Idiot DXing is quickly developing into one of my favorite pastimes. Maybe it can become one of your's too?
Just what is "idiot DXing"? Idiot DXing is what I refer to when I need to work a DX station, whether it's a DXpedition, a new country, or even a new band country, and the idiots break out. What idiots am I talking about? Let's see...tuner-uppers, ops calling on the DX frequency when they're working split, traffic cops (I really love when they come out), ops calling without listening (even while the DX is trasmitting), and others that I can't really divulge right now because I'd be mentioning callsigns.
Why am I developing a soft spot for such chaos? Because when it really gets bad, a lot of ops (good and bad) will simply give up and find something else to do or tune away and look for someone else. I used to do that.
But not anymore.
See, if you're able to keep your blood from boiling, your chances of working the DX might have just increased. Sometimes substantially. For one thing, the more people who give up, the quicker the chaos subsides AND if you're in the right place at the right time, bingo, you can nab the DX when under other circumstances, you might not have had a snowball's chance in hell. What about traffic cops? Sure it's really hard to hear underneath them - sometimes virtually impossible - but it CAN be done. All it takes is a little practice and intense concentration. You're not going to copy the DX station every time when there's some lunkhead blasting away with a KW yelling "UP UP UP LID", but you can keep a rhythm going and the more you do it, the better you'll get at ignoring the cops. Use it to your advantage because I can assure you, there's a lot of people out there who aren't going to try to listen when the cops break out.
The same goes for tuner-uppers and goofs calling on the DX's frequency. Use every resource at your disposal. Have you ever touched your notch filter? Is that a knob you never really understood or figured out how to use because it just made things sound funny? Try it next time you encounter a tuner-upper. You can break out your rig's instructions if you want to, but in lieu of that, give it a spin. It just might help.
Look, it's a fact of ham radio that these clowns are going to be there. There isn't anything that you or I can do about it so why not make the best of it?
Lastly, when the idiots get really bad and you toss in some popular DX'ers who simply won't quit calling in rapid-fire succession until they work the DX and post their brag spot, stop calling, lean back, decide that it's a nice time to take a walk. Turn off the rig. Because if you're not there calling, that's one less person I have to beat out.
