QST Article November 2024 Edition on DX Marathon
Here is the QST Article on the DX Marathon Program that was just published in the November edition. Please pass it along to your ham DX friends. Thank you.
Mark WC3W
DX Marathon News
Article in QST- November Issue
Back a few months ago while in Dayton, Bernie McClenny, W3UR approached me and asked if I would be interested in doing an article about the DX Marathon Program in the November issue of QST. Needless to say, it took me about 1 ms to respond in the affirmative. I just received my November issue and sure enough, on page 86, the article has been published. I would like to personally thank Bernie, the magazine’s DX Editor, for giving us this opportunity to inform many about the fastest growing DX program in the world today.
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Administrative Needs
We are still seeking some assistance in a couple areas as we continue to grow our program. Growth is a wonderful thing but we must insure that the administrative resources are also in place. A while back, I had advertised for a person that would be willing to learn more about how our scoring system works. We thought we had a candidate but other priorities for this person did not make it possible for him to pursue it.
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DX Marathon Plaque Challenge- Sponsors Needed
We are trying to expand the number of plaques awards for the 2025 season. A sponsorship for an individual or club is $100 that covers the cost of the plaque plus transportation. We have done a review of our award structure as it has not been changed in almost 18 years
A few weeks ago, I called out for a need for some added sponsors for 2025. Our sponsors make our program viable.
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2025 Plaque Challenge
We are trying to expand the number of plaques for the 2025 season. A sponsorship is $100 that covers the cost of the plaque plus transportation. We have done a review of our award structure as it has not been adjusted in almost 18 years. We are trying to broaden the awards. Your DX Marathon staff have recognized pockets of new awards but the only way we can get there is to have sponsors.
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New DX Marathon Facebook Page
We continue to be gifted with help from our loyal participants. One of our truly avid participants is Savas Pavlidis, SV2AEL. Savas wrote me an email a couple weeks ago, and suggested that we consider creating a Facebook page for the DX Marathon Program. The reasons:
-Increased visibility and participation: A Facebook group will enable participants and interested parties to easily share information, discuss the competition, and encourage others to join.
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Interview with W1DED Kevin Thomas
I had the priviledge of doing an interview with Kevin Thomas, W1DED last week. He just posted the interview. Kevin is one of the finest interviewers around asking amazing questions. Here is the link
73 Mark WC3W
DX Marathon Merchandise
During my visit to Dayton this year, I met a company that markets and labels merchandise for many programs within our hobby. After a few months of working with them, we are introducing a line of DX Marathon labeled merchandise that you can customize further with your name and call. Please visit the site and feel free to order. The site is now live. The hyperlink to the site is —Dxmarathon.
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DX Marathon Facebook Page
We are continued to be gifted with help from our loyal participants. One of our truly avid participants is Savas Pavlidis, SV2AEL. Savas wrote me an email a couple weeks ago, and suggested that we consider creating a Facebook page for the DX Marathon Program. The reasons:
Benefits of Creating a Facebook Group:
Increased visibility and participation: A Facebook group will enable participants and interested parties to easily share information, discuss the competition, and encourage others to join.
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Interview with Tim Duffy
A couple weeks ago, I received an email request to be interviewed on the DX Engineering podcast hosted by Tim Duffy. I graciously accepted. We did the podcast yesterday afternoon and Tim has posted it on you tube. Here is the link for your viewing pleasure.
https://youtube.com/live/Mn3kf1Nq_7s?feature=share
Thank you to Tim and his staff for the invite and for posting.
73 Mark WC3W
Submission Video Tutorial
As promised, a new submission video tutorial is now available for viewing via the website. Sebastian and I put this together to assist all in understanding step by step how to prepare your submission for your 2024 DX Marathon entry. Note also that this can be submitted anytime during the year, and you can submit multiple times, each time will supercede the previous submittals. The submission tool makes it easy for you to submit your score and there are many tools to self-check the quality of your submission thereby avoiding penalties for mistakes.
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CWOps Adds to DX Marathon Sponsorship
I am pleased to announce that for the 2025 season, we will be adding another plaque award (there may be more adjustments later prior to the announcement of the 2025 Rules in November 2024). In the interest to continue to stimulate and grow participation in CW operation within the DX Marathon Program 2025 Rules Release). CWOps will be sponsoring a fourth plaque in the DX Marathon Program. This plaque will be awarded to the highest CW score in the world “among CWOps members.
