I believe that every one has the right to "Belly up to the bar and name your poison."

Towards the peak of the sunspot cycle, with a modest station, you should be able to work 250-300 countries in a year.  It might be that when all of the fairly rare 20-30 ones get on the air, they will all listen in the General portion of the bands; the same for the last countries that are RARE!!

Course since it is very easy now to upgrade to Extra, there might not be much of a difference for USA ops if DXpedetions listen in either the General or Extra portions of the bands?

Fortunately, the last time N. Korea was on the air, he was on 15 and 10.  I don't remember where he was listening in the band.  I don't remember where the German ops on Yemen listen either.  Yemen was maybe 15 years ago?  N Korea 12 years ago?

With exception of those two, all of the other countries are either constantly active, or active enough so that modest stations can be on the The Honour Roll in just a few years.

Have FUN
Bob

More 950 infp:
http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,79534.0.html

Until some comes along that has done that check out this site:
http://www.k6jrf.com/Add_Panadapter_FT2000-v2-AC0C.pdf
73
Bob

As mentioned, even if it not the general practise, if just one RARE!! one, like N. Korea or Yemen gets on the air and only listens in the Extra portion of any band, you will NEED your extra ticket to have a slight chance to get thru HUGE!! pile ups.

Get your extra ticket.

The big reason I wanted to upgrade from general was so that I could chase DX.

73
Bob

I always chuckle when I hear or see some op complaining about some other op using "cute" phonetics for their call--real hams don't do that!
73
Bob

14.160 Phineas, W6BF
14.235 Africana net; some fellow named Snooky in NH or VT; GW3CDP
14.226 Randy, KJ4JC

VP2MO, Bobby, was active on some net.

Got something from INDEXA, International DX Association.

While looking for my log book I discovered some IRCs from the 80s.

I still have my “Second Op” by N6NJ to figure out beam headings and postage, as of 1981, to the DX countries.

73
Bob

Entities are deleted because they cease to meet criteria.

Compare a government law making a ham radio transmission illegal, like China did, to an entity becoming an ecological reserve.

73
Bob

There is a device called a Variack(?spelling).  This allows you to start select a voltage between 0 and slightly higher than 120 volts.

I use one to reform electrolytic caps in tube based audio gear that I like to rebuild.  I also use it to check high voltage circuits by sending lower voltage to the circuit, transformers.

73
Bob

One never knows if normal is mean, median or mode. Regardless of which it is, variation is normal (:-))

I happy that I'm here having FUN playing radio through my third sunspot cycle.

73
Bob

Let us know when you have the software working to the point when you can start looking for stations to do the DFing.
73
Bob

Feel free to participate in search and rescue.

Cell phones are great for number 2.

73
Bob

",,,,let’s stop waiting for someone else to fix the problem."

If you think about it, you are asking for other people to solve the problem--build a DF system, and then confront some op you suspect of jamming.

With the exception of a few countries, maybe 4-5, you will have many chances to work to work all of the common countries. Plus as we approach the zenith of the sunspot cycle there will be dxpeditions to many of the semi rare countries. Typically dxpedetions stay for many days are on many bands, thus giving you many opportunities to out last the jamming.

If you don't have a beam yet, when you add that to your set up, the signal levels from many of the jammers will drop.

My Very Best from Tucson AZ
Bob

PS: around the peak of the sunspot cycle, with an average tower, beam, and amp, you will be able to work 250-300 countries a year.

Last I heard, Romeo got his reward.

I've got my card framed and on the wall in my shack--it's the only slim card I've ever gotten.

73
Bob

You can add many more places to your list, like Vatican City etc.

P5 and Yemen are inactive.

Mount Athos is only on the air because of one monk.  What happens after he goes SK?  Plus, getting on the air seems inconsistent with being a monk on Mount Athos.

I assume Libya is inactive simply because they do not have a licensing system, yet?  The same might be said of it's neighbor.

When I first got my ticket an OT said that I should work every African county when they are on the air because they are unstable.

As we get near the zenith of this sunspot cycle, there will be hams, and groups of hams going to [laces that have not been on the air for a while.

73
Bob

The last new stuff I bought was from AES, "mail order".

He is what you can do, reward the place with the lowest total cost, then give your local store the difference between what they sell the items for and what you paid the other place for the items.

73
Bob