Pileups tricks
Aptly named, a pileup is just that; a pile of many signals trying to get through to a single - often quite rare - station. pileups can sounds like a real mess, but if you listen carefully, you will notice that some stations get right through. how do they do this? they listen to the rare station is operating procedure, find what kind of signals the operator is listening for, and carefully time their call. If they don’t get through the first time, they stop calling and listen until they have it figured out. These smooth operators use their ears instead of their lungs or amplifiers to get through. You can, too, by listening first and transmitting second. Here are some common tricks to listen for and try yourself:
a) time your call a little bit differently than everybody else. Wait for a second or two before beginning or wait for the short lull when most have given their call once and are listening.
b) Make your signal sound a little bit differently, higher or lower by offsetting the transmit frequency 200 or 300hertz.
c) Just give your call once or twice before listening for the DX station. Some folks never seem to stop calling-how would they know if the DX station did answer them?
d) Use phonetics similar to others that have gotten through.
Try to figure out what the DX station hears well and try to do that.
Gud Dx and 73!
