[ADXA] Assessing DXpeditions In Today's DX Environment

Tue Dec 30 12:23:44 EST 2025

George,

One data point we are now tracking, and why it is very important for ADXA members to keep their need list up to date with us, is regardless of where a DX entity ranks we look at how many of our members need it for an all time new one. This is something we have not done in the past, but now pay particular attention to.

That is a specific factor with VU7, even though it does rank high on the need list. Although the DXpedition will not be at the level originally planned, and the low band effort will be significantly impacted, there will still be an excellent opportunity for our members who need this for an all time new one to nab it on a on a higher band and thus the continued discussion for funding.

73 Joel W5ZN

From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of WB5JJJ
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2025 11:15 AM
To: ADXA Mailing List <ADXA at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [ADXA] Assessing DXpeditions In Today's DX Environment

I've been a ham for over 50 years now.  Unfortunately too much of that time was spent as a Technician.  I did complete my first DXCC during that time, but wasn't keeping track of the count, just logged them and moved on.  All of this on 10m using AM/FM/SSB/CW/RTTY and a 4-element antenna, you get the picture.  

Then along comes my long-time friend WB5BHS to shame me into upgrading in 2020.  That's when the DX bug bit -- HARD.  I vowed to do whatever I could with just 100w and good antennae to make up for lost time.  Never had (wanted) an amplifier except for a short time on 6m with a borrowed one.  

Over the years, a bunch of DX have gotten away, but I'll never get all 340 of them anyway.  However, it's still an ongoing challenge.  But the bad part is all those that were "easy pickin's" back in the day, while I was a lack luster Technician -- I missed.  Oh to get the last 36.  

I know a lot of the DXP's are going to places that most of us have confirmed, but remember there are so many hams that are still reaching for the stars (ATNO's) and those DXP's just might be one of the ones they need.  

HNY to all.  

-----

73's

George - WB5JJJ
HoIP - 100105

Cell - 479.857.7737

On Tue, Dec 30, 2025 at 10:48 AM <w5znjoel at gmail.com <mailto:w5znjoel at gmail.com> > wrote:

Greetings ADXA Folks,

Assessing the seriousness and competence of planned DXpeditons in today’s world of DX is challenging. 

Sixty or so years ago, an individual would pack up a Collins S-line or Drake line, jump on a boat to a remote island or step off a plane and drive six hours into remote Africa and fire up the radio. Licenses, operating permission, and everything else was in order, well most of the time except when Romeo or Don Miller were involved !!! We had some ADXA members who did this, Lloyd and Iris Colvin did, as well as many others.

Then came the era of the BIG DXpedition. Those multi-million-dollar efforts with chartered sea going vessels, helicopters, and a large team of high profile and extremely efficient pileup operators who chunked in tens of thousands of their own dollars to support the DXpedition. They knew how to erect effective antennas that worked, how to abate RX noise, and most importantly they knew how to LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN for weak signals and to stay on the band because they knew propagation and when it would change, maximizing the effort to get those weak “DX puppies” in the log. These adventurers successfully activated a ton of remote islands and other locations that afforded those of us who are now “Old Dog DX’ers” many new ones and helped place us at the DXCC level we have achieved. If you’ve never attended one of the old DX Convention’s 4-hour long banquet wearing a coat and tie, listened to boring speakers, award presentations, and had to watch a more than one hour video with penguins running around a tent erected in the snow with 60 MPH winds blowing, well you haven’t missed anything! But back then we were all excited to see the photos, videos, and hear the stories from those DX adventurers! Of course, these operations were all on CW and Phone, and some RTTY. FT8 and automatic systems didn’t exist then. With the exception of one current planned DXpedition this type of BIG effort seems to have faded away.

Today we see just a few individuals, maybe even just one, boast about a planned BIG DXpedition to a highly needed DX entity then get off a boat or a plane, throw up a short vertical and fire up an automatic FT8 machine running 24 hours a day then zip over to the bar for a few beers while the “machine” is running. You think I’m making this up??? I recently had an in-person conversation with an individual who had been on a couple of these and he told me, with no concern or reservation whatsoever, that is exactly the common practice now. Oh sure, after a few beers the one, or the few, will fire up a second radio and make a few CW or SSB Q’s to somewhere close to make things “look good” then claim bad noise or no prop. There is no planning as to how to maximize receive capabilities or enlist operators who actually understand radio and radio propagation. Just let the machine do the work. This has negatively impacted the game of DX and taught new DX’ers they don’t need to know anything other than how to click a mouse button.

So, Harrison, why is this important for you to want the ADXA folks to read this, if you’ve read it this far? It all comes down to evaluating DXpeditions for ADXA funding. We want to support serious DXpeditions to areas needed by our members to help you be successful and move up the ladder to achieve the coveted Honor Roll. It’s your money and we want you to get results from your investment. There are several BIG DX clubs that fund DXpeditions. NCDXF is one, INDEXA another, and many more. These groups have resources to financially sponsor DXpeditions well beyond ADXA’s ability. So when a DXpedition is announced to a much-needed location one of the first things we investigate is whether these large DX clubs are sponsors, or planning to sponsor. If not, that’s sort of a yellow flag. Not a red flag, but a cautionary one as the large groups traditionally only support serious, well planned DXpeditions with a high level of success potential. This was an initial “yellow flag” for VU7, a much-needed entity but no large support. The upcoming CE0X effort is another, the lone individual has no club sponsors, only individuals.

I’m not passing judgement on today’s DXpedition style. I’m from the old school and have very fond, exciting memories from those old DXpeditions and beating all of you (OK, some of you) in the pileup. But I’m still in the BIG DOG DX game and will GET IN THERE AND WORK ‘EM regardless. Times change and we ADXA folks must be diligent and focused on how we assess planned DXpeditions and use your money to support adventures that meet the expectations of our pursuit of DX! On behalf of the ADXA board, we will continue to do just that!

Now, GET IN THERE and if a rare one pops up out of nowhere as always, WFWL

Happy New Year to all,

73 Joel W5ZN / ZF2ZN

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