Before I start posting pictures from the 3YØK DXpedition, let’s take a short break and discuss a few things. Yes, you should read this as well, even though it may or may not concern you. You see, there are quite a few operators out there suffering from a condition called “silicae vaginalis”, in layman terms, having sand in their vaginas. There’s a cure for this, but first and foremost I think they should take a good look in the mirror. You know, the silver surface in your bathroom where you see a miserable guy’s face from time to time.

Topics: Pileup etiquette, cluster comments, and DQRM.

Mood: What the hell, guys?

Pileup etiquette

I’ll be honest here, and in case you didn’t know, I do not consider myself an experienced operator. At the time of writing I’ve only had the amateur radio license for ten years, but I’ve been chasing DX for at least eight of them. The DXpeditions I’ve been on prior to Bouvet have been small scale operations, but I’ve made observations and have a reasonably good impression of “how the pileup dynamics” regardlessly.

I’ve taken time off from work to be able to get in touch with some rare DXpeditions earlier, only to be frustrated by the constant “spliiit, spliiit!” or the fifty helpful guys notoriously sending “UP UP” all the time. Let’s assume they do this with good intentions, even though they cause huge disruptions.

However, people interrupting an ongoing QSO is another thing. I mean, for fuck’s sake, when the DX operator asks for someone’s callsign for the fourth time because you keep calling over them, take a hint. This will most likely not give you an advantage in the pileup, and the worst case is that the operator takes note of your callsign and avoid you for the rest of his operation hours. Seriously.

Just QSX a bit up and let the guy do his job. Damnit.

For further inspiration, please read The DX Code of Conduct.

Cluster comments

When you’ve spent thousands of dollars, travelled across the world, had explosive diarrhea and seasickness for a week, and are soaking wet with sweat after establishing the camp, there’s nothing better than reading “shit DXpedition go home” on the cluster.

I usually don’t like pointing fingers, but here’s an exception for you all. DXSummit is usually the origin for many of these.

Prior to the DXpedition I wanted to make a post about how DXSummit should remove the ability to post anonynously, but decided not to, since I would seem biased towards my own DXpedition. This happens on nearly every DXpedition, some guy with paperclip antenna post a salty comment about not hearing the DXpedition and throws some insults using a fake callsign.

It’s a well established fact that anonimity brings out the worst in us. Not just in our hobby, this applies to every media out there. Just take a look at how kids throw shit at each other on social media. “You look fat, stop eating” etc.

Now, of course, there are other ways of doing this besides DXSummit, but that site certainly makes it easies for the guys with sandy vaginas. Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it have to be easy.

You know what? Shall we have a look at a few? Fuck it, let’s do it. Let’s dig around in the acid pit and see what we can find.

Let’s start with a funny one. And this one puzzled me a bit, too.

…how daaaaare we work ourselves! After spending five to six weeks in Hell, wasting stupid amounts of personal funds, and travelling half across the world to only to be miserable for two weeks? Apparently, this was the reason “DJ0KE” didn’t get a QSO with us. Missed opportunity for Mr. Sandy over there. Give him a round of applause, everyone, I think he needs a bit of cheering up, unlike the next guy.

I.. err.. what? To my knowledge, religion was never a topic among us. I mean, personally, I’m like very atheist.

Anyway, hope your new pointy white hat matches the rest of your bedsheet outfit, you fucking low-life dickwad piece of racist shitcunt.

Look, everyone, we have an expert in the room.

Dude. Seriously, attending this was a huge financial loss for me. Not going to dive into details on the expenses I’ve had because it’s personal, but trust me — all my numbers are negative. Given how slow you seem, this simply means I had to pay a lot of money, and I got no money in return. And to make sure you get it, “money” are the paper things that adult exchange between themselves.

Moving on.

Aww, but this is cute. Surely this must be the paperclip antenna guy again, but we’ll let him have the spotlight one more time.

A quick question – why didn’t you apply to be a part of our team? It would be the perfect opportunity to show us all how it’s really done! You could shine, as bright as the stain in your underwear!

Now, please forgive us for not showing up at your doorstep handing you the QSL card on a silver plate. Sadly, we were busy fighting the elements under extreme conditions. But hey, maybe next time, so keep on dreaming.

But thank you for the rewarding and inspiring comment.

Okay, fine, one more.

I know, your log must be full of us. Time to work someone else, right?

For this gentleman in particular, Google AI provided me with the perfect remedy.

In summation, notice how all comments are suffixed by “-@”. This is an indicator that it was posted from, yes, DXSummit. As much as I hate singling someone out, it’s time. Damn it guys, implement some sort of authentication for spotting. Fuck it, I’ll write the code for you, free of charge.

DQRM

The last thing I’d like to rant about is the elephant in the room, DQRM. If you’re not familiar with the term, it means someone jamming other people’s radio signals on purpose, with the intention of disrupting their communication.

If you are guilty of this and I find out, you should know that the belt is coming off the next time I’m over to bang your mum.

But seriously, though, DQRM was expected. I see things, and read the room from time to time. Some people have their reasons, even though none that would excuse the behaviour. You could be angry at someone in the group, you don’t like the fact that the DXpedition is so expensive, or maybe you’re the jealous type. Or you are one of the guys that want to watch the world burn, I don’t know, and I don’t understand you. Your message doesn’t exactly come across this way.

The signal strength from the DQRM pussies were sometimes strong, and had they tried to work us it would not have been a problem, meaning the frustration can’t come from not being able to break through the pileups. With the exception of a few cases where we simply had to QSY to another band or mode, we were mostly able to work around their toddler tantrums.

I know I may come across as salty, pissed off, and bittre as fuck. I’m not, but I will admit being quite disappointed. However, despite these challenges, we made a decent amount of QSOs and reached our goal. We found great support in each other during this DXpedition, every team member did their best and cooperated like brothers.

I’m really proud to being a part of this, found new friends and maybe partnes for future DXpeditions. Hack, even that weird Faroese guy who got drunk peeling labels off beer bottles.

Now. Damn it. With all this is out of the way, it’s time to start working on the next post with pictures from Bouvet Island.