Satgen351 Operating Fo20 Mode Ja Pt6 by GM4IHJ 16 Dec 95 There is no doubt that CW is the easiest mode to operate on Fo20 JA. Tuning does not need to be precise and Tx power need not be high. 10 watts going to the IHJ antenna from an 18 year old Yaesu FT221R is quite adequate for the longest range DX. But be careful that you keep clear of the phoney beacon signals which appear about 46 and 92 Khz respectively above the real beacon, or these could give you QRM problems. SSB voice modulation requires more power ( perhaps 25 watts ) for comfortable signal levels, but the biggest problem with SSB is tuning for, and, hearing , clear voice. Some of the answers to the SSB problem lie with the other operator. If he gets excited and comes back to you with " GM4IHJ GM4IHJ GM4IHJ this is Blurp Bleep", he commits two errors. Firstly IHJ can recognise his own call in a thunderstorm with a Boeing 747 going directly overhead. What he needs is your call, which he does not know. Secondly be aware that the receiving operator will be tuning to get a clear signal as you reply, so he may miss the first part of your reply. So a much more helpful reply would be " GM4IHJ this is WA9IQH, Whiskey Alpha Nine Intelligence Quotient High, Washington America Nine India Quebec Hotel ". This response gives him time to tune and emphasises the important fact of who you are. Once in firm contact you can exchange signal reports and locators, then and only then can you get on to names and other data which are not specifically required for a confirmed QSO. Much of the fun of operating Fo20 JA is going for the extreme DX when time in contact is so short that all you can manage is a quick exchange of calls and reports. Once again CW is much the more efficient way of doing this , but getting extra DX takes planning. You can save a lot of time and wrist work if you first check that when DX may appear in the footprint it coincides with sociable hours at the other end. Alaska is often mutually in the Fo20 footprint with Scotland but , Scotlands day is Alaskas night. So early am to late pm calls either way are much more likely to get results than midday Midnight calls. Also important with mode JA DX, is courtesy in permitting stations to go for DX calls. For some years on the original Oscar 8J , a North American east coast station regularly interupted IHJ calls to DX stations in W4, K9 and W0. He was not popular . Fortunately he has disappeared, but now and again east coast stations answer Europeans trying for the ultimate Fo20 Dx to W6 and W7, which is of course only available when F020 apogee is somewhere over eastern Canada halfway between Europe and Western US and Canada. Please listen before you reply. If the European is calling CQ DX W7, VE7, please give him a clear field. You will get plenty of other opportunities to talk to him when Fo20 apogee is not so critical.