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 too, even though it may or may not concern you. Quite many operators out there suffer from a condition called “silicae vaginalis”, more commonly known as having sand in their vaginas. And there’s a cure.

Topics: Pileup etiquette, cluster comments, and DQRM.

Mood: What the hell, guys?

Pileup etiquette

Real talk. In case you didn’t know, I do not consider myself an experienced operator. I’m new to the game and in no way pretending to be an expert of some sort. 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. My DXpeditions prior to Bouvet have been small scale, semi-attractive DX entities, but regardless I’ve made observations and have a reasonably good understanding of “how the pileup dynamics” work.

I’ve been on the caller side of the pileup countless times before. I’ve had time off to work some really rare DXes earlier, only to leave the shack empty handed; full of frustration over the QRM making a QSO impossible. We’re talking “spliiit, spliiit!” and the overwhelming number of supposedly helpful guys, notoriously sending “UP UP” over and over. Fine, let’s assume they do this with good intentions despite causing huge disruptions.

I do have a beef with callers interrupting ongoing QSO’s, though. I mean, for fuck’s sake, when the DX operator asks for the callsign for the fourth or fifth time because some impatient operator keeps calling over, take a frickin’ hint! This will most likely not give any advantage in the pileup, and the worst case is that the operator takes note of the callsign and avoid it for the rest of the operation hours.

Just move up a little bit and let the guy do his damn job.

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

Cluster comments

Imagine having spent several thousands of dollars, you’ve travelled across the world, had explosive diarrhea and seasickness for a week, and after a long day of hard physical labour you are are soaking wet from sweat. What could be better than reading “Shit DXpedition go home” on the cluster?

Prior to the DXpedition I wanted to make a post about how DXSummit should remove anonymous spotting, but decided not to, since I didn’t want to appear biased to my own DXpedition. This shit show appears on every DXpedition, there’s always some displeased manchild complaining about something.

It’s also a well established fact that anonymity brings out the worst in us. Not just in our hobby, this applies to every media globally. Anonymous posts are the worst.

I can tell you’re doubtful, so check this out. I even did a little research.

After downloading the 1,000 latest spots for 3YØK, I had an AI examine the spotter callsigns and group the comments into three possible categories: positive, neutral, or negative.

Here are the results:

Attitude	Percentage	Example
Positive 😊	31%	Gratitude for ATNO, praise for the team’s bravery in harsh conditions, excitement over successful signal decodes/log updates.
Neutral 😐	21%	Technical reports (RST, freq/split info, “up 1.2”), status updates (“QRT,” “Packing up”), links to external news or FB.
Negative ☹️	48%	Frustration over the heavy use of FT8, poor signal/coverage in NA, high costs vs. results, accusing the team being “unskilled” or “lazy.”

Almost half of the comments were negative. Just to be clear: I’m not implying that half the crowd of callers were unhappy. This could be only a handful of people spamming the cluster. Additionally, not all of them originate from DXSummit either, but out of the 1000 spots about 50% originated from there (based on the “-@” suffix in the calllsign)

Of course, there are other ways of posting rude comments on the cluster besides DXSummit, but that site certainly makes it easier for the sandy vags out there.

Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it have to be easy.

Hey, you know what? Shall we have a look at a few? Fuck it, let’s do it.

Let’s begin with a funny one, and this one puzzled me a bit.

…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 must have been the reason “DJ0KE” didn’t get his QSO with us. Sadly, a missed opportunity for Mr. Sandy Vag, let’s give him a round of applause. He needs a bit of cheering up …

… unlike our next guy:

I hope your new pointy white hat matches the rest of your ghost outfit made from bed sheets. Finish your Cool Aid dickwad, and go back to the 1950’s where you belong, you low-life piece of fucking racist shitcunt.

Dude. Seriously.

Attending this DXpedition was a huge financial toll for me. I’m not going to dive into the details (it’s personal and I don’t want my wife to find out) but trust me — all my numbers are negative.

You seem quite slow, so let me rephrase it. This means I had to pay a lot of money, and I got no money in return. And “money” are colourful papers with value, just like the ones your mom get when uncle Bill and his drunk friends leave.

Moving on.

Aww, but this is cute. Surely, this must be the paperclip antenna guy again?

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 your underwear stains!

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, I’ll let Google AI provide the perfect remedy:

Damn it DXSummit. Implement some sort of authentication requirement for spotting. Fuck it, I’ll write the code for you, free of charge, if I have to.

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 come across as salty and bitter as fuck. I’m not. I will admit being quite disappointed, though.

Despite all the challenges, we made a decent amount of QSOs and we reached our goal. We found great support in each other, and every team member did their best and cooperated like brothers.

I am very proud of having set foot on Bouvet Island, and being a part of the 3YØK DXpedition team. We had no arguments underway. No disputes. No backstabbing or sneaking around. Just a bunch of great guys working together like brothers, cooperating with the common goal of having a successful DXpedition.

I mean, even that weird Faroese guy started growing on me. You know, the guy that got drunk peeling beer labels (Nei, eg tvætli bara! Tú ert ein frálíkur maður, Regin!)

Now then. 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.