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OnAllBands is thrilled to feature articles from noted author and amateur radio DXing legend Bob Locher, W9KNI. Bob will be sharing his favorite DXing memories along with insights on what it took to capture the rarest of the rare.

“I have always been a DX chaser,” he told OnAllBands. “I am not a contester of the usual type—working 200 Q’s an hour has no attraction for me. I am instead the kind that lays in the weeds, always listening, always tuning—and for me, a 30-second exchange after three months of stalking can be a very satisfying conclusion.”

We know you’ll enjoy articles from his “Tales from a Serial Sniper” series as much as we do at OnAllBands.

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The DXCC country list shows ZD9 as being assigned to Tristan da Cunha and Gough islands. These islands, in the far southeast Atlantic Ocean, have always been considered rare DXCC entities. There has been sporadic operation by native islanders on Tristan da Cunha, but it has been always infrequent and not normally available to DXers.

There has never been a large-scale DXpedition from there, mainly due to very limited accommodations on the ship serving the island. Every few years, a solo DXer would manage to get transport and operate for a few weeks, but even with such operation, the island is considered very rare.

Gough Island is also part of the ZD9 DXCC grouping. The island is uninhabited, save for a weather station operated by the government of South Africa. A small crew, typically around six people, maintain the weather station. The island, of volcanic origin, is roughly rectangular, about eight miles long and three miles wide. Most of the island is covered by rugged mountains, rising to near three thousand feet. The central spine of the island runs roughly northwest to southeast. The weather station is sited at the southeast end of the island, facing toward South Africa, which also features the only flat area of the island.

A ZD9, while not new for me for my overall DXCC, would be an extremely attractive addition for my DX Marathon entry for the year. Then, even as I do now, I always carefully checked DX Bulletins and news sources for reports of rare DX. Reports started filtering through from South African stations of an operator from the weather station on Gough Island, operating on a fixed frequency on 20 meters SSB. His name was Graham, and his call sign ZD9BJ. Further research provided me with an email address.

I sent him an email, asking about his operation, in hopes of perhaps getting a schedule. I received a fairly prompt response, with some information. The radio he was using was a channelized 100-watt commercial transceiver, which had a single frequency available on 20 meters SSB—14.183 MHz. The antenna was a simple antenna, optimized for traffic to South Africa. He wrote that he had never heard nor worked a North American station from there. He did give me the times he was usually on working hams in South Africa.

The hunt was on! Armed with that information, I began watching that frequency every evening when 20 meters was open to South Africa at his suggested times. Fortunately, we had a path to southern Africa during those times, so I figured that could work.

After several weeks of drawing blanks, one evening (local time) I got luckier. I heard a fairly strong South African station rag-chewing on the designated frequency. At first he did not use a call sign, but he was complaining about the weather in Pretoria, so I had a pretty good idea I was in the right ballpark. He turned it over to the other station. I could hear nothing. I waited. He came back on and began to end the contact, stating his need to get breakfast and then on to work. After another brief exchange, he signed clearly, “ZD9BJ, from ZS6KJ, clear and closing down.” Hah! The game was afoot!

But I could not hear a whisper of the ZD9. Another South African called the ZD9 and made a contact. I absolutely could not hear a trace of any signal whatsoever from the ZD9, not even in my imagination! The band should have been open to Gough Island—of that I was confident.

The total lack of a received signal bothered me. I was sure I should have at least been able to detect something if not good copy, but there was nothing.

A day or so later, I thought to check out Gough Island in Wikipedia. I found a rather comprehensive article about the island, compete with a map showing terrain and the site of the South African weather station compound. I was able to quickly to determine the problem. The weather station was on the southeast corner of the island.

A range of mountains runs down the spine of the island, one end virtually anchored by the weather station, and running straight and true on the path to North America, with a three- thousand-foot peak in the center, rising from the perimeter of the weather station. An impenetrable eight-mile-long granite curtain. No wonder signals could not be heard in North America. I was seriously disheartened.

That night, I was lying in bed mentally bemoaning my fate, when suddenly I got an inspiration. What about long path? Ye-s-s-s. That could work! We have reliable long path openings in our morning hours to South Africa—why not to Gough Island? And instead of my signals having to traverse a mountain range, they would be coming through the back door, over the water.

So, what is “long path”? It is the long way around the Earth. As an example: If you were in Chicago going to London, your flight would take you across the North Atlantic to get there. But you could go the other way, across the Pacific Ocean, then over the Indian Ocean, on across east Africa, then eastern Europe and into London. Obviously, the distance is much farther, but it would get you there. The radio equivalent to that is “long path.” Most of the time, we use “short path” for radio communication. Sometimes that path will not work for a variety of reasons, but long path will work. With directional antennas, we can try either path for best results.

In the morning, I had a look at the great circle map in the shack. While the long path distance to Gough from my station was about 16,000 miles, it was virtually all over saltwater. Saltwater paths are especially reliable—the attenuation of signals traversing them is much reduced compared to signals going over large bodies of land.

