"THE ENEMY BELOW...."
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A few of you might remember the WWII movie "The Enemy Below". It's one of the movies that I like to watch occasionally, starring Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens (directed by Dick Powell). Unlike other WWII films, this one boils down to one man (Mitchum on a Destroyer escort) and Jurgens (in a U-Boat). Each commander has to anticipate the next couple moves of his opponent, or, he and his ship lose (kinda like a game of chess), the classic "cat and mouse" battle.
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This scenario has been adapted several times on TV shows, one of them being "Star Trek". I don't remember the name of the episode but it had to do with the Enterprise vs. a Romulan ship. Kirk was getting the crap blasted outta the Enterprise because the Romulan ship was using a cloaking device, so he steers his crew into some area where sensors on either side would make them both blind, thus pitting the captain of each vessel into a duel-of-wits. Once again, like a Chess game, each captain has to figure out his opponents next moves so he can win. So where am I going with this? good question....
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Chasing rare DX is very similar to this. Not only do you have to move to the other stations receive frequency, but you want to anticipate his next frequency shift so that you can beat the rest of the madhouse trying to make the same contact. It's easy to practice,just find a station doing the split frequency and as he shifts his receiving frequency, pay attention to each one because many times you'll figure out the method to his madness and predict where he will be on the next shift and then the shift after that. It can be a band you don't even have the right antenna for - as long as you can receive him, you can learn, play the game, and when you're chasing some rare Dx - be prepared.
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For example: The other day on six meters I heard some DX faintly in the background. I couldn't quite get the callsign (his English was so-so, as was my Spanish) but he would call on .125 and end with "listening on .xxx". I'm pretty sure that a lot of the stations trying to get back to him either didn't hear that part, or understand it's significance because they were creating a mini-pileup on .125. You'll hear similar things on the lower bands, many times when a rare call is used. They transmit on one frequency and listen on the other, sometimes moving the receive frequency up or down every so often. So, give it a shot and practice. There is no down side, and the up side is making contact with a station you need without 1,000 watts...
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73
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Woody
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