Planning my first significant DXpedition activation and studying pileup management techniques. I firmly believe that the pileup is a mirror reflection of the DXpedition operator - if he is successful the pileup will conform and the expedition will be much more successful. The challenge is sometimes a DXpedition operator may not realize how large a pileup he has - it is important to realize that he is likely to have a large pileup and should work split from the beginning.

What specific control techniques have proven most effective? I'm considering calling stations by number in the call which will instantly silence 90% of the pile-up - if you call "1"-stations only, the big guns can be worked easily. Issue calling instructions after every QSO: EU UP5 or NA UP 5-10, and minimize pileup width: suggest max 5kHz CW and 15kHz SSB.

Many new DXpeditioners fail to appreciate propagation often determines who they should be listening for as priority - listen for eastern Europe and Russia first, saving western Europe for late afternoon, then turn attention to North America. Work with propagation, not against it.

Critical point on frustration management - don't leave the pileup hanging - if a QRX or QSY to another band is necessary, inform those DXers in the pileup as considerable frustration can be avoided. Communication prevents chaos better than any technical solution.

For dealing with poor operators, one technique for controlling poor operators is simply a hidden black list - the offending operator is simply ignored until he exhibits the proper procedure - this is the Pavlov technique. Don't feed the trolls, just ignore them completely.