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Hamvention Presentation Video
Here’s the video of the presentation I gave at Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio. I hope you enjoy it.
73 and Gud DXing Mark WC3W
Attending Hamvention
I will be attending Hamvention in Dayton and hope to meet lots of participants during the the largest hamfest in the world. I will be at the CWOps dinner on Thursday evening and will have a table and attend the SWODXA dinner on Friday night. I will attend the Contest Dinner on Saturday night, and finally will be giving a forum on Sunday morning at 11:00am with lots of updates on the 2023 year and how things are going in 2024.
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2023 Year is Finished
I am pleased to report that the books for the 2023 DX Marathon Program are closed. All plaques were produced and mailed a few weeks ago and certificate winners should receive an email some time before the end of this week with their merit recognition award. Congratulations to all winners of these awards, and congratulations for all who participated in the program. We finished up the year including my summary article a few months ahead of previous years.
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You Can Submit 2024 Scores--NOW
I would like to encourage all participants in the 2024 DX Marathon Program to start their submission process now. You can do it as many times during the course of 2024 as you wish. The submitted data is secure and no one can “look” at your submission.
As a reminder—we highly recommend all participant use this easy to use submission tool instead of the old excel spreadsheets. It is so easy to use as so many of our participants in 2023 have told us.
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DX Marathon 2023 Final Results
The results for the 2023 DX Marathon Program are now posted on the website, www.dxmarathon.com. There you will find a complete posting of the summary article, the plaque and certificate winners, new records set, and much more information.
Please go to the website, and click on the “Results” tab. There will be a number of selections at the top which will provide you access to the various posted information.
Within a very short time period, you will each be receiving an individual email that shows the specific deducts that were applied to your claimed scores to arrive at your adjusted scores.
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UK Call Sign Changes in 2024
I have just posted the following message in the FAQ section of our website (www.dxmarathon.com). I did feel that this is very important to our participants and thought I would mention it in my personal news section here as well.
There has been a major change in the call system within the UK that is now in place as of February, 2024. The UK system has long had what it calls “RSLs” – the D in GD0ABC or the J in MJ0ABC.
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Open Collective to cease operation
About a year ago, the DX Marathon program staff had considered forming a 501c3 entity to allow for the tax free donations. We were successful in identify a company Open Collective that served as a proxy for us in allowing for such contributions. We learned about a month ago that they were shutting their doors. We are now looking for another entity or also considering the formation of a 501c3 ourselves.
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Cambodia Operation in 2023
As most of your are aware, there has been some controversy regarding ham radio operation within the country of Cambodia during 2023. As is always the case, DX Marathon always strives to do what is fair and right as we vet out these kinds of situations. We are not perfect, and most of the times, we make the correct judgment. This is one case where we did not. I will not belabour the issue but will highlight the sequence of event that led to our disqualifying position made with regard to QSO’s secured during the first half of 2023.
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DX Marathon Challenge Reminder
Many of you are aware that for 2024, we have introduced a brand new Class entitled “The DX Marathon Challenge”. In my previous post, I had requested that those participants that have an interest in this Class email me their intentions to participate by February 15th. The description of the Challenge is on our website www.dxmarathon.com under Rules 2024. We can accept up to 75 participants for 2024 so to reserve a space, please send me an email (wc3w@dxmarathon.
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DX Marathon Support of Software Developers
The DX Marathon Program values the logging and software developers that have taken the time to design features into their software that allows their customers to more easily participate in the DX Marathon Program. As we make incremental changes to our program to the benefit of our participants, we wish to give our software developers a heads up and a forum to answer any questions they may have.
We have set up a subgroup to our GroupsIO reflector to allow this open communications to occur.
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DX Marathon 2024 Scoresheet Ready
I have good news to announce this evening. The scoresheet for 2024 that many have requested is now available on our website www.dxmarathon.com. Please see the details below, as well as information on our submission process, country list and information for software developers.
1- The Scoresheet
We’ve just released the 2024 version of the “Scoresheet” for Microsoft Excel. You can find it at https://dxmarathon.com/resources/software/ Please note that there are a few changes that we have made to further refine the Submission Tool from the 2023 version.
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Submissions Closed
We have closed the submission for the 2023 DX Marathon Program. I want to thank all of you our participants who managed to make the January 5th deadline. We had almost zero requests for extensions and that we appreciate. I also want to thank each and every one for participating in the fastest growing DX Program in the world today. We have again set a year over year record of +50% growth for participation during calendar year 2023.
