OnAllBands is thrilled to feature articles from noted author and amateur radio DXing legend Bob Locher, W9KNI. Bob will be sharing his favorite DXing memories along with insights on what it took to capture the rarest of the rare. OnAllBands’ readers have been equally excited to enjoy these stories and recall how Bob’s writing inspired them to become armchair travelers as well:
“The “Complete DX’er” and all his articles back in the ‘70s hooked me on CW Dxing,” wrote NG3Q. “Also expanded a love of geography and having my National Geographic atlas close by.”
Be sure to read parts 1 and 2 of this series:
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40 Meter Aficionado
The different high frequency bands (160 to 10 meters) plus the VHF band (6 meters) offer different challenges for DXing. Year round and throughout the sunspot cycle, 20 meters is the queen of the DX bands. If you want to work DX reliably, you need to have 20 meter capability. But the other bands have their attractions as well—and their own challenges—and many DXers favor one band or another.
My band of choice is 40 meters. For 40 meter afficionados, the band has its special charm. It is a band that under normal circumstances is a twilight and darkness band, and of limited DX value around the summer solar solstice. But the rest of the year the band is capable of good DX—and occasional real and very pleasant surprises—for those who know how to use it.
A well-sited Yagi offers a revelation to newcomers to the band who are used to using dipoles or verticals. Still, real DX can be worked using simple antennas. Your scribe managed to work all 40 CQ zones in one year on 40 meters, running 100 watts and a Butternut vertical. But with a Yagi, several more layers of DX become available, and the openings last significantly longer.
I love the challenge of the band. At the same time, I am an armchair traveler and a serious DXer. As far as I am concerned, the two go together hand in hand. I am a person who can look at a map and let my imagination soar, imagining the strange and wonderful places hinted at by the map. At the same time, I love competitive DXing in the institution of the DX Marathon. One of the real beauties of the DX Marathon is that it renews annually, so every year I get the thrill of working new ones for the year AND still feed my armchair travel addiction. A marriage made in heaven for me.
In Pursuit of Yemen on 40 Meters
It would be difficult to find a place more exotic than Yemen—a country lying at the bottom of the Arabian Peninsula, a home of ancient civilizations dating back 7,000 years! While the country has a huge history, in modern times it has become politically unsettled with a significant civil war. Post World War II, Yemen was occasionally on the air, mostly by European operators living in the country. None of them were terribly active, making it always a rare catch.
Around the year 2000, DXpeditioners tried to get permission from the country to mount a major operation, but all were denied because of the unstable political situation. But finally, in 2012, someone broke the code. The country was willing to issue a license, but only specifically for operation from Socotra Island, a Yemeni island about 200 miles from the mainland.
Socotra was— and is—totally removed from the problems of mainland Yemen. A sizeable team of experienced operators organized a DXpedition, using the call sign 7O6T. Operation was from late April into May. Equipment included amplifiers and Yagis for the higher bands. I was able to work them on 20 and 17 meters without too much difficulty, but for me the real prize would be to work them on 40 meters.
For one thing, I was working for an entry in the DX Marathon for 40 meter monoband, and in any case, 40 meters has always had a special place in my heart. It would be an all-time new one (ATNO) for me on the band. Working into that area of the world has always been one of the two toughest areas for me from my West Coast location, the other being inland central East Africa. And this operation was quite late in the season for optimum 40 meter propagation. Had it been in February or March it would have been much easier.
They were certainly on 40 meters and making an active effort on the band. But from my QTH, there was really only one opening—very late afternoon my time. And it was not a very good one. On top of that, they were not on 40 meters CW every day at that opening. Some days yes, some days no. And when they were on, it seemed like all of Europe was calling them—stations who would obviously have far stronger signals into Yemen than I would. Still, that is part of DXing. Some are easy, some are not. And this one was emphatically not!
The operation was winding down—their departure date fixed. I had heard them three or four days on the opening, always weak. If I had had a one-on-one shot with them we could have had a QSO. That was not going to happen. Their signal was at best a 449. As their last days wound down I was getting more and more anxious. At least for the last few days of their stay they were on 40 meter CW during my minimal opening. Of course, I was waiting on them late every afternoon, hoping somehow for a chance.
I tried calling them with the few tricks I had, but to no avail. The only good news was that they finally seemed to have Europe pretty well worked out, with much smaller pileups of European stations calling them. And I was pretty sure all the big guns in Europe on 40 meters had already worked them—now I was more likely competing with the “100 watts to a dipole” crowd.
Finally, it came down to their last day of operation. Was I nervous? Let’s just say the thought passed through my mind that I really ought to consider getting a life, but then it passed and I adjusted my headphones… Ahhh. There they were. 449 maybe…honestly, probably 339, working split, up one. I could hear European stations calling them. T…
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- Bob Locher, W9KNI, in his Dawn Patrol uniform. (Image/W9KNI)
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- Yemen (Image/Public Domain)
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- (Image/DX Engineering)
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