DX-pedition - Equipment and Operation

Equipment and Operation

In addition to licensing and survival issues, DX-pedition participants devote much attention to the radio equipment they use.

In an extremely rare location for a popular awards program like DXCC, hundreds of stations may be calling the DX-pedition at any one time (known as a 'pile-up'). Therefore, DX-peditioners will aim to use high power and gain antennas on as many bands as practical, in order to achieve a loud signal worldwide and keep control of the inevitable pileups that occur. Operators may also receive and transmit on different frequencies, called split operation, in order to be heard by distant stations without interference to their signal from the pileup. This can also help the operation to make a substantial number of contacts with parts of the planet that have unfavourable propagation from the area visited, lying perhaps in the region on the Earth's surface which is diametrically opposite to it -- its antipodal point. Examples would be the Central Pacific from Europe, or the Caribbean from Japan.

For smaller operations to remote locations, smaller radios which run off of a 12 V DC power supply and antenna systems which are more easily transported are favored over larger and more difficult to transport equipment. However, generators are usually used because of the power requirements for amplifiers and the ease of refueling versus recharging a battery.

When the individual or group arrives at the DX-pedition destination, they must set up their station and get on the air. DX-peditions are usually group affairs since the desire is to make as many contacts as possible from the location. Round-the-clock operations on multiple HF bands simultaneously are typical, which necessitates a group activity. The use of the Internet to upload logs (allowing quick confirmation of questionable contacts) and for QSLs (formal confirmation) has made the process somewhat easier.

Holiday operations from locations where there are few resident operators are often more leisurely affairs. Nonetheless the operator will seek to make as many contacts as possible in the operating time available, with the result that contacts are often extremely brief, limited just to an exchange of signal reports.