Jeff wrote:
Does anyone do anything besides CW while DX'ing? I still have to
learn/practice CW but would like to try my hand at DX. I know that CW
is generally most efficient at low power, but if you don't yet know
it..it isn't much help..

Since you did not say where you are or give a callsign, I'll assume
you are in the U.S. The FCC slants DX contacts twoard CW. During the
sunspot low, the prime DX bands are 80m and 40m. Outside of the America's
80m is 3.500 to 3.850, most of which is CW only in the U.S. 40m is
7.000 to 7.200, but until very recently it ended at 7100.

You can work split, where you transmit in the ssb portion of the band,
while a DX ham transmits in their voice band. Arranging such contacts
is difficult, and here when there is propigation to the U.S. on the
3.850-4.000 and 7.100 to 7.300 bands, they are full of broadcast
stations, and it is almost impossible to hear anything else.

These stations start going off the air around midnight local time,
but so do most of the local hams.

Many hams outside the U.S. have little or no English and therefore
prefer to use CW beacuse there is no languange problem. Others
speak it perfectly well.

As the sunspots improve the chance for voice contacts improves
as the higher bands open. 20m is occasionaly open now, but not
all day.

My suggestion to you is to get a rig, get out there and start
making contacts. The skills you learn apply to both CW and voice.

There are a million ways to learn morse code, the best one IMHO
is an audio/visual course called "code quick". It was the best
$50 I've ever spent on a hobby.

Another method that works for MOST, but not ALL people is to
get on the air and ask local hams for the name of an Elmer
(mentor).

Note that ACCURATE sending and copy is far more important than
SPEED, so once you can send and copy accurately, then you can
get on the air and start making contacts. The best way to
improve you speed is to use it.

If you don't have an HF rig yet, I suggest that you look into an
older Ten-Tec rig. They are excelent for CW and SSB and you can get
an older rig fairly cheaply. It won't have a lot of "bells and whistles",
but it will work well. Ask around for advice on buying a used rig,
and buy it from someone you trust. Avoid auction sites.

73,

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/