DX - Before It Disappears

The Indian island of Ghorama is slowly disappearing thanks to rising sea levels. Yeah, yeah, yeah, global warming, yada, yada, yada. Above is a picture of one of the natives of Ghorama standing on what's left of the island. Due to disappearing land mass the island may now qualify as a new DX entity under separation by water rule. If so, it will still have more dry land mass than BS7, Scarborough Reef. Separate chartered boats from Japan, Finland and a joint US/British boat are headed to Ghorama hoping for first activation.

2012 Prognostications

2012 New Year’s Predictions

New Year’s resolutions never work out well. Let’s face it, we’ll never lose that 20 lbs until we can give up the Dayton kielbasa (and neither will our heartburn stop). So instead of making a lot of promises we’ll never keep, we present our predictions for 2012. They’re about as likely as any resolutions we’d make.

1. In an unexpected or explainable development, sunspots will begin to roar across the surface of the sun. The solar flux index will hit 250 for weeks at a time. Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific F2 contacts on 6m will be daily occurrences.

2. Washington DC will finally count as a separate multiplier in all contests. Except those sponsored by the ARRL or CQ magazine.

3. New North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un will take an interest in ham radio and will open up North Korea for any and all DXpeditions. The only stipulation is that all DXpeditions must be willing to transport small, heavy rods encased in lead lined containers. By the end of the year P5 will have fallen to #200 on the Most Wanted List just ahead of Italy.

4. In a twist on the Occupy movement, a group of DX’ers will attempt to Occupy Scarborough Reef to protest the ludicrousness of it counting as a separate entity. Unfortunately, since the reef is only able to accommodate at most five people at any one time, their protest will be overlooked.

5. In reaction to years of complaints that the CQ DX contests are just callsign copying contests, the CQ DX Contest Committee will change the rules and adopt a Sweepstakes style exchange. High error rates reduce top scores by one-half.

6. The topic of cut numbers will still be debated on the CQ-Contest email reflector. No consensus will be reached.

7. In a stunning development, there will be a universally accepted definition of “assisted” for contest categories. In an unrelated development, reports of airborne porcine will appear from around the world.

8. During a major phone contest, a net will vacate their frequency to allow a contester to establish a run frequency after admitting that they really didn’t have anything important to talk about.

9. The Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) will gain sentience and turn itself off during a major DX contest with a final spot of “Find the DX yourself, you lazy lids!”

10. The Lost Island DX Society will surpass the ARRL in membership.

Possible P5 Activity

This morning the Lost Island DX Society email box contained the following gem. We're warming up the amp in anticipation:

Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:21:57 -0500
Subject: P5 DXpedition
From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: biggundx@gmail.com

Dear Friend,


I hope this email finds you well. I got your address from a
close friend who assured me that you are a good and trustworthy person and a
serious DXer. With the recent death of Beloved Leader Kim Jon Il, there is a
unique window of opportunity to activate the top Most Needed DX Entity, P5. As
the country transitions power from Kim Jon Il to its next leader, the state of
uncertainty that exists makes it possible to obtain the cooperation of certain
officials that will allow an amateur radio operation from P5. This is an unprecedented opportunity to hand out QSOs to The Deserving worldwide, of whom, of course,you are one.


Needless to say, the cooperation of certain officials and
the logistics involved in a DXpedition of this nature does not come cheap. Time
for organizing this operation is short as the window of opportunity is small,
so we are urgently reaching out to Top Gun DXers to ask for assistance to help
pull off this unique operation. For generous contributors, we will make special
accommodations to insure you will make it into the log and you will receive
priority service in QSL processing. Special times and publicly undisclosed
frequencies will be arranged to insure you get the needed QSO.  Generous contributors will be those contributing $1000 or more. Our QSO scheduling will begin with the most generous contributors and continue down the list, assuming the window of opportunity for this operation doesn’t close too quickly.


If you wish to be included among the generous sponsors of
this historic DXpedition and insure your needed QSOs with P5, please respond
with your name and bank account information so that we may facilitate your
contribution. We must act quickly to avoid missing this unique window of
opportunity.




