DXING FROM 7Z5OO

by Mike Manafo, K3UOC

     7Z5OO is not on the Top List. Nor should I be there; hunting countries is not really what I do. For the record, I have worked 1,240 band-countries on the 9 HF bands and I have worked at least 100 countries on each band. That's out of 114,129 contacts since October 11, 1994, most of which were made on CW. A lot of how I operate 7Z5OO has to do with my personal philosophy of how the DX game should be played. DXers in the major population areas hunt DX. That's as it should be. DXpeditions or operators in rare countries make themselves available to be worked. And that's as it should be. So we have the seekers and the sought-after in our DXing game. But then there are those of us on the cusp, somewhere between the rare and the garden-variety of DX. Chances are pretty good you have worked Saudi Arabia. But have you snagged HZ on 10 or 160 Meters? How about on 6 Meters? You see, I have to change hats when I change bands. Running a pileup on 20 is not the same as running a pileup on 12. In my version of the DX game, I always consider who the audience is and why they are calling. This helps to insure that everyone (except those I can't hear) goes away happy. Maybe that last contact has produced a quick hello between friends who have worked many times before. Or, maybe it has produced a brand-new country for the operator on the other end. I do my best to read the situation correctly.

     My version of the DX game is somewhat more than just reading the situation correctly, however. It has to do with motivation as well. For one thing, pileups motivate me. To me, a big pileup on a clear frequency is pure artistry. So creating a good pileup is always in the back of my mind. Rate is important to me as well. Not necessarily a blazing contest-type rate, but a consistent rate hovering between 80 and 100 contacts per hour. The third element of motivation for me is from the seeker's perspective -- I hunt callsigns, not countries. This is at the heart of my DX philosophy of being on the cusp between the rare and the common. My real thrill comes from working someone on a new band that I've already worked on some other band(s). A lot of people have already caught on to this and they actually look for me to give me a new band-callsign. You see, the game really is catchy and it can work both ways. You look for 7Z5OO for whatever reason, and 7Z5OO looks for you right back. And I do most of my 'finding' right in the middle of my own pileups, and at a decent rate to boot. To summarize my version of the DX game, I am hunting your callsign on a new band in my pileup at a good rate. That's all there is to it and that's how I play the DX game from 7Z5OO.

     Well, considering all of that, how has the game gone so far? Here are some results based against the February 3, 1998 Top List. I have marked each band that I have worked each callsign on, along with the total number of bands worked. At the end of this chart, we'll do a little analysis of the findings. If you are on the Top List, just go to your ranking for February and see how well you and I are playing the DX game. If you hunt countries and you're not on the Top List, well maybe you should be. DX is your hobby, right?

7Z5OO - WORKED THE TOP LIST

     You can see by the bottom line summary, per band, that 20 is my top band for working the Top List people. I've worked 47% of everyone on the list on 20 Meters. 160 is my big loser with a mere 30 contacts of the 342 possible (excluding the SWLs from the list). The problem on 160 is not the band itself but my situation here in HZ. As you might know, 7Z5OO is set up at the palace and after-hours access to the palace grounds is not the easiest of tasks. All-total, I have worked 258 of the 342 Top Listers, which is @75% of the list. By and large, those 84 I haven't worked are either SSB aficionados or those with low overall totals. But why haven't I worked SM0AJU or I4EAT? Some mysteries remain. Anyway, the bottom line is that I have worked 978 band-contacts with the 342 people on the Top List or, on average, 3 band-contacts with each person there.

     Now, this analysis seems to point toward the idea that if the Top List can rank DXers in their pursuit of new band-countries, then why not rank those who pursue callsigns? OK, here's the list: #1 - 7Z5OO - 978 band-contacts with Top List DXers. Kind of a short list, isn't it? I don't mind a little competition here. Can you top my worked all Top List total? Let me know. And since we're in a list-making mode, how about this list:

7Z5OO - WORKED THE TOP LIST - TOP LIST

Rank