involves pile up busting skills, antennas, power or propagation prognostications.

These are complementary to those competitive skills, many of which I've discussed numerous times on this blog, though admittedly not for a while, and mostly in the context of QRP and modest antennas. Just do a search to find those articles. I prefer competitive skills since they are a path to improving my operating and contesting, and it's lots of fun to mix it up in the pile ups with the world's best stations and operators.

Lurking

My timing and luck were not with on 40 meters CW in the early days of the DXpedition. They got on 40 meters close to their sunset, which is prime evening operating time in eastern North America. The pile ups were fierce. Despite having a 2-element yagi up 46 meters my 200 watts could not compete with the mass of kilowatt signals.

According to their band plan they transmit on 7.010 MHz and listen up. One evening I set the receiver on this frequency and programmed a transmit split of 1.02 kHz. I then unplugged the headphones and reduced the volume on the speakers low enough that the noise wouldn't be objectionable. With that playing in the background I concentrated on non-ham tasks that I could do in the shack; my shack and home office share a converted bedroom.

Some time later I distinctly heard a high speed "VP6D up" emanating from the speakers. By the time I stood up and took the two steps to the desk with the rig the message repeated. I punched the memory button to send my call, waited a second and punched it again. My eagerness caused me to double with him. I waited and a second later I heard "VE3VN 599". With a "599 TU" I had them logged on 40 meters CW.

There were a couple of other lurkers but I got through first. To be courteous I waited a few seconds for one more lurker to work VP6D before spotting them. Within a minute the pile up was roaring.

Lurking is boring but it can work to circumvent the pile up. Unless you have a excess amount of time on your hands I suggest you do as I did by scheduling some useful tasks you can do in the shack while you wait. Many times the DX does not show up and you'll be disappointed.

Waiting

If the DXpedition is long enough and you are very patient most pile ups can be entirely avoided by waiting. Eventually all pile ups thin or disappear as most everyone has worked the DX on a particular band and mode.

This is how I worked VP6D on 30 meters. I had tried a few times to break through the pile up early in DXpedition but for some reason I had no success on this band. Waiting was not entirely voluntary because for numerous reasons I often could not get on the air when conditions were favourable. Other times they were not active on 30 meters or were on FT8 rather than CW.

The day after I got home after operating CQ WW SSB from another stration I worked them first call when heard on 30 meters CW. They were calling CQ with few takers. Waiting can work.

The danger with waiting is that DXpeditions can be wrapped up earlier than planned due to weather and other logistical problems. If you wait you lose. Consider the recent TT8KO DXpedition that lasted one day before the authorities shut it down. Wait if you must but don't be surprised when you miss the rare one because you waited.

Scheduling

I was only able to reinstall my 160 meter antenna the day before CQ WW SSB. Since the DXpedition was slated to end a few days after the contest and I would be unavailable during the contest I chose to schedule time to find and work them on 160 meters. It is typical that DXpeditions start dismantling antennas a couple of days in advance of the DXpedition's end and they usually start with the low bands. Waiting to work them on 160 meters after the contest would be risky.

Lurking on 160 meters isn't quite as reliable as on 40 meters since the noise is high and I don't yet have a low noise receiving antenna to the southwest, towards VP6. Instead I lurked at one remove by monitoring their DXA page on the shack computer. I would glance over from time to time to see if the 160 meter activity button was lit. Since I did not have have on 30 meters either I was watching for that one as well.

When it was midnight I became impatient. I needed to rest up before the big contest. So I tuned to their frequency and connected to the spotting network. Lo! There they were. DXA was not updating properly and I missed their first appearance on the band. By this time they were slowing working Europeans, which is a very difficult path. After listening for a few minutes I could see this would continue for some time. I reluctantly shut down and went to bed. However I had not given up.

I decided to risk contest fatigue by getting up 15 minutes before sunrise. Their fantastically strong signal was peaking towards S9 as the sun crept up to the horizon. At 5 minutes before sunrise they were in the log despite a good sized pile up. Perhaps I had the advantage due to a sunrise enhancement, or perhaps I was a little bit lucky. I didn't stick around to monitor their signal strength as daylight flooded through the windows.

Scheduling can feel like work rather than a hobby. But if you want to bag the DX it is something you will need to do occasionally even if you have a big signal. Knowing the schedule of rare DX and planning your schedule on the air to match has a long tradition. In the decades before DXpeditioning was common and spotting networks were non-existent this was a tried and true technique for the serious DXers. If you'd like to read more about it I recommend W9KNI's venerable book The Complete DX'er.