Category — DXpeditions

Saw this the other day, but forgot to post it here on the blog.

A nice 10:26 long video on EH8A’s effort in this year’s contest.

YouTube  EH8A 2008 CQWW WPX

Scot, K9JY

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We’re coming up on two big conventions in April and May: the Visalia DX Convention and the Dayton Hamvention. Later this summer comes the Pacific Northwest DX Convention and then the fall kicks off with the W9DXCC Convention in Chicago.

Do you attend a convention in your area? Not a ham/swap fest, but a convention?

Conventions often will have things to buy and sell, but more often, they are noted for having programs on specific things oriented to the ham operator.

And just because it says that it is a “DX” Convention, don’t think that contesters won’t be there as well. Contesters often go on DXpeditions just to operate in a contest and many DX’ers are also contesting.

It’s also a great opportunity to meet up with people you have worked on the air or converse with in ham radio e-mail reflectors. Or hams that also have blogs!

Conventions offer a great way to stay connected with the leading edge of the hobby through seeing the programs, checking out the latest from the vendors, and catching up with on-air friends.

“Eyeball” QSO’s count and a convention is a great way to have them.

And if you are a contester, don’t forget to sign up for the Friday night Contest Dinner at Visalia and hear Wayne Burdick, N6KR, co-founder of Elecraft and principal designer of the Elecraft K3, speak on “Contest Ergonomics and the Elecraft K3.” You can sign up here.

Scot

The place is EU189 — the Isle of Rockall.

If you would (it is located NE of Ireland), here’s your chance.

Scot, K9JY

Update: my confusion with East and West continues…NW of Ireland or West of Scotland as in the comments…

Does every ham in the world now have online access? Let’s hope so as the major way this DXpedition wants their QSL requests is via an online request form.

From the Ducie Island site:

A special service for the VP6DX DXpedition is the Online QSL Request System (OQRS) for bureau and DIRECT QSL cards, based on an online form and the QSL Label Software BV. This is no E-QSL system. The callsigns and QSO data of the requests are stored in a database and you will automatically receive a real printed QSL card via the bureau or DIRECT to your mailbox without sending your own QSL card if you are in the log!

If you do request a direct card, they will ask you for a donation to cover the cost of postage via PayPal and will list you as a sponsor if you provide more dollars than the postage amount.

The purpose of all of this: dramatically reduce the number of bureau cards going through the worldwide system and eliminate as many direct cards through the mail as possible.

I can relate to this. I’m sure they are not as thrilled to get a K9JY QSL card as I’d be getting a VP6DX card from them! It eliminates the hassle of envelopes, cards, processing return cards, and keeping it all straight.

These innovative ways of electronically QSLing, requesting QSL’s and getting confirmations move the hobby along in what has always been (in my opinion) the slowest part of the hobby: getting the confirmation for the contact.

You can still send a card, of course, and get one in return. But, if you have online access, why would you send a card?

h/t to K2DBK.

Scot, K9JY

With the end of the TX5C DXpedition, QSL cards will be flying through the air to confirm the contact.

But do you really want the card? Or do you really want the confirmation to be part of your DXCC total?

It’s an important question. There is a tremendous amount of post DXpedition operator time spent on the QSL function. The QSLing, in fact, goes on for years after the event (I still get VP9 cards from my DXpedition there in 2005).

To be perfectly honest, QSLing is not what I came into the hobby to do. I came into operate. But, if you operate, especially in DXpeditions and contests, you will get QSL cards — thousands of them.

It’s not so much the cost of the cards, but the TIME. Finding time to go through the log, write out the card (almost as fast as creating a label), getting the card into the envelope, putting on the right number of stamps, and getting them into the mailbox or bureau pile (in country order…) is just a real pain.

On the other hand, confirming contacts via Log of The World is a piece of cake. After uploading the LoTW file for VP9, some 89 countries were confirmed and a total of some 300 contacts were confirmed for DXCC credit — two days after I came home from the DXpedition.

With the advent of Global QSL, bureau cards became just as easy to do. Take the bureau card, tag the file, export the file and upload it to Global QSL and the rest is done by them. I can’t tell you how much time has been saved using these two methods of confirming the contact.

Now, some people really want a card they can hang on the wall. Mine are all in files by country — and I haven’t looked at them for years and am seriously considering throwing them all out.

The saying goes that the final courtesy of a QSO is a QSL. But is the final courtesy the card? Or the confirmation of the contact?

Scot, K9JY