The Price to Run and Work a Pileup

  • Dear All

    I few minutes ago I heard the unbelivable pileup of ZP/PY5ZUE/P. Despite Conrad's best intentions, if he is not prepared to handle a pileup, his efforts are worthless. Specially when you have less then 1 deg of elevation. This event reminded me of a text written nearly 20 years ago but (unfortunately) still actual:

    The Price to Run and Work a Pileup

    from Jose Nunes, CT1BOH on May 9, 2000

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    There is a price to be paid when a DX operator runs a pileup. That price is QRM and is totally dependent on the DX pileup operator skill. The better the skills of the pileup DX operator the cheaper will be the price he has to pay for his show. At the same time the better the skills of the DX pileup operator the better the pileup will behave because everybody will try to mimic him in admiration of his skills


    There is a price to be paid when a DXer tries to break through a pileup. That price is TIME and is totally dependent on two factors. The first one is the skills of the Dxer. The second one is the skills of the DX pileup operator.


    The rarity of the DX entity has nothing to do with the difficulty to run a pileup. It only serves as an excuse to the not so skilled operators who cannot match the difficulty.


    The area of the world to be worked has nothing to do with the difficulty to run a pileup. It only serves as an excuse the not so skilled operators who cannot match the difficulty.


    The power level and antenna gain has little to do to the difficulty of breaking a pile when compared to the skills of the DXer. It only serves as an excuse to the not so skilled DXer.


    A European pile up is the ultimate measure to a pileup operator skill.


    A skilled operator is able to work everybody everywhere. 10/10 of the Dxers will either be listening in admiration or trying to break through. Rates of 200 plus on CW and 300 plus on SSB will be achieved.


    A not so skilled operator will work by numbers. 9/10 of the Dxers will be potential QRMers while 1/10 of the others will try to listen trough the mess created on the DX transmitting frequency, by the lack of skills of the pileup operator to match the difficulty of the pileup.


    The not so skilled pileup operators DESERVE all the QRM they generate and get. It should be seen as an incentive to improve.


    Unfortunately some of the operators of the big DX Pedition are chosen because of the amount of time and money they have. There is nothing wrong with this though. It only increases the price a DXer has to pay to work him.


    73

    Jose Nunes

    CT1BOH


    PS. It is better to have a not so skilled operator running a pileup than no operator at all.


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    So, if Conrad returns, please ask him to WORK SPLIT (just like DP0POL/MM and many others did).


    Thank you.

    See you on QO-100


    73 FCosta, CT1EAT/M0HOJ