Just like that, and it’s time to tear another page from the calendar. Between taking time off from radio for a few weeks and dodging earth directed CME’s, my results for July trended lower. At this point in the quest ATNO’s are becoming fewer and farther between though I did add a couple this month and I filled nearly a dozen band slots, so I can’t complain. Not much anyway.

In the two years since I started fresh on collecting DX I’ve managed to work 160 entities which leads me to believe I could be hitting the wall with regards to station capability.

100 watts and a vertical only goes so far, at least at a pace that would provide a lifetime of DX in only five years. Help should be arriving in time for the Fall season. My KM3KM Mercury IIIs amplifier has been in production for a month and I expect to receive it by the end of August. Hopefully, 1000 watts and a vertical, plus the Fall DX contest season will get me to 200 by year-end.

DX Marathon ⁍  I’ve enjoyed the DX Marathon these last few years as it provides motivation to keep the DX nose to the grindstone, as well as encouraging better record-keeping. In this venture I’m really only competing with myself which is a good thing since my annual results fall into the lower third of the pack. Through the month of July, with five months remaining, my results are:

  • 1,343 QSO's
  • 104 Entities
  • 32 Zones

Everyone starts over at “zero” on January 1st each year in this marathon. Expectations run high in January when the DX tallies like the cash register at Costco. By mid-year things begin to slow down considerably as the low-hanging DX fruit has already been worked. My score is downright anemic when compared with world-class operators like W9KNI, but it’s an improvement over last year at this point and I hope for a nice finish that will make 2024 my best DX Marathon entry to date.

The DX Marathon has been growing rapidly the last few years, and there is plenty of information available about the program if you’re interested. It’s pretty simple:

Work as many countries and CQ Zones as you can in each calendar year, regardless of the band or mode. Each country and zone counts only once, so you can concentrate on working new ones, rather than working the same ones on multiple bands and modes.

Recent videos provide a better explanation of the program, check these out if interested.

Note ⁍  While I don’t operate QRP in the Marathon quest, I have sponsored the QRP plaque for several years and intend to continue that support. Last year one of the highest overall scores was obtained by WG5G who operated in the QRP class!