Brainerd Area Amateur Radio Club
March 29, 2001 Meeting
Brian Wermager KØEOU
Brainerd Area Amateur Radio
Club
March 29, 2001 Meeting
Brian Wermager
KØEOU
The Brainerd Area Amateur Radio Club will meet at the Mississippi Horizons School on Thursday, March 29, 2001. The presentation was given by Past BAARC President Brian Wermager KØEOU. Brian is an avid DX'er and has logged 333 of the possible 334 countries on HF. He told the assembled group how now this is the "best of the best" possible times for HF DX'ing.
Speech Notes:
DX means Distance Unknown.
HF means 28 MHz (10 meters) through 1.8 MHz (160 Meters)
Most hams worldwide use English to communicate
You don't need a high power transmitter or exceptional antenna to do good DX'ing especially now.
The Ionosphere layer of the upper atmosphere around earth protects us from solar storms and bounces HF signals back to earth.
The spring equinox (March 20th) and the fall equinox (September 20th) are peak times for DX-ing. We are at the peak of the 11 year solar cycle. These factors combine to make DX-ing fabulous.
The best DX-ing to Europe happens from 10 AM to 11 AM in the winter time. That time window extends to most of the day in the summer with the best DX around local sunset.
WWV in Fort Collins Colorado gives solar flux reports at 18 minutes past the hour. WWVB in Hawaii gives the same report at 45 minutes past the hour. You can hear those stations at 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz.
It may take over a year to get QSL cards from foreign countries. It has taken as long as three years to get some cards. QSL cards, on the Internet, are not currently recognized by the American Radio Relay League as valid for DX awards. However, they are studying the issue and the rule may change.
This page was last updated 12/19/2006