DX Ground Rules

[K6JHU]

I am curious as to what the general ground rules are (and I suspect they are not formal so there will be some variance) as to counting a station for Dx.

I would believe the important rule is that the station is heard over the air (Internet does not count). I would also believe the station has to be ID'ed (TH, local commercial, or comparing with Internet stream).

Now the tricky ones. Does it have to be home QTH (or within so many miles)? So if I go on a business trip can I really rack up the stations on a rental car radio?

And does a translator count as a separate station or only as the originating station?

Is there somebody who keeps score?

 

[w9wi]

I am curious as to what the general ground rules are (and I suspect they are not formal so there will be some variance) as to counting a station for Dx.

You're right, the ground rules are not formal, but in general:

I would believe the important rule is that the station is heard over the air (Internet does not count). I would also believe the station has to be ID'ed (TH, local commercial, or comparing with Internet stream).

Yes. I think you're on the right track regarding what you have to hear to ID it -- be careful with comparing to Internet streams, make sure they're carrying a local program. (don't rule out the very good possibility two stations on the same frequency are carrying the same syndicated program or satellite feed) I'm a lot more fond of using IDs, local commercials, or local news.

Oh, and if you're DXing FM or TV, don't forget to try some of the automated means of IDing stations -- RDS, PSIP data for TV, etc..

Now the tricky ones. Does it have to be home QTH (or within so many miles)? So if I go on a business trip can I really rack up the stations on a rental car radio?

The most often cited maximum distance is 25 miles/40km.

But there's nothing that says you can't keep more than one log. So if you spend a week in Minneapolis on business you can keep a separate Minneapolis log.

And does a translator count as a separate station or only as the originating station?

I certainly count them as separate stations. It's transmitting from a different site on a different frequency, it certainly should count as a separate station. Indeed, most DXers will count the *same* station again if it moves to a different frequency. (for example, I count WRFN-LP on 98.9 and WRFN-LP on 107.1 as two separate stations)

 

[pianoplayer88key]

I will also count very faint signals, if they're being received at a time when propagation is expected to be "normal", meaning for AM only groundwave should be expected, no skywave. To determine if a station is receivable, I will either ... A - compare the sound of the noise with a known empty frequency. If it's different, and is determined to not be a local source of interference (by moving around while monitoring/comparing), it's a station ... or B - use an external oscillator set off-frequency to beat the station's carrier. If there's any trace of a het audible, I count it. To determine identity, I use the radio to determine which direction the station is coming from, and check various sites like FCC and Radio-Locator. I also compare strength, distance from R-L contours, etc, with other slightly stronger known stations preferably nearby on the dial. Now if I could find a way to do this at night on the graveyard channels ...

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I am curious as to what the general ground rules are (and I suspect they are not formal so there will be some variance) as to counting a station for Dx.

There are really no rules. There are two general types of DX'ers - those who are hobbyists, and systematically try to rack up as many verified loggings as they can. They love the challenge, and the bragging rights associated with the number of stations they receive. Because they want the bragging rights, they have to verify their accomplishments.

The second type of DX'er is the unwilling type. Their chosen format is not available locally, and they DX just for the entertainment value of their target station(s). Bragging rights are meaningless, their only motivation is the format they are after. Once they have the stations receivable, they stick with them. They aren't interested in quantity, they are interested in the best signal they can get from weak stations. Translators or primary make no difference, only the format matters.

I fall into the second category. Growing up in West Texas, country music and heavily censored top-40 was all that was available. So I DX'ed to get the music I wanted. So did a lot of other people who could give a darn about the term DX, they only knew they needed better radios and antennas to get music that didn't suck. As my tastes and locations changed, so did my DX targets.

I suspect the vast majority of DX'ers are the second type. If the country is still 20% rural, those folks are pretty much all DX'ers when they listen to the radio or watch over the air TV. They may have never heard the term DX, but a body of verbal knowledge from neighbors and local electronics shops give them their DX setups.

