A, B, C's of Dx Fundamentals of the Art of DXing I
W5FKX, Don Boudreau
Foreword and Use Notes
The hobby of ham radio, and especially the pursuit of contacts with distant (DX) stations via shortwave radio, has been something that I have enjoyed with a passion for over five decades. Over the years, and with increasing frequency in the last decade, I have marveled at the extent to which ham radio, and DXing in particular, have changed. Mostly it has been as a result of technological developments. Just as I had plenty of "catching up" to do after my period of limited activity, I knew that others were continually emerging from beneath the demands of child-rearing and careers and re-entering (or entering) the hobby as I did. Some would develop interests in chasing DX and would be in need of help and information. With this in mind, I decided to apply the technology that had led to rapid changes in the hobby - the Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) and the World Wide Web of the Internet - to offer an informational site for beginning DXers, and perhaps even a bit of information for those with some experience. In addition to operating information and tips, a brief summary of background theory is included for two of the key topics - Propagation and Antennas - because of their importance to DXers.
This was more of a labor-of-love than anything else, as I knew from my own very well-stocked bookshelves of ham radio publications that many good books on DXing are already available and there was no dearth of literature on the subject! The only thing different about this work is that it makes use of some of the features of the web to provide instant links to additional information, animated graphics for better illustration, and some audio-video. Perhaps it will be a small contribution to the effort of encouraging and maintaining interest in the challenge and enjoyment of amateur radio communication, and especially that aspect involving the pursuit of DX.
Using this Tutorial
While the topical sequence is arranged in what seemed to be a logical order for leading a new DXer through the learning process, it is not intended to be rigid, nor is it necessarily the best for everyone. Feel free to jump about and explore as you wish. Revision dates appear at the beginning of each chapter to indicate when any changes have occurred.
This is intended to be an interactive tutorial - as you view the materials on the site, you can click on hyperlinks for additional embedded explanations, figures, or illustrations, or scroll down to the References and call up additional information from other Internet websites. Links are readily identified as underlined plain text and open in a separate popup window, so you must have javascripting enabled in your browser. The popup windows are movable and re-sizable for your convenience. All of the illustrative figures may be "clicked" for enlargement in a popup window in order to get a better view. Some of the clickable figures are animated for better presentation, and a few are audio-video. Also, if you wish to be able to navigate within a popup window, you can activate the navigation tools by clicking on "View" on the toolbar and selecting those that you want. There is one other type of popup window that you will encounter: links that are italicized - these are words for which definitions are available and will display on mouseover (when you hover the pointer over the link without clicking). As an example, place your mouse cursor over the word DXing ... as you see, the definition pops up in a small window. When you move the cursor away from the word, the definition window disappears.
At the completion of a chapter, there is a link to the next material in the series. In addition, the contents menu bar will remain at the left of the screen at all times, so that navigation among the various chapters is only a matter of clicking on the desired topic. Finally, don't neglect to look through and make use of the reference websites listed at the end of each chapter.
Delta DX Association
DX, one aspect of the hobby of amateur ("Ham") radio, is an abbreviation for "distance" and is used as a noun (DX = distant station; DXer = one who pursues DX) and a verb (DXing = the pursuit of DX radio contacts). The enthusiasm of DXers is exemplified by the frequent DXpeditions by Hams, in which operators venture forth to some corner of the globe that may be uninhabited, lacking Ham radio activity, or just an interesting place to go, for the primary purpose of providing the rest of us with radio contacts! Some are true expeditions in the classical sense, in which equipment, shelters, generators, and supplies must be carried in at great personal cost and risk. Visit our pages for more on Ham Radio DXing.
http://www.deltadx.net/ABCDx/Sections/Foreword.htm
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