Excited again about the renewed hope of a contact, I sent Graham another email, telling him I thought we had a much better chance of a contact during his evening—the time for my morning long path opening. Graham had not struck me as being a regular HF operator, so I gave him the time both in UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) and Pretoria time.

Later that morning I received a response from him. My suggestion was not a normal operating time for him, but he would have a go at it the following day—my next morning. I had trouble getting to sleep that night, eager for the attempt of the next morning.

Dawn came, and I arose full of hope. Thirty minutes ahead of the scheduled time, all was set to go. Antenna pointed for the long path. Amplifier tuned and peaked. Headset on and comfortable. Coffee cup at hand. Pencil at the ready. I began to tune the band. Signals were coming in, and though it was a bit early for the path to be open I heard a fairly strong South African station. Things were looking up.

I set my receiver to 14.183—the frequency his channelized commercial transceiver offered. Nothing on the frequency. Good. Twenty-five minutes to go. Headphones on, I began to check the morning emails.

Wait—there was a signal on frequency. Yes…not strong…S4 and Q4—and calling CQ. YESSSS! It was ZD9BJ! He signed – I listened for a couple seconds – no one else was calling – I called.

He came back: “The Whiskey Nine station, please call again?”

I called again, slowly, giving my call four times.

“Right. I have it this time. W9KNI, here is ZD9BJ. Thanks, Bob. I thought that might be you, but I wanted to be sure. You are 5 by 6, 5 by 6. OK? Over.”

We finished the contact, and I was floating on cloud nine as I penciled in the details into my logbook. I confess I was very pleased with myself. I had unearthed a possible new country for my DX Marathon score. I had gathered information. I had discovered a problem. I had developed a solution. And it all worked!

Any QSO with ZD9 is an event. I had worked Tristan da Cunha several times over a long career of DXing, but this was my first ever QSO with Gough Island. A VERY pretty entry into my logbook, and a really nice adder to my DX Marathon score sheet.

I actually worked him again one more time. Once he had discovered the path I had suggested, he appeared on it again, working West Coast North American stations. His signal was never strong, so only the more alert DXers were logging him. The first time I heard him after our contact he had a few people calling, so I listened a few minutes, then tuned away. The second time, a few days later, I heard him again, and when no one else called him I called and scored a second contact. I never heard him again. So that was my armchair adventure. A quick note: I changed the call sign of the operator and his name, but nothing else. This “after action” report is absolutely how it happened—definitely a high point of my DXing memories.

The post Tales from a Serial Sniper: ZD9- Gough Island appeared first on OnAllBands.

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DX Engineering is adding new products to its website every day. How can you keep up? Take a few minutes to watch DX Engineering’s Michael Murphy, KI8R, highlight a diverse selection of the latest gear available at DXEngineering.com.

The video covers new digital switching power supplies, Yagi antennas, all-band emergency radios, HF amplifiers, multiband wire antennas, equipment dust covers, and more from some of the 180-plus amateur radio manufacturers you’ll find at DX Engineering.

DX Engineering is proud to have exclusive U.S., U.S./Canada, North American, or worldwide distributor agreements with many of the manufacturers it carries, including REZ Antenna Systems, DX Commander, FlexRadio, Sierra Radio Systems, 4O3A, InnovAntennas, and others. You can view the full list of brands available at DX Engineering here. Then checkout the new product video below and start thinking of ways to improve your on-air experience:

Find all the latest products at DX Engineering by clicking on “What’s New” from the menu bar at DXEngineering.com.

The post What’s New at DX Engineering for July 2026? Don’t Miss This Video! appeared first on OnAllBands.

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The International DX Convention (IDXC) is known by many as a popular annual gathering of active contesters and DX chasers from around the globe. The convention’s first unofficial precursor meeting was held in 1949 in Fresno, California, and by 1957, the gathering became officially known as the IDXC.

Historically, the convention has been organized by two major DX clubs, the Northern California DX Club (NCDXC) and the Southern California DX Club (SCDXC). Each year these two organizations would alternate the responsibilities of hosting and coordinating the event. The convention was moved to Visalia, California, in 1979, as the Fresno venue could no longer accommodate the rapid growth in attendance.

After the 76th annual IDXC gathering in April 2025, hosted by the NCDXC, the traditional alternating-host rotation encountered a logistical bottleneck. The SCDXC was no longer an organized club and lacked the volunteer capacity to plan, organize, and coordinate an event of this size. The Southern California Contest Club (SCCC) and the San Diego DX Club (SDDXC) joined forces, stepping up to organize a similar social event, ensuring that hams would still have a dedicated springtime gathering.

The location was moved roughly 130 miles southwest from Visalia to Santa Maria, California. Since this was planned and arranged independently and was not structured exactly like traditional IDXC gatherings, the organizers gave this event a name of its own—the 2026 Santa Maria DXers & Contesters Convention. DX Engineering was the main sponsor of the convention, while Jim, N6TJ, served as Convention Chairman and Dick, N6AA, as Event Director.

The 2026 Santa Maria gathering had an attendance list of 198 individuals, including visitors from Canada, Nairobi, and Malawi. The scheduled forums ranged from technical presentations, such as antenna design and propagation, to recounting DXpedition adventures and discussing contesting strategies.