 

[gar hi]

I will also count very faint signals, if they're being received at a time when propagation is expected to be "normal", meaning for AM only groundwave should be expected, no skywave. To determine if a station is receivable, I will either ... A - compare the sound of the noise with a known empty frequency. If it's different, and is determined to not be a local source of interference (by moving around while monitoring/comparing), it's a station ... or B - use an external oscillator set off-frequency to beat the station's carrier. If there's any trace of a het audible, I count it. To determine identity, I use the radio to determine which direction the station is coming from, and check various sites like FCC and Radio-Locator. I also compare strength, distance from R-L contours, etc, with other slightly stronger known stations preferably nearby on the dial. Now if I could find a way to do this at night on the graveyard channels ...

Like you say, if there's any trace count it.

That's why I think I heard a trace of WCBS daytime at Daytona Beach due to co frequency interference fluttering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoNF4v6i5b0

And the same with KVNS at Honeymoon Island on the west coast of Florida also due to co frequency interference fluttering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjDPHQl6owY

 

[dx1ng]

I would believe the important rule is that the station is heard over the air (Internet does not count). I would also believe the station has to be ID'ed (TH, local commercial, or comparing with Internet stream).

Now the tricky ones. Does it have to be home QTH (or within so many miles)? So if I go on a business trip can I really rack up the stations on a rental car radio?

And does a translator count as a separate station or only as the originating station?

Different DXers may have somewhat different rules, so here are some of mine. A station must be ID'd to count, though not necessarily a legal Top of Hour ID, or even mention of call letters. Local commerical, local phone numbers with area code, local mentions ("Hudson Valley Weather..."), traffic reports with local town / highway mentions., etc. The internet makes research a lot easier than it used to be. Some DXers like yes.com... to see if the station they think they got was playing the song that was heard. Be careful though, if it's a current Top 10 song, a lot of stations could be playing it... so a yes.com match doesn't count for much. But if you get two or three songs in a row that match, particularly if at least one is not a very common song.... then you're chances of being right are real good, and I'd count it as a logging. You do have to be careful of syndicated shows though; two stations on the same frequency with the same program will have all the songs in common... you have to wait for some local content (or ID) to figure out which station you have.

I currently DX TV and FM only. On FM, I will usually count a logging in the car within 2 or perhaps 3 miles of my home, as long is there is a reasonable expectation that I would have received that station at home had I been there at the time. In other words, there must not be any advantage to the away-from-home location. For example, in June 2009, just as I was leaving for work, a E skip opening started, and I logged ZFB Power 95 94.9 Bermuda as I was driving to work, starting a mile or so from home. So I counted it in my FM log. When at a totally different location, I often keep an informal log each time I go. I usually visit Cape Cod late summer, and i like to keep track of what I hear on FM from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine on the car radio or on my Tecsun portable. Nothing new I hear on the Cape gets added to my home DX log.

Translators definitely count. Some people count transmitter moves (more than a set number of miles)... I don't. I count city of license changes (on FM).... many DXers don't. I wouldn't do that today if I was starting over, but back in the day when I started (long before the internet) about the only info readily available about a station was it's call letters, freq, power, and city of license. City of license changes were much less frequent then too. I don't count call letter changes, although there are probably a few DXers who do. In counting states, some DXers count actual state the transmitter is in (especially those with ham radio background), others count the city of license. I count city of license for FM, but for my newest pursuit, DTV, I count both ways. For example, I have 20 TV states by city of licnese, and 19 counting physical transmitter location. (My one Illinois DTV station has it's tower in Iowa, so I don't count Illinois in my transmitter location state totals.)

Hope this helps.

 

[KB1OKL]

I think there are as many types of rules as there are DXer's. Or in other words there are no rules. DX just means long distance radio reception. I DX purely for the enjoyment of it, I don't enter contests, I don't even log them that much anymore. I count a station if I can ID it. I usually listen for TA's and try to find a website or a parallel shortwave station to prove that i have what I think it is. For example I am pretty sure I have gotten IRAN IRIB radio on 1539 several times recently but haven't been able to prove it to myself yet. I don't count a station until I am positive I got it. I know people who DX on both their home radios and car radios. I have done it in the past and try to figure how far the station is relative to how far i am from home.

