so i've been chasing 3Y0 for years obviously and when the recent dxpedition went up i was not gonna let it slip again. spent probably 3 solid hours on 20m before i finally got through and wanted to write up what actually seemed to make a difference because i wasted a lot of that time doing stuff that just doesnt work.

first thing i learned the hard way — calling on top of everyone else when they're already in QSO is completely pointless. i know everyone does it but you're just adding to the noise. what actually started working was listening to where the DX was *ending* their QSOs, the rhythm they use, how many seconds before they come back. once i got the timing down i was able to drop my call right in that window instead of just blasting continuously.

i also switched from using the full 100w on my IC-7300 to actually backing off a little and working on my audio. cleaned up the mic settings, dropped some of the bass, and i think that helped me cut through because a lot of the pileup is just a wall of low-end mush. running a dipole so no antenna tricks available to me unfortunately.

the split operation thing took me forever to figure out tbh — i was transmitting on the wrong side of their listed split for a while because i misread how they were working the pile. once i figured out they were actually listening about 3-5 up from where i thought, it came together pretty quick. anyone else have techniques that actually work? curious what the vfo-b crowd is doing different than me

yeah the timing thing is huge and nobody talks about it enough. i spent years just hammering my call and wondering why the big gun stations always seemed to get through — eventually figured out they're doing exactly what you described, they're listening to the DX operator's cadence and essentially predicting when to transmit. some ops are really consistent, like almost metronomic, once you lock onto that it's almost like you can feel the right moment.

one other thing that helped me a lot was partial calls. controversial i know but hear me out — a lot of the top dxpedition ops will come back to a partial and then fill in the rest, so if you can get even a fragment through the noise you're already ahead. works better on CW obviously but ive had it work on SSB too. the 3Y0 guys specifically seemed to be pretty good about working partials when the pile was at its worst.

your point about audio is dead on. i had a buddy who was running a kenwood ts-590 next to me at a club remote setup and his audio was noticeably cleaner on the waterfall. we were same power same antenna and he was getting through faster. spent an afternoon with him dialing in the tx eq settings and it made a real difference. dont sleep on that stuff even if it feels like marginal gains.

this is making me want to actually try and work some of the harder ones, ive mostly been sticking to regular dx and avoiding the big pileups because they seem kind of chaotic and honestly a little intimidating. how do you even know where to start listening on the split if they dont announce it? i always assumed you just found the listed frequency and that was it but sounds like its more complicated than that