Bill, K8TE, led the HF university forums, delivering six presentations on DX-chasing skills, propagation behavior, essential computer programs and software, the advantages of various operating methods, and advanced antenna design. Gayle, K6GO, a longtime advocate for YL communities in amateur radio, led the YL forum. She discussed strategies for including more YLs in contesting, shared mentorship and education opportunities, and highlighted organizations such as the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL), which provides scholarships to young women pursuing a STEM career.

In the new product showcase, Tim, K3LR, DX Engineering CEO, shared an extensive list of products available through DX Engineering, including a USB isolator, a dry dummy load, and the A/B Station Selector previously manufactured by Top Ten Devices.

Tom, N6BT, introduced a new five-band (10 through 20 meters) pre-tuned portable field antenna that handles up to 500 watts. Eric, WA6HHQ, introduced Elecraft’s new K4/0 remote panel that provides a fully remote-controllable station with an identical front-panel experience from anywhere in the world.

During the Contest Update, Doug, K1DG, provided a report on the current World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) programs. The foundation manages the “CQ Magazine” contests, judges and evaluates log entries, and distributes awards. The Contest Forum, moderated by Bob, N6TV, offered a range of tips and tools for contesting. The first tool highlighted the importance of analyzing scores and rates from previously submitted contest logs using the online rate sheet generator. This website generates hourly rate sheets using publicly uploaded logs or your own Cabrillo log.

Another tip he shared for contesters is to utilize the new Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) spot analysis tool, which now combines results from multiple reverse beacon spotters. By comparing your spots with the spots of a competitor’s station, you can visually see the difference in the received signal strength at a certain location over a given time. The PowerPoint slides from the Contest Forum can be viewed here.

In addition to the technical forums, there were various presentations on recent DX activity. Jeff, K1ZM, shared his experiences operating from JT5DX in Mongolia. The multi-operator station, owned by Chak, JT1CO, features two 150-foot rotating towers and wire antennas for the low bands.

Marty, N6VI, talked about his activation of ZD7VI on Saint Helena for the CQ WW CW contest in 2025. He entered the contest in the single-operator, high-power, 10-meter category, and won first place in Africa and second place worldwide with over 2,000 contacts.

I gave a report on the activation of Northern Cook Islands in October 2025. Despite the many setbacks the team faced due to storms during the setup, issues with band pass filters, losing audio on one of the K3s, and ultimately having to go QRT early because of a fire that destroyed the island’s power source, the team managed to make over 20,000 QSOs in under five days.

During the Youth Forum moderated by Dick, N6AA, I discussed several methods of reaching out to young people to spark their interest in ham radio initially, as well as ways we can work to involve and retain newly licensed hams. A great resource to utilize and share with others is the Discord channel run by the Young Amateurs Radio Club (YARC). Several hundred members are active in the channel daily, providing a great place for youth to ask questions and for others to offer advice and connect them with resources.

A program to mentor youth who are specifically interested in contesting is the Youth Contesting Program (YCP) run by Connor, W4IPC, and Grace, K8LG. The goal of the program is to pair young operators with local hosts who have an established station. Although there are many host stations in the US, there are also stations in the Caribbean, such as PJ2T, J62K, and HQ9X, that are available to young contesters. If you are a young person interested in joining the program, or if you are willing to be a host and open your station to youth, please contact Connor at ycp@youthontheair.org.

The Friday evening Contest Dinner speaker was Tim, K3LR. He shared the history of building the renowned contest superstation K3LR and the lessons he learned along the way. His dedication to encouraging and mentoring the next generation of young contesters has impacted many young people over the years, especially when he hosted the first entirely youth contest team at K3LR for the CQ WPX SSB 2019.

The Saturday evening banquet speaker was Adrian, KO8SCA, who shared an excellent report of the recent 3Y0K DXpedition to Bouvet. He described the harsh, brutal conditions the team endured during their operation from the most remote island on Earth. The team used a helicopter, with two pilots and one mechanic aboard, to transfer all the equipment and operators between the vessel and the shore during windows of good weather. The $1.7 million budget was funded primarily by individual non-hams who wanted to visit Bouvet. During the two weeks on the air, the team logged 102,000 contacts, of which 63,000 contacts were made using FT4/FT8.

Dick, N6AA, and Marko, N5ZO, received special awards presented by Doug, K1DG, on behalf of WWROF, for operating the CQ WW DX contest from all 40 zones. Only three people have accomplished this, including Phil, N6ZZ, who is now a silent key.

The weekend program was very well managed and organized. The historic Santa Maria Inn provided a great place to socialize, catch up with old friends, and make many new ones. Thank you to DX Engineering for being the primary sponsor of the 2026 Santa Maria DXers & Contesters Convention. In March 2027, the NCDXC will again host the official IDXC at the Wyndham Hotel in Visalia, California. For more information, please visit dxconvention.com.

More photos by Bob, N6TV, can be viewed here, along with a shared folder of photos uploaded by individuals over the weekend.

The post The 2026 Santa Maria DXers & Contesters Convention in Review appeared first on OnAllBands.

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