3Y0J and the Age of Entitlement

No one who is active on HF could be unaware of the recent 3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island in the south Atlantic Ocean. Maybe you were in the pile-ups, maybe you were annoyed or inconvenienced by the activity and attention, or perhaps you were in the small minority who saw it as an opportunity to showcase the darkest corners of your soul. There was something for everyone.

Their poor location for propagation to much of North America (behind a mountain), low power and simple wire antennas, combined with the enormous appetite of DXers worldwide was a recipe for chaos. And chaos there was. Some of it intentional but much of it unintentional. Mistakes, confusion and an inability to actual hear 3Y0J made a mess of their transmit frequency and within the pile up. The team improvised tactics to mitigate the problems, though with limited success.

During the DXpedition I was amused to notice that the page hits on a years old article on my blog started climbing. Nothing viral, just well into the 3 digits. That article was a heartfelt attempt to see into the lives of the hams responsible for the DQRM (deliberate QRM). The referral URL told me little and a brief experiment with a search engine did not enlighten me. All I know for certain is that the topic was on the minds of many hams the past two weeks, DXers or not.

Can you find the common trait of the many kinds of hams acting out during the DXpedition?

• DQRM'ers
• Team isn't tough enough! I could do better in those extreme conditions.
  
• They're idiots! Wrong FT8 period, behind a mountain, losing equipment in the water, shortage of food, fuel and water, etc.
• Why aren't there immediate log uploads? I want confirmation now!
• I'm in Upper Slobovia with a wire hung off the back deck and I can't hear them. What an awful DXpedition!
• They don't do enough CW/SSB/FT8 (maybe even SSTV) on 160/20/12/10/etc.
• $800,000 divided by 19,000 QSO (10,000 uniques) is a ridiculous number. I shouldn't have given them money, or I didn't donate but I'll complain as if I did anyway.

What do they have in common? Entitlement. This is more concisely stated as: Me! Me! Me! 

Everything is about them and for them. The challenges and priorities of others are of less or no concern. They know what they want and they want it now, no matter the circumstances. The behaviour is perhaps more on display nowadays because the internet gives them an ideal channel to express their grievances.

While these hams do not appear to be anywhere near a majority, they do form a significant minority. You may know one. It is possible that you share one or more of the above sentiments, even if you did not express it in a public forum. It's human nature, though most adults keep those urges under tight control. The ones who act out are like small children who have failed to mature.

DQRM? It's a call to world saying: look at me! I can't work Bouvet? Someone must pay for that injustice! The team isn't perfect? I'll tell them how to get things done (despite zero expertise and experience)!

Do you need more evidence? When you have time to kill I suggest scrolling through the multitude of comments on the DXpedition's public Facebook page. The entitlement reeks off the screen. It comes from every country and in many languages. The grievances and criticisms are universal. Although they appear with greater frequency from those in richer countries, that may only be because there are few hams in poorer countries. Non-hams likely have no views on the matter.

Some of the DQRM was quite funny. I could tune to any frequency where they were known to appear and there would be regular squawks and beeps from would be DQRM'ers. But 3Y0J wasn't there and hadn't been there for hours. That's quite astonishing. You just have to wonder what (or if) they're thinking. Although I didn't chase them on FT8 it was amusing to hear from many that the pirates were often using their own grid squares in CQ's from the supposed 3Y0J. 

There may be a market for an online course to be tentatively titled: Introductory DQRM'ing. Of course that's unrealistic since DQRM and competence are incompatible attributes.

When the team asked that everyone only work them once for an ATNO (all time new one), hams with better equipped stations worked them on several band and mode slots, and even duped them on the same band and mode. Like FT8WW they spent a lot of time on FT8 to give smaller stations a fair chance. From what I've read, that appears to have worked. 

Me? I'll confess that I worked them twice. I'll explain why, below the screenshot of my confirmations from their logs uploaded to Club Log.

I did work Bouvet back in the 1980s. Even though I didn't request a QSL (as usual for me!) I didn't want to overreach despite restarting my DXCC count when I returned to the hobby a decade ago. I've stated my personal feelings about DXCC and awards before and I'll direct you there rather than repeat myself.

My excuse for working them twice is that I didn't think that I'd successfully worked them the first time. The WARC bands are difficult for me since I have, as yet, no antennas for 30, 17 and 12 meters. I load whatever antenna seems to work and hope for the best. It was a struggle to get their attention on 30 meters CW. My call and report were clearly received from them before DQRM obliterated them for 10 seconds. I sent 599 and my call a couple more times. When the interference relented, I heard 'TU UP' as they moved on to the next QSO.

About two days later their CW and SSB logs were finally uploaded. My QSO was not there even though the period included when it took place. I guessed that they'd miscopied my call when I resent it and I didn't hear them send the incorrect call before it was logged. That isn't uncommon. In fact it happened to me recently, twice, with another DXpedition.

I got lucky on 15 meters CW the last day of their activity with my large and high mono-band yagi that helped me to punch through the competition. That QSO was completely in the clear and I was confident that it was good. To get there I had to wait until conditions faded to Europe so that those of us in North America had a chance. Luckily European DQRM was not a factor because they are heavily attenuated off the side of yagis pointed at Bouvet.

All the logs were uploaded when they were back aboard the Marama. To my surprise, both contacts appeared. I was aiming for insurance and instead I earned two band slots. Logged time of the last uploaded QSO is often misleading because there is more than one station and each has its own log. There's no way to know whether the upload is partial or complete.

Our shacks are more automated than ever. Our SDR radios and software skimmers can let us know what is happening on any ham band in real time. We rarely need to touch the VFO knob to earn DXCC. I recently heard of software that will decode CW pile-ups and highlight the last received instance of  '5NN'. You can use that information to improve your chances of working the DX.

No matter how sophisticated our shacks and how modern technology eases our DXCC quest, and ultimately DXCC Honor Roll, someone has to actually travel to the country of our desire. They must invest time, effort and expense to carry a radio to a distant part of the globe, put up an antenna and call CQ. Without those hardy souls all of our DXCC counts would be far lower than they are. No one could aspire to the DXCC Honor Roll. For the rarest entities there is no expectation of native hams; we need DXpeditioners to fulfill the need.

If working rare DX was easy, what would be the point and where is the challenge of achievement? I know that's cold comfort to those not in 3Y0J's log, but it is part of the game. Don't be disappointed by failure. We can use the experience as motivation to hone our skills as DX'ers and do what we can to improve our stations. 

I salute the team members of the 3Y0J DXpedition and I wish them fair winds on the cruise to Cape Town, South Africa. Eventually I expect to thank one of them in person. That would be fellow 6 meter enthusiast Cezar VE3LYC. I bet he has a tale to tell.

If you didn't work 3Y0J, you can bet that there will be another attempt by a future team of enthusiasts. Where there's a demand there's sure to be a supply. Unfortunately it isn't likely to happen soon. Extreme DXpeditions like this are neither easy nor cheap.