73, Romeo 5N0LID 

Contesting Explained

The particular form of inanity that we enjoy called “contesting” or “radio-sport” is often difficult for fellow radio amateurs to understand, much less the family and friends who occupy our non-radio existence (if it exists). The hours of listening to high levels of QRM and QRN, yelling endlessly into a mic, or mindlessly hitting the F1 key, for 24, 30, or 48 hours while a beautiful fall weekend beckons outside with rapidly fleeting mild weather and sunlight. The hundreds of hours of work and thousands of dollars spent building towers and antennas, buying new radios and amplifiers, all to exchange a meaningless nugget of information with the same couple of thousand similarly addicted hams around the world. Why?

That is a much deeper philosophical question than we can address here, but the answer is really no different than for those who spend their time and money chasing a little white ball around in the woods trying to knock it into a small hole in the ground. Hmmm. Sort of makes our avocation seem almost normal, doesn’t it?

The trouble is that it is difficult to explain what we do in a contest, much less why.  The key to explaining foreign things to the unknowing is that you need to couch it in terms that are familiar to them. This requires using a frame of reference they can relate to. What is needed is a good metaphor. The Lost Island DX Society presents here a universally understood metaphor for at least some of the aspects of contesting – dating and sex.

The activity of Search and Pounce (S&P) is the cornerstone of any contester’s toolbox. Unless, and until, you reach Big Gun status, as a contester you probably spend a majority of your time in S&P mode. How can you explain this technique to mere mortals? The S&P hunt is not unlike the game played at every singles bar on every night of the week. The goal of every Harry Horndog at the local singles bar is to collect as many phone numbers from lovely ladies as possible, knowing full well that most of those numbers will be disconnected or belong to a pizza delivery place. It doesn’t matter. Harry is playing the odds. The more numbers he collects, the faster he’ll get a real one. Contest S&P is just like that, except you don’t have to buy the other station some fru-fru drink, make small talk and pretend you really like cats. You don’t care about the number you get from the other station – as long as you get A number from the other station. He with the most numbers wins! The measured pace of scanning the bands and working stations S&P is a lot like cruising the bar early before the crowd gets there. Pickings are relatively easy and you can cover a lot of space in a small amount of time.

But sooner or later, the hot blond in the miniskirt shows up. Once that happens, all the Harry Horndogs are stumbling all over themselves and each other to get HER number. This is a pileup.

The goal of every contester is to be the hot blond in the miniskirt. These are the Big Guns.  They command the crowd who want to get their number. When a pileup continues for an extended length of time, it’s called a RUN. The run is to contesting what sex is to, well, sex. There are definite similarities between a run and sex. You never know when you’ll get a run. When you get a run, you never how long it’s going to last. You never know how good a run will be until it’s over. When it’s over, you miss the run and want another one. You never know if or when you’ll get another run.

So there you have it, Contesting Explained. Well, maybe not all of it, but if your non-contesting friends can’t understand the above explanation of what contesting is, well, maybe you should look for some new friends.

What really happens on 14.300?

If you've spent much time on 20m SSB, surely you've run into the Maritime Mobile Net. and probably wondered what they really do other than making sure their frequency is kept clear "just in case." Finally, there's video evidence of the important service they provide to the world at large, keeping sailors the world over safe.

Second Annual Talk Like A Pirate Contest - September 19

September 19 is once again the annual Talk Like A Pirate Day. Last year the Lost Island DX Society (LIDS) sponsored the first Talk Like a Pirate Radio-Sport Contest. LIDS, both formal and unformal, were encouraged to take to the airways and make Qs with other pirate-minded LIDS and lids. The suggested call was "Sea-Q ye Scallywags!" or "Ahoy Pirates!" with an exchange of signal Aahhrr-est-tee and yer pirate name.

To say we were underwhelmed with the contest response would be akin to saying that Cousin QRM has a slight taste for the rum. Oh, there were plenty of LIDS on the air that day and quite a few pirates, but the scoundrels were mighty stingy in offering up any pirate booty to sway the adjudication  committee.

Nevertheless, we’re game to try it all again this year. So September 19, 0000Z-2359Z, plus or minus a couple of hours, work as many pirates as you can. Score is the total number of unique pirates worked, work 'em once per band, times the total number of Pirates and landlubbers ye work. Count any beauties ye work double. Triple if they "Aahrrr" you back with a lassie pirate name.

Submit scores and lies in the comments below. Send pirate booty to Cousin QRM to improve your chances of winning. Judging will be by a council of Pirate LIDS and will be as fair an' honest as the Poisson d'Avril contest. Deadline for entry - when you get around to it.