 

[w9wi]

Yeah, there are some DXers using yes.com to ID stations based solely on the song being played. I'm pretty leery of that -- it seems far too likely that more than one station on the same frequency could be playing the same thing.

There are occasions where it is simply not possible to identify which transmitter you're hearing. An example, twice I've heard KUNC Fort Collins, Colorado on 93.5. (I'm near Nashville; Fort Collins is about 1,000 miles away) KUNC doesn't broadcast on 93.5 -- they're on 91.5 -- but they have translators on 93.5. Several translators. All of which broadcast exactly the same thing. I know I've heard *a* translator 1,000 miles away (and the most powerful of the bunch is only 80 watts) but I don't know *which* translator.

I count it as the easiest of the possible catches -- the closest & most powerful. It could well have been one of the more distant and/or less-powerful ones but I can't really count it that way. (indeed, since I've heard it twice it's not impossible I've heard *two different* KUNC translators. No way to know.)

 

[boombox]

I only DX the AM band (and sometimes the 41 and 31 meter SW bands).

I'll count a station if I hear a definite ID, or if I hear a partial ID and some location specific information, or a lot of location specific information and the format and other info matches the station. Sometimes the IDs won't be 100% clear because of propagation, so I listen further to hear location specific info to clear it up. It's part of the fun of trying to ID a station.

If I'm DXing from a location more than 15 or 20 miles away, I don't count it as a logged station in my general log, but I will list it anyway, noted with an asterisk.

I presently don't count TIS's and beacons I've heard on the Medium waves, just broadcast stations only.

Although trying to add new stations is a challenge, and is fun, I primarily DX because I like to hear the sound of the distant stations rolling in. There is something therapeutic about the phasing, rolling sound of distant AM. I also live in a rainy area of the country, and there's something cool about hearing stations roll in from sunnier places like California, Arizona, and Mexico.

 

[Darth_vader]

The only real "ground rule" I ever follow, at least regarding the broadcast bands, is: if it's not native to the market I'm working in, it's DX. So a station from, say, Olympia would be DX to me here at home, just as a station from Vancouver/Portland would be considered DX if I was receiving it in Olympia.

But that's just me.

 

[Lawppy]

My only rules are..

I have to log them at my house or in my driveway-- If I'm hearing a distant station on the road and can ID them before I get home, I will log them in my book if I can hear that station at my house.

Positive ID- If I hear country music on 99.5, I won't just assume it's Detroit and call it good. I have to get a song match, webstream or wait around for a station ID. Too many country stations on 99.5 to just assume.

Commercials- Area codes or local mentions are sufficient. If I get tropo from, say, Toronto, and I'm hearing 416 or 905 area code mentions, I can assume that my 99.9 is Virgin Radio from Toronto. If I can get an exact location, I can Google the address and see if it adds up. Websites are a no-fail too.

I use yes.com or go to station websites to look for song listings. Especially on stations which focus on current music. If I hear a CHR on 99.5 playing Rihanna, I can't assume it's WZPL, because Rihanna's music is popular right now. However, if said station plays Rihanna and follows it up with a recurrent from Three Doors Down circa 2005, it makes it easier to distinguish them from any others.

I do NOT trust syndicated programming. Years ago, during an intense tropo opening to the Toronto area, I heard a syndicated program on 97.7. Assuming it was then MUCH-needed CHTZ- Saint Catharines, ON, I went to their website and fired up the webstream to hear this same program! I went ahead and logged them, but it ended up being my semi-local WZOW from Goshen, IN. It took a lot of white-out to correct that premature logging. :-/

 

[cyberdad]

To me, DX is something that's rarely heard at your location at the particular time of day you happen to be listening. 

