HowTo Am I DX-ing Wrong?

[ditto1958]

The other day a YouTube video came on my feed from one of the bigger SW channels and I decided I’ve been doing DX-ing all wrong.* Apparently the right way to do it is to show your receiver tuned to a frequency with audio of noise. Then you tune up and then down a couple of kHz until the noise stops and back to the noise and say: “Yes, it’s faint but it’s definitely there. That’s a Russian-Chinese-North Korean jammer number time station broadcasting from Moldova that’s only on every other Friday from 1500-1510 UTC.”

So, to each his own I guess, lol. My style is similar to an extent, but a little different. I enjoy searching for 1. SW signals from distant lands, and 2. Interesting programming.

If a signal from the other side of the world is just barely there, but not listenable, I’m mildly interested, but only briefly. And 3. Out of nostalgia for my youth, I also enjoy trying to catch distant AM stations from here in the US and Canada.

Actually, if you look up what DX-ing is, the first way I described is actually pretty accurate. Looking for distant and often weak signals. I guess where I differ is that I get bored quickly if a signal is not “listenable.”

*Note: this post is mostly serious, but with a bit of humor mixed in. 🙂

 

[EAFrizzle]

If it gets to me through other-than-groundwave propagation, it's DX to me.

Except for longwave. That's all DX.

 

[kc2asb]

DXing is seeking out weak/distant signals. Nothing wrong with a tentative log on a mostly-unreadable signal.

How distant does a signal have to be for it to be DX? I never saw a clear answer on that. Does a weak MW station from western PA received here in NJ qualify? For my purposes, it does.

Just spin the dial, log what you hear, and have fun. Some people get too hung up on formalities.

 

[ditto1958]

DXing is seeking out weak/distant signals. Nothing wrong with a tentative log on a mostly-unreadable signal.

How distant does a signal have to be for it to be DX? I never saw a clear answer on that. Does a weak MW station from western PA received here in NJ qualify? For my purposes, it does.

Just spin the dial, log what you hear, and have fun. Some people get too hung up on formalities.

That last part is exactly what I do. 🙂

I think I’m more of a true DXer when I do the AM (MW) band than when I do SW. All I know is it’s a very enjoyable hobby.

 

[EAFrizzle]

It's all about having fun. Your enjoyment is more important than someone else's process. 👍

 

[kc2asb]

That last part is exactly what I do. 🙂

I think I’m more of a true DXer when I do the AM (MW) band than when I do SW. All I know is it’s a very enjoyable hobby.

With SW, it depends. It used to be that if you logged the BBC via one of its 500kw transmitters, it was not DX. But logging the BBC via a relay transmitter in India, for example, was. Certainly, logging Radio Tahiti or just about any African SW station was DX back in the day.

In any case, just keep having fun!

 

[Boombox]

What is 'DX' is going to be different to every DXer and radio hobbyist. When I was a little kid, hearing AM stations from the next state south of me, Oregon, was DX. I still consider Oregon DX today. Because of my knowledge and equipment, maybe Oregon isn't quite the mindblowing 'DX' it was when I was 4 or 5, but I still consider most Oregon stations DX.

My first good logging on SW, when I was in elementary school, was Radio RSA, broadcasting out of South Africa. Looking at a globe, South Africa was nearly on the opposite side of the world from me. Recently I've been hearing TWR out of Swaziland and MWV and a couple other broadcasters out of Madagascar, which are similarly placed.

There really are no 'rules', which is what makes it a fun hobby. Naturally, the catches you want to tell others about are the more unusual ones.

But ultimately, the point of the SWL and DX hobby is to switch on the radio, and enjoy what you're hearing.

And yeah, sometimes that means I'm tuning to some frequency where there's only a carrier, and I note that down, even though there is no real audio. I find that interesting most of the time. Is Missionaria in this evening, or is it just a weak carrier on my BFO? It's more fun to actually hear clear audio, but the carrier's presence gets noted down anyway.

 

[Omega-TI]

THEN
It used to be one would hang on a frequency around station identification times, log the station and feel lucky if it was new.
How you found and tuned in a station was listeners choice, opinions vary so there is not really one 'right' answer.

NOW
You record the whole band with the SDR, go back later and listen to each frequency, then log the multiple new finds.

 

[kc2asb]

THEN
It used to be one would hang on a frequency around station identification times, log the station and feel lucky if it was new.
How you found and tuned in a station was listeners choice, opinions vary so there is not really one 'right' answer.

NOW
You record the whole band with the SDR, go back later and listen to each frequency, then log the multiple new finds.

I'm still stuck in "THEN".

 

[Token]

DX-ing to me is not the same as listening. I listen to programming I find interesting, I DX to achieve / log new locations / stations. As long as I can confirm (in my mind) what I am hearing it goes in the log as that station / signal. I have to hear something (ID, interval, language, etc) in the signal that convinces me that it is the signal in question, not just hear that some signal is present on the right frequency at the right time.

Sometimes that (DX-ing) involves tuning to a specific frequency at the right time, and trying to hear the signal in question. Other times, yes, it does involve recording the entire band in question at the top of the hour (or bottom) and then tuning to each signal present in the band trying to identify it.

But, hearing an unusable signal is present on a scheduled frequency does not ID the signal. At best it might go in the log as a "maybe" to be checked / confirmed on a different day.

T!

