DX ?

Im new to ham radio and I see people talking abot dx alot and dx summit . What does it mean. Thanks

 

DX means long distance, or far away, which means different things to different people.
Usually talking to a DX station means someone on another continent.

dxsummit.fi is a DX Spotting website.

Hope that helps.

 

DX has no concrete definition. Like LDJ said, it refers to long-distance contacts, but different distances are considered "long" on different bands and to different people. Say that you made a contact with a person in Russia on HF. Nobody can deny that that's true DX. But what if you made a contact with someone half-way across the country? Some people might consider that DX and some wouldn't. Of course, HF allows relatively easy DX contacts, so what's considered DX on VHF and UHF? Well, a DX contact on 440 might only be several states away. In short, if you consider it to be "pretty long" in context of the circumstances, then you can call it DX.

 

I'm in VA. My first long distance contact was in MN. Another station further away in Canada said I am not DX (so don't bother him was his vibe). So it's all relative.

 

The Old Timer was often heard to say, "All things are relative, and some things more so."

Some say that DX is what you don't have.

In ordinary parlance, the term "DX" usually refers to that portion of the hob.... errr, disease, that concentrates on working and confirming contacts with other countries. A "DXer" is one who does this, whether the other country is just across the border 5 miles away, or in the Indian Ocean at the antipode.

The pinnacle of success for a true-blue DXer is making the Honor Roll, currently confirmed contact with 331 current "countries" as defined on the ARRL Countries List, which has 340 countries right now. There another ~30 or so countries which have been deleted, usually due to political rearrangement, like East and West Germany, the various Yugoslavias, Middle Eastern comings and goings.

What does it mean? Ahh, that is a subject of intense study and comment, much too lengthy of one answer, or even one forum, involving the Mysteries of the Ages, Eternal Enigmas and more besides. It takes a lifetime of believing before one can understand. For now, be a believer and remember, "DX IS!"