Being that rare station that has a pileup

[WA3LTJ]

One of the great thrills of ham radio is working a pileup as the rare station that everyone wants. I have experience this a few times. During Field Day, if you have a big signal you can get a lot of people calling you at once. I have worked a few club stations with large antennas, 1 KW and and really good band conditions during a DX context. That will get lots of calls. Most recently, I find that operating POTA (Parks On The Air) at an unusual site with a full 100W and a decent antenna can produce a pileup. The trick is to spot yourself or get someone else to spot you. Since Washington, DC is a separate section from Maryland for POTA, that is a great place to work a park. (The ARRL combines DC with Maryland, making the MDC section less interesting.)

Working a pileup takes practice. I find myself getting into a rhythm. That helps me keep the logging and calls in sync. It seems to cue the callers to when I'm ready for the next contact. A perennial problem is picking out a callsign when several people are calling at once.

I am curious what tricks/techniques other people use to efficiently work many stations calling at once.