Retro Video DXing

I have recently started doing something which many would consider to be a very bad habit. I have been recording DX openings so I can play them back at a future stage, study the recordings and compile my logbooks after the event. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

First of all, I will explain why I do it. Traditionally, when an opening is in progress, I load up the FM List website and go into one of my online logbooks. I will begin logging 'live', adding stations I receive them. It takes a few seconds to add a station into the logbook, though it can take more than this, perhaps up to a minute or more. Delays are experienced for two reasons: 1. Because I may need to do some research to ensure I log the correct transmitter; or 2. Because the internet is running slowly.

So consider this. If the internet is running slowly, it takes longer to add a station into the log. That small delay means I am going to miss other DX. I could make notes offline of course and then add the logs to my FM List after the event. Better still, I could record the DX event. Bandicam is an excellent little piece of screen recording software. I can make a video of myself tuning the XDR on the GTK interface, wait for an RDS ID to form on the display, and then quickly move on to the next station. This has the effect of increasing the number of loggings from one or two per minute to perhaps ten, or even more, as long as the RDS data forms quickly.

We all know that quantity is not necessarily better than quality. We are all individuals and choose how we want to DX and have preferences for what we look forward to hearing the most. Although I am something of a 'collector', hence me keeping detailed logbooks, I am not purposely trying to log as much as possible, just for the sake of it. For me, the idea is not so much to log more of the DX, but to miss less of the DX. Doesn't that make sense? If I am wasting time unnecessarily because of technical issues or because of the need to research the transmitter sites and propagation paths, then the chances are I could be missing something very exciting, so you begin to see the advantages of video recording and playing back the content at a future time.

I still need to tune 'live' of course, though I could easily configure something like Hot Keys to do the tuning for me. I might actually do that one day.

Playback is the drawback! You need twice as long (and the rest!) to go through the videos so you can extract the data for the log. I have got a few days behind with sending my reports because of this, but believe me, it is well worth it. During the recent mega-Scandinavian opening on July 3rd I was able to catch dozens of Norwegian stations, many with flea powers as low as 13 watts! I would have missed many of these stations had I used traditional 'live' logging. The actual logbook for that date totals almost 500 individual loggings!

I understand - it might seem a little extreme, but it's something well worth doing in the right conditions. I wouldn't recommend this method for all DX openings, however.

There is one main drawback, however. If you I am not logging in real time into my FM List log, the corresponding paths are not going to appear on to the linked DX clusters. I try to add a small number of loggings to the FM List so other DXers can see that there is an opening taking place from my location. I also try to ensure that I post an alert to the Skywaves forum when an opening is taking place.

Each to their own of course. This method of DXing will not suit everybody, but it it has proved very useful here during those intense sporadic E openings which crop up every now and again in the summer months.

Good DX!

John