I will look for you Jerry.   

I did see several familiar calls  tonight.. thanks for stopping by guys!

Hi all,

On Nov 4, 2014, at 12:48, 'John Etling' john@... [070] <070@...> wrote: 

While all that is great advice, people today are too easily offended. It is pathetic. 

Robert

KG4KGL

I don't think that Jerry was referring to you in particular, anyone from the 070 club,  or even to European amateurs as a whole. I know that I have met some very courteous Europeans on the air and I am certain he has also. He was referring to those selfish operators (who happened to have European call signs) who intentionally interfered with others trying to make contacts with the DXpedition. 

Many amateurs do not realize that when stations are on opposite sides of the world, there are only brief periods of the day when both stations are in darkness  and can be operated on the 160, 80 and 40 meter bands. Likewise, there are only brief periods of the day when both stations are in daylight and can be operated on 10 and 15 meters. Good DXpedition operators realize the requirements of propagation  and take calls only from countries on the far side of the world during these brief band openings. As soon as the bands close to those countries, they resume contacts with other stations who are lesser distance.

The distance between Northern Illinois and Tromelin Island is about 10,000 miles making it close to the anti-pole for us here. Thus, the periods when stations like Tromelin can be reached on anything other than 20 meters are quite brief, especially on 160 meters.  The same thing occurred with Amsterdam Island. When selfish stations who can more easily contact the DX station interfere with contacts between the DXpedition and portions of the world that have only brief band openings, they are disrupting the careful planning of the DXpedition. These DXpeditions count on making contacts with all areas of the world, because they count on all areas for funding.

Jerry N9AVY is a personal friend of mine here in the Chicago suburbs. He is an Official Observer for the ARRL and is always looking for operators who violate regulations and standards of common courtesy.  Believe me, there are plenty of dirty operators here as well, such as the SSB operators in a recent phone contest who intentionally worked in the portions of the bands reserved for Data and CW only here in the States. 

Here in our local area we have a several US operators who are banned from using a local VHF repeater because they are DIRTY US OPS who interfere with the enjoyment of other by playing music (strictly forbidden by the FCC) over the air. Thus, DIRTY OPS are not confined to any country, or any continent. No matter where they are located, they detract from the overall enjoyment of the hobby by those of us who try to be courteous operators.

By the way, I have found 070 club operators to be some of the finest, most courteous operators on the air, so I am certain N9AVY was not referring to any club members when he made his comment.

Ray N9RWC