In my case, home is about 44 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. But I travel quite a bit...including more than 30 years as a frequent business traveler all over the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom as well as a few locations in western Europe.

So applying my own standard, WIND in Chicago is a local station, available with a good signal 24/7 at my home.  So at my home it's not DX.  However, considering that it's 5kw directional on a "regional" channel, if I were to hear it in California (which I haven't) it would be a fabulous catch
Applying a "time of day" standard.  CFZM in Toronto is a regular hear at night.  As such I don't consider it to be DX.  Despite the distance involved I can hear it pretty much every night.  Nothing rare or out of the ordinary about it.  So at night, I don't think of it as DX.  But if I hear it hear mid-day (which I have)....that's unusual.  So then it's DX.

As for ID-ing a station, for me, I either need a positive ID with call letters or something irrefutably identifiable with the station.  For example, if I hear a unique sounder used to introduce traffic and weather breaking through the clutter on 1070, there's no doubt for me that I have KNX.  So, I'm comfortable in "claiming" it.  Raleigh weather on 680 means WPTF. Etc.

Then there's the "pretty sure" grey area.  Several times during pre-dawn hours this week I've heard a female announcer in the clutter on 1130.  I know CKWX includes a female anchor on their overnight news format.  But I can't quite make out what she's saying, and I've never been able to get a positive ID, Vancouver commercial, Vancouver weather, etc.  So, while I'm pretty sure I've got CKWX, I can't say so with certainty and can't definitively "claim" to have heard it.

There's no formality to my approach to DX.  I don't keep logs, and do it strictly for my own entertainment.  Nor am I suggesting that anyone else follow my own personal example.

 

[gar hi]

My definition of DXing would be hearing any station coming from outside it's immediate intended local coverage area.

Add to that any station the average person in a given area would not normally listen to because it's not local.


For example, I grew up listening to Musicradio WABC 80 miles away in south Jersey because my family was originally from north Jersey and none of my friends listened to WABC. They listened to the locals WFIL or WIBG which I also listened to but they never would have known about WABC had I not told them.

Even though WABC was listenable day and night (though often at night it would be scrambled from fading), that still is an example of DXing, IMO.

Another interesting reason I liked WABC is because their tower could be seen when you looked down the street of my uncle's house in Hasbrouck Heights and it was always fun to visit and hear how strong the station was on my little radio compared to back home.

They were so close that WABC could be faintly heard on the phone line in their house.

 

[BostonRandy]

My $.02:

I only DX FM. I know what the local and rimshot signals are and, even though they're not enhanced by Tr, Es or Ms, I have them in my logs for logistical purposes. In my opinion: if a signal is identified, it goes in the book.

For traveling purposes, I keep separate logs. If I'm in Charlotte and hear a 6K-A signal from SW Virginia, it goes in the Charlotte book, not the Myrtle Beach (home) log.

I use the internet (and streams) for identification purposes, yet it's tough when you're dealing with non-comms and syndicated programming. During Tr, it's a bit easier north of 92.1 to identify but, during Es, I tend to wait for local inventory, sweepers or voice to confirm (if RDS isn't available or signal strength doesn't allow it). Identifying Ms is purely luck of the draw. Over the past 11 years, I have identified four signals out of at least 60 Ms pings.

Bottom line is: it's not a race or competition for me. I don't get angry if I miss an event or a signal goes unID. I have fun with it and I network with those who have, basically, the same feeling about it.

 

[FreddyE1977]

WLFP-AM 1550 is probably around 12 miles from my house as the crow flies.
With a PSSA for four watts. If I ever do manage to hear them I'm logging it.

 

[cyberdad]

WLFP-AM 1550 is probably around 12 miles from my house as the crow flies.
With a PSSA for four watts. If I ever do manage to hear them I'm logging it.

That would fit my definition of DX....which I think is basically is the same as gar's. (Who said it better than I did ).

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Great comments and observations. There are obviously standards.

