On February 12, 2011, I worked Rob, Vy2SS, a Canadian station — my second contact and my first “DX” since restarting the hobby in 2011. It wasn’t really my first DX contact, I had worked a couple as a Novice back in 1970 & 71. Still, before I turned off the big switch in 2001 and went silent for a decade, you could count the total number of DX stations I had worked on two hands and still have fingers left over for a few new ones.
DX was something that seemed impossible and beyond my means, so I never took it seriously. This was despite working as a volunteer at a QSL bureau, where I got to sort QSL cards from far off lands that were headed to other lucky hams in the 4-land. That was something that other hams did, but not me.
After restarting my hobby, by the end of 2011, I had 59 confirmed DX countries and had worked 152 band-countries (DXCC Challenge Points). At that point, a friend of mine suggested that I should set a goal to get my first DXCC. I took him up on the challenge, and less than three months later I had my first DXCC Certificate in hand (CW of course). I was hooked.
- At the end of 2011, I had 59 confirmed countries and 152 Challenge Points
- At the end of 2012, I had 173 confirmed countries and 606 Challenge Points
- At the end of 2013, I had 208 confirmed countries and 841 Challenge Points
- At the end of 2014, I had 218 confirmed countries and 948 Challenge Points
- On Jan 26, 2015, I had 220 confirmed countries and 1000 Challenge Points
3 years, 11 months and 14 days later, I completed the hunt for DXCC Challenge. The ARRL recorded it as completed two days later on Jan 28, and I received the Plaque today.
What’s left? More Challenge Points, of course. Perhaps I can get to 1,500 in a couple of years (that’s about 185 countries for 8 bands, plus a handful on 160 Meters). And 80 Meter DXCC is still out there. As of today I need 4 more confirmed countries to complete that. Who knows, maybe I can start chasing 160 Meters or even 2 Meters via EME!
