DXing

DXing
DX	A distant station; on HF, usually one in another country or on another continent
Main award	DXCC (DX Century Club), from the ARRL
Basic DXCC	Confirmed contacts with 100 entities
Entities on the DXCC list	About 340
Operating
Finding DX	DX clusters, the Reverse Beacon Network, listening
Key techniques	Split operation, timing, short calls
Confirmation	Logbook of the World, QSL cards
Typical bands	20, 17, 15 and 10 m by day; 40, 80 and 160 m at night

DXing is the pursuit of contacts with distant stations. In ham shorthand DX means distance, or a distant station; on the HF bands it usually means a station in another country, and the rarer the better. DXers collect countries the way birders collect species, working toward awards such as DXCC, learning to read propagation, and competing politely in crowded pileups to reach remote islands and places where few hams live.

DX and DXCC

What counts as DX depends on the band. On 20 meters, a US station calls Europe or Japan DX; on the 2-meter band, a contact of a few hundred miles is DX; on 160 meters, the other side of the country can be.

The standard measure of a DXer is DXCC, the DX Century Club award of the ARRL, earned by confirming contacts with 100 entities on the DXCC list. The list holds about 340 current entities, and it is not simply a list of nations: it includes countries plus territories and islands that are separated by distance or political status. Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, for example, each count separately from the continental US. Entities are occasionally added or deleted as borders and rules change. Beyond the basic award come endorsements for every additional entity, separate awards by mode and band, and the Honor Roll for those who have confirmed nearly everything on the list. The DXCC Trident, added by the ARRL in 2025, asks for 100 entities on each of CW, phone and digital, confirmed through Logbook of the World. The yearly CQ DX Marathon takes a different approach: it counts the countries and CQ zones worked in one calendar year, needs no confirmations, and has classes for 100-watt stations with wire antennas, so a modest station can measure its progress from year to year.

Some entities have active hams on the air every day. Others, such as uninhabited islands and countries where amateur radio is restricted, are on the air only when an expedition goes there, and "most wanted" lists rank them by demand.

The DXCC list grew out of an October 1935 QST article, "How to Count Countries Worked," by Clinton B. DeSoto, W1CBD. His basic rule, that "each discrete geographical or political entity" counts as a country, is still the foundation of the list, and today's rules add detailed criteria for when an entity is added or deleted. A deleted entity moves to a separate Deleted Entities List. Contacts with it still earn DXCC credit if they were made while it was on the list, but deleted entities don't count toward the Honor Roll, Five-Band DXCC or the DXCC Challenge. An entity that later returns to the list is treated as a new one.

Finding DX

DXers start by listening, and by knowing when a band is likely to be open. The solar cycle governs the higher HF bands; the lower bands come alive at night and along the gray line, the band of twilight that circles the earth, where low-band signals often travel unusually well. The 30, 17 and 12-meter bands are popular with DXers because contests are kept off them.

DX clusters are networks where hams post spots: a call sign, a frequency and a short comment, seen within seconds by thousands of others. They began on packet radio and now run over the internet, built into most logging programs. The Reverse Beacon Network adds automatic spots from receivers that decode CW (Morse) signals, and shows where your own signal is being heard. On FT8, the decode window works as a spotting system of its own, which is one reason the mode has made DXCC achievable for modest stations. Many DX clubs also share local spots in a chat group or on a repeater; a spot from a member a few miles away says more about whether a station can be heard locally than one from across the country. Major contests bring out DX stations by the hundred.

Pileups and split operation

When a rare station appears, hundreds of callers answer at once. Getting through a pileup is mostly about listening. Before calling, learn the DX station's call sign, its rhythm, where it is listening and whom it wants. Then give your full call sign once, using the phonetic alphabet on voice, and listen. Don't call while the DX station is working someone else, and follow its instructions: "Europe only" or "zero calls only" means exactly that.

To keep its own frequency clear, a busy DX station usually works split: it transmits on one frequency and listens on another, announcing "listening up five" (5 kHz higher) or, on CW, "UP 2". The radio's split function receives on one VFO (variable-frequency oscillator, in effect one of the radio's two tuning dials) and transmits on the other. Good operators tune the listening range to find the station being worked and call near there. The classic mistake is forgetting to turn split on and calling on the DX frequency, which prompts a chorus of "up!" from everyone listening.

DXpeditions

Main article: DXpedition

A DXpedition is a trip to a rare entity to give others the chance to work it. It may be one ham on a vacation island or a large team camped on an uninhabited island for weeks, with several stations running every band and mode around the clock and tens of thousands of contacts in the log. Large expeditions are funded by the operators and by donations from clubs and individual DXers. The ARRL's Colvin Award grants, paid from an endowment set up by the DX couple Lloyd Colvin, W6KG, and Iris Colvin, W6QL, support DX projects that promote international goodwill; in January 2026 the ARRL announced a $5,000 grant to the 3Y0K DXpedition to Bouvet Island, which was on the air in March 2026. Coming operations are announced in DX bulletins and calendars, such as NG3K's Announced DX Operations and The Daily DX, with dates, bands, modes and QSL routes. Many expeditions put their logs online during the operation, often on Club Log, whose log search lets callers check that they are in the log; DXers are asked not to work the same station again on a band and mode they already have, so others get a turn. Pileups are usually largest in the first days and thin out toward the end, which is often the best time for a small station to call. On FT8 they often use a special "Fox and Hound" mode that lets one station work several callers at once.

Confirming DX

Main article: QSL cards and logging

A contact counts for DXCC only once it is confirmed, through Logbook of the World or a paper QSL card. Logbook of the World is the only electronic confirmation the ARRL accepts for DXCC; confirmations sent by email, fax or other electronic means are not accepted, and neither are photocopies of cards. Many DX stations and expeditions use a QSL manager, another ham who answers cards on their behalf, and their QRZ.com pages give "QSL via" instructions. Many expeditions also offer OQRS, an Online QSL Request Service, most often Club Log's, which lets a caller order a card direct, paid online, or through the QSL bureau without sending one first. Confirmations from rare places can take months, and patience is part of the game.

Listen, listen, listen. Before you call a DX station, know its call sign, where it is listening and what it is asking for. Most pileup trouble comes from callers who transmitted before they listened.

External links

Top 10 Tools Every Beginning DXer Needs, a talk by Jeff Bolling, NA9P, on Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio (video, 47 minutes)