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CQ Magazine
Some may have heard rumors about CQ Magazine and their financial condition. Please be advised of the following.
The DX Marathon Program will remain viable with or without CQ Magazine. I have mentioned in the past that our program does not receive any financial support from them nor do we draw any resources to operate our program from them. They do publish the rules in the November issue for the following year, and the program results in the June issue.
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End of Year Reminders
Happy Holidays to all our participants of the DX Marathon Program. Just a few end of year friendly reminders.
Please try the new submission tool NOW so that you will not have any issues during the Jan 1-5 2024 final submittal period. Remember, as in past years, there will be no extensions granted. We have made it possible for all to have ample time to get the logs uploaded. You can do it right now.
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New Submission Tool for 2023
NEW SUBMISSION TOOL FOR DXMARATHON 2023
Ladies and Gentlemen of The DX Marathon Program:
We wanted to make all of you aware early of an exciting change we have been working on throughout 2023 to simplify the submission process for your 2023 results to be submitted between January 1-5, 2024.
Why are we doing this? The answer is simple. We are trying to continue to make participation easy for everyone AND we must position our program for future growth as we expand.
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General Announcement and Update
I hope all of you are enjoying participation in the DX Marathon program during calendar year 2023. I am hearing from lots of participants that they are exceeding their past personal best scores. Your operating group is working hard making modifications to our scoring tool that will be employed for the 2023 period. We are doing our best to keep the website updated, particularly the Helpful Hints section and FAQs. Please regularly check these out as they can change weekly and serve to assist you in your DX pursuits.
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Interview with Kevin Thomas, W1DED
On July 3, I was interviewed by Kevin Thomas, W1DED. I have posted the interview link below. Kevin did an excellent job in asking great questions about the program. He also has pushed this interview out to QRZ and it appeared on the front page on July 4th. Bernie has included it in his newsletter as well.
Feel free to reach out to your amateur radio friends to view this as it does describe the key aspects of the program.
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Tax Deductible Contributions Now Possible
The DX Marathon Program has made it much easier for our participants and others to contribute to foster the growth of our program. Please look at the hyperlink at the bottom of this webpage and click on it. Why do I say easier? Well for some of us who are interested in making a tax deductible contribution, you can now do that. I was able to work out an arrangemnt with a 501c3 organization called Open Collective.
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Word from WC3W Program Administrator
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I hope you are all actively pursuing DX in this new 2023 calendar year. The propagation early in Cycle 25 continues to be fantastic.
Your DX Marathon operational team have completed all the final 2022 results that will be published in the June issue of CQ Magazine in less than a month. The article will contain all the winner of plaques and certificates as desribed in detail on our brand new website, www.
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New website launched!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The time has arrived! We have launched our new DXMarathon website. You can go to the exact same address, www.dxmarathon.com to access it. We owe a huge thank you to Sebastian, KI2D our DX Marathon IT Manager for creating this beautiful site. This is the initial conversion and we have plans to enhance it in a number of ways including the translation of the rules in various languages.
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NEWS from our new DX Marathon Manager - Mark, WC3W
Hello CQ DX Marathon participants. I am WC3W, Mark and I have been working with John, K9EL almost six months now in understanding various aspects of the DX Marathon program. Wow, it is truly amazing that one man actually managed this pretty much by himself. It is an amazing program but takes a huge amount of work.
The presumption under which I am assuming the administration role was that I recruit a number of key individuals to dispatch the many tasks associated with the program.
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CQ Policy on QSOs with Russia and Belarus
UPDATE FROM CQ MAGAZINE ON RUSSIA AND UKRAINE FOR THE 2023 DX MARATHON: Stations in Russia or Belarus may submit logs and have their scores listed in the results but are not eligible for plaques/certificates (similar to late log listings in contest line scores).
Other stations may work stations in Russia or Belarus for full point and multiplier credit. For purposes of the Marathon, this means that Russia, Belarus and Zones 18 and 19 are still in play.
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New DX Marathon Manager Appointed!
Please join me in welcoming Mark, WC3W as the new manager of the DX Marathon! Mark will lead a team to continue the development and growth of the DX Marathon. If you would like to be a part of the DX Marathon team, please contact Mark right away: WC3W at dxmarathon dot com.
Mark is looking for a database manager, web site managers, software programmers, etc.
K9EL will remain involved for some time to assure a smooth transition.
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