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DXPEDITIONING BASICS - 2013


About the Author

 

Wayne Mills was born in October, 1942 in Palo Alto, California. He obtained his first Amateur Radio license in March, 1953. He was given the callsign KN6ALH. Since then he has held: K6ALH, W7JFG, N7NG, ZL0AFZ, and 3D2NG, T32BT, ZA1A, P40NG, and FO0MWA. In addition, Wayne has operated many others, including FO0XX, 3D2AM, AH3C/KH5J, XF4L, ZS9Z/ZS1, 9M0S and V51Z plus BV9P, XZ1A, BS7H, H40AA, and TX0DX. He knows what it's like to be on the DX end of a pileup. Those of us who have worked him in those pileups know that he is one of the best!


Wayne understands both sides of a pileup. He started DXing in late 1956, while in Junior High School. For nine years his DXing was limited to 20 CW only. That's because his home-built gear didn't operate on any other bands. His school friends, K6ZJU and WA6AUE, were fellow participants in the DX chase, and they are still at it. Wayne spent most of the sixties studying electrical engineering at the University of California at Davis, California. He found some time to work the occasional DXpedition. He observed the deeds and misdeeds of the DXpeditioners of that time, and met the major players at meetings of the Northern California DX Club which he joined in 1964. Wayne is still a member of the NCDXC and a new member of the Utah DX Association.


In 1965 Wayne married his wife Margaret. (They have a son Arthur now 37, a daughter Katie, now 33, and two granddaughters.) Wayne and Margaret moved to Wyoming in 1972 to start a business. He was the owner/manager of two Motorola Two-Way Communications sales and service centers in Jackson and Pinedale, Wyoming. He ran these businesses for 28 years.


It was 1977 when Wayne applied for and received his present callsign, N7NG. His new business demanded most of his efforts and attention, but he found time for his DX passions. Then in 1983, he saw an advertisement in the West Coast DX bulletin for operators to go to Clipperton Island. He thought he might like to do that. Then he thought otherwise and forgot about it. During a Christmas visit to California, Wayne talked with old friend Bob Vallio, W6RGG. Bob asked if Wayne wanted to go to Clipperton. Wayne had thought about this before and immediately answered, "Yes". That trip ended in Manzanillo, Mexico with no boat. Wayne eventually made it to Clipperton with the FO0XX DXpedition in 1985, and a return visit in 1986.


That gave him a taste of "the other end." Like many others, Wayne wanted more of the same. A trip to Auckland Island (ZL9) with Ron, ZL1AMO, and Roly, ZL1BQD, followed in 1988, and he was invited by Martti Lane, OH2BH to join the Revilla Gigedo (XF4) group in 1989.


1990 was a big year for Wayne. He made two trips to the Pacific, Jarvis Island (AH3C/KH5J) and Conway Reef (3D2AM). In November he made his way to Africa on the DXpedition to Penguin Island (ZS9Z). The next year, 1991, Wayne was nominated by ARRL to be the American representative to the ZA1A education and operation project in Albania. (Since that time Wayne has always kept a bag packed for a quick getaway.) In 1993, he went with the DXpedition to the Spratly Islands (9M0S).


Since 1994, there have been several more DXpeditions. In 1995, Pratas, BV9P, Myanmar, XZ1A and China, BT0X and the Beijing International DX Convention. Scarborough, BS7H followed in 1997, Temotu Province, H40AA in 1998 and the Chesterfields, TX0DX in March, 2000. Several more contests fit in as well: PT5A and EA8BH in 2002, 5U5Z in 2004 and TZ5A in 2005. The most recent effort was Kosovo’s Independence Day in 2008.


In 1995 he was named the DXAC Representative for the Rocky Mountain division. He then served as the DXAC Chairman for five years starting in 1996. He also participated on the so-called DXCC-2000 Committee that rewrote the DXCC rules in 1997-1998. In 1999, Wayne was inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame.


In 2000, Wayne “retired” to Newington, Connecticut to run the Membership Services Department (now PSC) at ARRL. At ARRL, Wayne was involved with the development of the Logbook of the World program, and along with the other department tasks, eventually did LoTW customer service in Newington for over three years. He oversaw the implementation of the DXCC Challenge award. He left ARRL in 2007.


In the interim years, Wayne has made a small mark in contests. He was part of the group at P40V that set the world record CQWW SSB Multi-Multi in 1988. In 1990 again at P40V it was a WPX world record Multi-Single followed by a Single Operator 20 meter world record in 1991. Wayne says that he still enjoys operating in the ARRL CW DX contest from Wyoming, but at home he considers himself more of a DXer than a contester.


Since 2011, Wayne has been involved with founding the DX University. A number of in-person sessions have been conducted and material has been developed for the DX University Website (www.dxuniversity.com) He has written for The WeeklyDX™ and since January 2013, he has been editor of the CQ Magazine DX Column.


Today, Wayne has been a member of the DXCC Number 1 Honor Roll for 22 years. (After he returned home from the teaching and operating project in Tirana, Albania, he worked his last needed country. That was on his birthday in 1991. The last country? Albania, and the station was ZA1A.)


What are Wayne's plans for the future? In his own words, I’ll continue writing, and I’ll be a little more selective when it comes to DX traveling, but I intend to keep at it for the foreseeable future, especially during the winter months... "



Chuck Hutchinson, K8CH 

August 2013 


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