 

[MiCon]

So much has changed over the years (progress?, improvements?, technology?). Some, if not most of it, has taken the fun out of exploring the air waves. I still tune around on an old HF receiver with a tuning knob and dial. When I find a signal, I tune that specific part of the band with a digital frequency display receiver to nail down the frequency for my log book. There aren't too many foreign stations that ID in English anymore, and even fewer that ID on any regular schedule. My stack of program reception report station response cards from the 1960's & 70's is all that's left of that era.

 

[modrachlan]

There's a difference between SWL- L is "listening-" and DXing.

DXing is more about data. Hamnets are about contacts. The audio quality is discussed, but more like using a hi-fi test recording to fine-tune new stereo speakers. There is an entertainment component, but it's secondary.

I regard barely audible signals the same way. I'm awestruck for a moment that I am receiving it, I make an entry in the logbook, I move on. Or if the band is really open and I am catching all kinds of odd things- I'll make notes, sometimes record snippets just for reference.

Now, when they play great music on a good strong transmission from Rádio Nacional da Amazônia- I will sit back and enjoy. or if I stumble onto a DX/mailbag show, I will listen, sometimes record to listen later. Or one of the great oldies shows on one of the domestic transmitters.

 

[merlin]

60 years SWLing, never knew there was a wrong way to do it. Start with the best reveiver you can get your hands on (I started with an old car radio) then get the best antenna you can possibly put up. (100 foot of wire strung from a tree) Then find the best time when those far off stations become listenable, Tune up and down the dial noting everything you can hear, even CW, or odd signals other than natural noise.
A few grand for a good receiver later, and a couple grand for like a Rhombic or 200 foot T3FD, sit back and hear anything that can reach you.
Even up into microwave.

 

[merlin]

So much has changed over the years (progress?, improvements?, technology?). Some, if not most of it, has taken the fun out of exploring the air waves. I still tune around on an old HF receiver with a tuning knob and dial. When I find a signal, I tune that specific part of the band with a digital frequency display receiver to nail down the frequency for my log book. There aren't too many foreign stations that ID in English anymore, and even fewer that ID on any regular schedule. My stack of program reception report station response cards from the 1960's & 70's is all that's left of that era.

Yea, I had a wall covered with QSL cards from all over the world. Today you got logging software.
I leared Morse code just listening to ship weather broadcasts. Digital display? I had mechanical like the R39URR.

 

[MiCon]

Yea, I had a wall covered with QSL cards from all over the world. Today you got logging software.
I leared Morse code just listening to ship weather broadcasts. Digital display? I had mechanical like the R39URR.

Hi, Merlin.
I, too, had a wall covered with QSL cards. Now they sit in a rubber band wrapped stack in a file drawer. Memories.
I, also, learned Morse code, pre-teen years. My uncle was a Ham, and had served as an airborne radio operator in the US Navy in the 1950's, so I had plenty of encouragement and help. Haven't used that skill in so long that I can't even recite the alphabet in code anymore.
Still using my TRIO 9R59D.
73, Mike

 

[Boombox]

RE: DXing vs. Listening.... To me -- personally, anyway -- they are one and the same. Because you have to listen to hear the DX -- even if you're using an SDR, there are some signals that are audible that may not show up well on the waterfall (I don't have an SDR, but have seen instances on an SDR clip where an audible signal wasn't really showing up on the deep blue background very well).

Also, I listen because that's really what it's all about. Some day there won't be any Radio Fedas, Vsermirnaya Radiosets, CRI's, PBS Nei Menggus, NHK's, Ifrikya FM's, RNZI's, etc. left on the SW band, and I want to hear them before they're gone. I record a few of the catches on my G2, minutes at a time, just so I have a few of them. Before Radio Disney went off the air in 2015 I got a few clips of the station out of Portland (on my G2) playing the pop music. I'm glad I have that to listen to now and then, to remember how it sounded to hear it when it was still on the airwaves.

When I was younger I used to think the equipment was the most important thing in SWLing, MW DXing, and DXing in general. Now I think it's your ears. Equipment, of course, is important. You'll hear more with a good antenna than off a portable's whip in 90% of the cases. But there are a lot of SWL's that just switch on the ATS or ETM and depend on that to get them all their catches; I prefer to tune and listen; hunt and find. I've heard a lot of weak DX that way.

I know with utilities there really isn't much to 'listen' to. STANAG or RTTY (FSK) is sort of boring to hear. But it's still cool to hear and log down.

Ultimately, I'm just glad there's still something to listen to when I switch on my radios. Heard some watery, EU CW this a.m., and some kids on the ham bands doing the jamboree thing. And last night a Bigfoot ham contest sort of thing was going. Medium HF conditions, but the guy out of WA got contacts from the Midwest and even Florida. it was fun listening.

 

[merlin]

Hi, Merlin.
I, too, had a wall covered with QSL cards. Now they sit in a rubber band wrapped stack in a file drawer. Memories.
I, also, learned Morse code, pre-teen years. My uncle was a Ham, and had served as an airborne radio operator in the US Navy in the 1950's, so I had plenty of encouragement and help. Haven't used that skill in so long that I can't even recite the alphabet in code anymore.
Still using my TRIO 9R59D.
73, Mike

Code is a perishable skill, I am awful rusty myself.

 

[DXerPaulAK]

I consider DX to be anything you wouldnt normally be expected to get and are not in the target audience (in the case of SW, the target listening area) but you do.

for me, I consider Radio Nacional amazonias from brazil to be DX even though its incredibly regular and strong for me. Why?
Because their intention was never to serve me with such a blistering signal in alaska.

But a combination of a few factors make reception of 11780khz to be amazing, quite often,