So you really want to work them in the MUD. There are many reasons a
station is in the mud: 1) Poor antennas, faulty equipment 2)
propagation conditions and 3) QRP operation.
Item 1 may exist at both the transmitting and/or receiving station. Item
2 is not something you can do a lot about, but there are a lot of tools
on the web and the bands to help you out on evualation of the
conditions. Beacons are legal on 20 meters and up. The NCDXF/IARU has
quite a system to monitor conditions with power levels down to 0.1 watt.
Check out the following web sites:
http://www.ncdxf.org/beacon.htm
http://www.mutadv.com/kawin
Now if you can hear the 0.1 watt beacons chances are very good for your
working some really low power stations. Remember all qrp stations do not
list themselves as /qrp and may DX stations run 10 to 50 watts and do not
consider themselves qrp operation.
Ham radio is a very individual hobby, much like golf you are really
playing against yourself. Who really cares if you worked xxx33abc with
0.001 watts? Only yourself. Do you really care if xab54er worked fd99we
? Be truthfull you only really care what is in your log book. So what
will you do this weekend ? Create a contest for yourself. Can I work
48 states in 24 hours with 100 watts, OK did that last weekend, can I do
it with 10 watts this weekend, etc. i.e. can I work 100 dxcc countries
this weekend. Or if i call only weak stations can I work 25 stations
running less than 5 watts this Sunday. After a while it gets to be a lot
of fun.
OK.... So we really want to work mud stations.. How do I do it..
First check the beacon propagation on the higher bands, listen to WWV on
10 mhz and maybe listen for the letter beacons around 7040. Now you
have an idea of the conditions. Turn the AGC -OFF- yes OFF, widen up
the bandpass filters and go hunting. Only call S0 stations, make sure
your equipment is correctly tuned and you are calling stations in the
current propagation path. A few station outside of the path could be a
KW but just in the wrong direction, etc..
Set a goal- I will work x stations tonite with signal levels below "X"
S units.
Everyweek can become a contest. Sometimes I go looking for special
event stations, or go up on the county hunters net and see how many
mobile stations I can work, they never ask if I am qrp, etc.. Just need
for the net control station to hear you well to have a lot of fun.
What is a QSO ?????? I set the minimum as exchange of RST and call
signs. Yes a lot of people think they worked someone and then go around
asking what was his call letters. If you are working non-dx the RST will
be other than 599... :-)
Have fun, remember you are working against yourself.. better last
weeks score..
73, enjoy the fun and watch the DX stations grow in your log book.
de stan AK0B
[
QRP-L Archive |
]
[
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000
]