A recent post occurred on the Rebel DX Group Facebook page. We have edited the text a little but the general purpose of the post remains. Wondering if any reader(s) might just be tempted.. “Is there anyone willing to join a trip of a lifetime down to the Southern Ocean for 3 months? Vessel and […] This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
Category: News
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Get Ready for Jamboree on the Air
Post Content American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources Read More
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T88FM, T88MK & T88XM – Palau
JM1LIG (as T88FM), JO3LVG (as T88MK) and JG1LFF (as T88XM) will be active from the Palau Radio Club / Shack during April 8-14, 2027. QRV on HF bands, various modes. QSL via H/cs. *Note, the team plan to carry out maintenance and installation of new antennas at the QTH in Koror. This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
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5Q7DX & OV2T – North Jutland, EU-171
A team consisting PA1SVM, PA7JWC and PD2R will again be active from Saeby (JO57GG), North Jutland (EU-171) as OV2T and 5Q7DX during September 16-23, 2026. QRV on CW, SSB and Digi; 160-6m, 2m. Also active on satellite QO-100, RS-44. QSL info OV2T via PA0ABM and 5Q7DX via PA7JWC or LoTW. – Pictures are of 2024 […] This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
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DX-WORLD Weekly Bulletin
[#680] The latest FREE NON-SUBSCRIPTION DX-World Weekly Bulletin written by Bjorn ON9CFG is available to download. Click below to get the newest edition which this week runs to 19 pages. Previous bulletins can all be found here. Please contact Bjorn with any updates or errors. DOWNLOAD THE LATEST BULLETIN ===== This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
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A35TV – Tonga
Between 28th November 2026 to 4th December 2026 Australian DXers Tommy Horozakis (VK2IR) and John (VK3YP) are heading to the Kingdom of Tonga for a highly anticipated DXpedition under the callsign A35TV. Tommy and John will be targeting 160M to 6M bands on FT8/CW/SSB modes. The operation aims to give operators across Oceania, Asia, Europe, […] This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
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“Active” call sign probably isn’t what you think
By Rob Rosenberger (K4HST)
Do this: visit the FCC call sign lookup and search for W0QUF. It says right there on the page: “Status: Active.” Except it’s not. Look farther right and you’ll see its grace period started in January. Now search for it at the ARRL call sign lookup. They give you no hint it’s in a grace period.
Do an FCC lookup on KD0NZJ. It’s long expired, right? Except it’s not. Look to the left and you’ll see a “PA” icon, which means it remains active pursuant to FCC rule 1.62. If you look it up on ARRL, it’ll say “(Administrative Update Applied)” below the expiration date. They give you no hint you can lawfully communicate with them.
Neither FCC nor ARRL offer visual cues on their search pages when you look up a call sign. You must inspect the data with your calibrated eyeballs to confirm its status.
So, let’s go over what you need to know. We’ll break it down into five categories:
A “live” call sign is marked active and can transmit. It has not reached its expiration date. Roughly 90% of all “active” call signs fall into this category.
A “dagger” call sign is marked active and can transmit regardless its expiration date. A “pending application” extends its life. Roughly 430 call signs fall into this category (a scant 0.05%) and the FCC often spends years resolving them.
A “grace” call sign is marked active yet cannot transmit. It exceeded its expiration date, lies within its two-year grace period, and has no pending application. Roughly 10% of all “active” call signs fall into this category.
A “zombie” call sign is marked active yet cannot transmit. It exceeded its grace period with no pending application, yet the ULS database failed to mark it expired. The most recent example is KI4FHE. (If you run an FCC lookup, do not have any liquids in your mouth! You’ve been warned.) Zombies might pop up for a day or two if the second anniversary of their expiration date falls on a holiday Monday.
A “dead” call sign is marked canceled, expired, or terminated. Enough said.
You might ask “where did these five terms come from?” The short answer: The interwebs apparently had no terms for them and I needed a taxonomy for the niche PDF amateur radio call books I produce. My searches of online amateur radio literature, developer repositories, and the FCC’s ULS documentation revealed no similar published model … so I offer this to the public domain:
Terminology FCC Status ULS LicenseStatus Expiration Date Additional Condition Output / Action Live Active A Future None Standard black text Dagger Active A Past (Any length) Pending application Superscript dagger (†) e.g. WQXN317 since 2021-04-20 Grace Inactive A Past (< 2 years) No pending app Dark red text e.g. WA4RHD Zombie Inactive A Past (>= 2 years) No pending app Triggers logging warning e.g. KI4FHE from 2026-04-26 to 2026-09-09 Dead Inactive Non-A N/A None Excluded from output Ta da! You now understand what “active” means when you look up a call sign on a search page. Calibrate your eyeballs for the FCC, shame the ARRL webmaster for me, and 73!
Source: Rob Rosenberger (K4HST)
Amateur Radio Daily
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9J2NE – Zambia
John, A2NEW will soon be going on a trip to Zambia and when time permits he’ll QRV as 9J2NE on HF bands, FT8. While there is not much info yet published on this trip keep an eye on either A2NEW or 9J2NE QRZ pages. QSL via LoTW, Club Log etc. This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
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Contest University Celebrates 100 Years of Yagis
The Yagi-Uda beam antenna was invented 100 years ago, in 1926, and Contest University (CTU) is celebrating its centennial with a live Zoom webinar this Saturday, September 19, 2026, at 1600 UTC (noon Eastern). The free webinar, titled “The Yagi Turns 100,” will be available online at https://w3lif.org/yagi. There is no pre-registration. Click on the link before 1600 Zulu on Saturday to watch. Q…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources Read More
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V6XG – Chuuk, F.S.M
Haru, JA1XGI informs that he will be active from Chuuk, F.S.M as V6XG during January 14-22, 2027. He says the main purpose of this dx-vacation is to make QSOs with stations in Europe, North America, and South America on 160 meters, but he will also be setting up antennas for other bands covering 80 meter […] This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More