Another On-The-Air Award

Following the announcement of the Lost Island DX Society’s LIDS-On-The-Air (LOTA) award, we discovered yet another unique On-The-Air style award. The Interstate Highway Rest Area Society sponsors the Rest Areas On The Air (RAOTA) activity and (soon coming) award. This is one of the more interesting concepts for an On-The-Air activity. Its easy to envision weekend DXpeditions to activate rare rest stops in the wide open west. Although award details are not available at press time, we assume that you’re not required to actually operate from within the restroom of the rest stop, which would be a little awkward not to mention potentially, umm, un-aromatic.

 The LIDS give a hearty endorsement to the nascent RAOTA award and look forward to the Worked All Rest Areas (WARA) award that must certainly be on the way. Perhaps we can cooperate and have the LIDS mount an activity weekend to activate some of the rest areas. We see a Toilet-LIDS-On-The-Air weekend as sure to attract much attention and hopefully not cause much stink.

   

Gearing Up For Contest Season

While we’re still wringing out the water left by Irene and patching the cracks in the drywall from the earthquake, a hint of autumn floats through the air in recent mornings. For ordinary folk that means football season. They’re gathering their tailgate accouterments and digging out their favorite team jersey in preparation for the Big Game.

As a Big Gun Contester or DXer, fall means the start of the contest and DX season. Time is running short for completing those antenna and shack improvements. Have you got your required multi-radio lockout rigged yet?

There is still time to order the Big Gun equivalent of a team jersey. Proudly proclaim your proclivity for the Lost Island DX Society. At some level, we’re all LIDS, so order your LIDS wear today from the official LIDS store on Cafepress. You can also get Dr. DX’s Antenna Wax wear for the antenna farmer looking to coax that last 0.01 dB out of his antenna system. And there’s even items for those who’ll work phone when they pry the J-38 from their cold, dead hand.

LIDS On The Air

Recent years have seen a surge in popularity and activity of various ‘On The Air’ types of awards. The largest being the Islands On The Air (IOTA) award, but there is also the Summits On The Air (SOTA) and the Wainrights On The Air (WOTA) as well as several others.

The Lost Island DX Society is not above hopping on an already crowded bandwagon, so with great pride we announce the LIDS On The Air (LOTA) award. This award should be relatively easy to qualify for since LIDS can be readily found in just about every DX pileup and most contests. But don’t discount finding LIDS on the air during casual operations. To qualify for the LOTA award, work 100 or more LIDS. An SWL version of the LOTA award is also available with the same requirement to copy 100 or more LIDS. To qualify, send in a listing of the LIDS worked/heard and you will receive an impressive Certificate of Radio Achievement and Participation (CRAP). So if you would like to receive a LOTA CRAP, send your LIDS list to the Lost Island DX Society DX Society World Headquarters and we will be happy to comply.

Perpetual Energy

While the grammar police were combing our previous reports, the Lost Island DX Society was sending a group of representatives to Washington, DC to see if we could help break the impasse on the debt ceiling. Or barring that, see if while distracted by budget issues we could sneak a request for permission to land on Navassa Island (KP1) past the Fish and Wildlife folks. Sadly, the answer is still 'no' on both accounts.

While attempting to find the back entrance into the Capital building, where we hear their cafeteria has a dynamite Francis Scott Key Lime pie, we came upon a sight which set us back on our collective heels for a moment. On the grounds of the Botanical Gardens at the foot of the Capital building sits a windmill that never stops turning. Despite the lack of any wind, this windmill turns continuously. We stopped and observed it for quite some time, and it continued to turn, again, without any evidence of natural wind.



Our delegation sought out one of the groundskeepers of the Botanical Gardens to ask about this miraculous windmill, thinking it must be motorized. Nope, we were informed, the windmill runs off of wind only. The secret is its location. Being at the foot of Capital Hill, it has an inexhaustible supply of hot air to power it, day and night.

Once informed of this, the answer was obvious. So, what does this have to do with Big Gun DX'ers and Contesters? Easy. Every Big Gun station has a similar, though smaller, supply of hot air available. If windmills could be installed at these stations in the proper location, it should be possible to generate enough power to supply at least one Alpha for the contest weekend. Green technology - it's not just for Al Gore anymore.