Fwiw, my own was every ten miles on AM and FM, and 25 miles for short wave. (I didn't DX the TV all that much to concern myself with it). I forget where the 'ten mile radius' restraint originated -- probably from one of the radio DX clubs at the time -- but back even then, in the 60's, there were discussions about standards, general and personal.

Our little DX group was from southeastern Queens, NYC. The New York City dial was saturated to such an extent that going as little as ten or twenty miles onto Long Island changed the dial radically.

I'm in NE PA now, and am even out of radio DJing for a living. Yet, I turned the odometer back to zero when starting up the hobby here, 160 or so miles away from the old den.

 

[Lawppy]

Then there's the "pretty sure" grey area. Several times during pre-dawn hours this week I've heard a female announcer in the clutter on 1130. I know CKWX includes a female anchor on their overnight news format. But I can't quite make out what she's saying, and I've never been able to get a positive ID, Vancouver commercial, Vancouver weather, etc. So, while I'm pretty sure I've got CKWX, I can't say so with certainty and can't definitively "claim" to have heard it.

I positively logged CKWX back in November. I heard no CKWX call letters mentioned, but I heard an '1130 News' mention, followed by a '1130 News time is 5:06' (It was 8:06 in Michigan when I heard this). They went into a break with commercials mentioned Vancouver and 604 area codes. So, while I had no actual call letters, I did have a station moniker and enough local content for me to believe beyond any doubt that I had them.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

It's far more difficult positively IDing an AM station now than on the exact same dial back in the 60's, of course. There many simulcasts of FM stations, for example, where just some positioner of 'Z-103' is heard for an hour. Add that obstacle to the inundating syndicated programming -- insert 'boring' in there anywhere you see fit -- and IDing a walloping-good new and distant catch is a real chore.

Yet, in the 60's, there were some stations that could drive you nuts because they didn't use call letters much. In fact, I just spoke last week with an old neighborhood pal who quit DXing after his folks screamed at him to get in the car for a vacation trip -- leaving him with an unID '1410 Radio'. He'd been listening to it for 45 minutes on a decent portable with weakening batteries.
See, he had gotten into the hobby marginally, to keep up with the goofballs who were more heavily into it. His '1410' radio was not an impressive introduction to the hobby, though.
It was WHTG Eatontown NJ, a coastal daytime regular via the water path about 40 air miles off. But to my aggravated pal, they had strangely-named towns for their weather and sponsors, played dull music, wouldn't say who they were ..... but he had to ID them. And he never did. It must have seemed to him that the station was doing everything but saying, 'We know you're listening, Tony. So we're not going to tell you who we are.'

Ironically, one frequency down housed this faint but steady station that aggravated me as well, overnight, same dull music (with all that great 1963 rock and roll to be heard elsewhere), and what had to be much the same exasperation.
1400 is a graveyard channel, of course. But the much-nearer WSTC wasn't on overnight, nor was WOND down the coast. WWIN Baltimore was R&B and often could be loud. But most often, just above the remaining GY titter on 1400 was rumpled drone of 'Radio 14'.

A dull song would end .... A beautiful-music announcer who said little else but 'Radio 14' every so often came on ..... Then he'd play another dull song, like the Pete King Chorale ..... 'Radio 14' ..... time-check ..... a Ray Conniff Singers tune .....

I'm certain that it was WEST Easton PA, but never heard the ID. I did manage to log them at another time, calls and all, so the chewed-nails-fests of past overnights meant little.

Those slogans and positioners certainly can get your veins athrob -- in 1963 as well as fifty years later. Yet, the seasoned DXer has to know for sure, depending on his or her hobby standards.

 

[K6JHU]

So what I get out of the discussion is that logging a Dx is subject to whatever the Dx'er decides are the rules, and is ethiclly bound to follow them.

But in general, the self-imposed rules are: limited geographical location of the receiver (typically QTH), and some form of positive ID of the station before it goes in the log.

After that is it fair game as far as antennas, receivers, and the patience of the Dx'er