Not every amateur has the land or finances to erect a mega station, comprising big amplifiers, towers and beams, at home. Fortunately, that's not required to work lots of DX. For those of more modest means secrets to success
include doing what you can to minimise transmit and receive losses, careful and opportunistic operating skills, and making yourself a sought after station.
Cutting losses requires avoiding noisy locations and antennas with inherently high losses. Operating needs study, listening and practice. My QRP and antenna books cover these in detail.
So what about the sought after station bit? The good news is that most amateurs won't need to do much or travel far to become sought after on the air. But doing so will multiply the contacts you make so is well worth
it, especially if you're antenna or power restricted. Keep reading to learn about the main choices open to you.
Live in an in-demand state or location
This one is pretty much down to luck so I won't dwell too much on this. If you're an American living in a lowly populated state like Delaware, or an Australian on an off-shore island (or even Tasmania), then your location
adds an attraction for people chasing certain awards. For example contacts with small states are needed for the US Worked All States Award. Off-shore islands may have a unique designator
for Islands On The Air.
It's even better if your location has its own call sign prefix as this can count as multipliers for certain contests such as CQ's WPX and your special location is more identifiable on the air. Even if you don't claim awards
or formally enter contests yourself, familiarise yourself with their requirements and make others aware when you're on through online alerts and spotting websites. For those not lucky enough to live in a rare location, why
not make it your next holiday destination?
Get the use of a special event or club call sign
Active radio clubs or associations often have anniversaries or special events they wish to mark. A time-honoured way of them doing so is to get a special event callsign. Sometimes this is just for a day but at other times
festivities, like anniversaries, can extend over a year. Especially in the latter's case they will be wanting member-operators to activate the call sign. So if the opportunity arises volunteer to be an operator. The club
will promote awareness of the call sign, increasing the contacts you make. Some special events are tied to a particular site. But if yours is not then you can supercharge your tally by operating from a park or summit.
That opens up interest to others who also want you in their log and allows you to use heavily used alerting websites.
Activate a designated park (WWFF or POTA) or summit (SOTA)
This is the easiest one for most people. You just need to set up a portable station at a listed park. Yes you do need to travel but operating portable gives many benefits including favourable transmitting and
receiving locations, particularly the absence of noise. This will allow contacts with stations who might be able to hear you but you can't hear them if you were still at home. The chaser or hunter activity generated is also
a bonus if you're trying to get replies to CQs from milliwatt crystal controlled CW gear (that I otherwise generally don't recommend).
There are two main park-type awards programs - World Wide Flora and Fauna (WWFF) and Parks on the Air (POTA). They are very similar concepts with small
variations in rules and terminology. At least here in Australia POTA has more qualifying sites and a slicker web, mapping and spotting interface. But WWFF has regional or country awards and sections, eg VKFF for Australia.
The list of qualifying parks is growing. Activating as yet unactivated locations will increase others' interest in working you. Spotting is a great feature when activity is quiet - put up a spot and chasers/hunters will come
out of the woodwork and try to work you. Sometimes you can be overwhelmed with contacts like you can see in the videos below:
The more energetic or those in mountainous areas can try the very similar Summits on the Air (SOTA). If you've got a qualifying hill overlooking a major city then
even a cheap VHF/UHF FM handheld can be enough to 'qualify a summit' with the required 4 contacts. A small beam can give even more range with particularly long distances possible 'summit to summit'. And note that some
summits are in parks so you can do a 'dual activation' with further multiplies the number of potential contacts.
In this and other awards programs you do need to log and send/upload your contacts. I use and recommend HAMRS for this purpose.
Activate an IOTA island
Island operation can appeal if you're planning a holiday. Or you may have a nearby qualifying island that's only a day trip away. Some islands are even linked by road to the mainland yet still qualify.
Again IOTA is an award scheme with details including qualifying islands at Islands On The Air (IOTA). Again some islands are in national parks so may qualify
for WWFF and/or POTA too, so ascertain this before you leave as you'll get more people chasing you.
Try HF pedestrian mobile
Not part of an awards program but HF pedestrian mobile is a bit of a novelty and provided you can be heard it can attract some people to call you. Antennas as efficient as they can be is the critical thing.
The next few years, with good higher HF band conditions and the possibility of DX makes now a great time to get into it. Learn more here.
Conclusion
Making yourself a sought after station is the easiest way to have on-air success without needing high power, expensive stations and antenna masts. Instead of you being one of the crowd, you can be the sought after station by
activating a special callsign, park, summit or island. That's certainly a big change from apparently dead bands and fruitless CQs. Follow the links and find one that appeals to you and your location.
Disclosure: I receive a small commission from items purchased through links on this site.
Items were chosen for likely usefulness and a satisfaction rating of 4/5 or better.
