20261001 This month targets!!
Hi everyone, this is Mako, JJ5IZX.
Here in Japan (JA), located in the Northern Hemisphere, the intense summer heat has finally passed, and autumn is officially in the air. Passing Higan (the autumn equinox, when day and night are roughly equal in length—which is also when the grayline on PSK Reporter becomes nearly vertical) always brings a real, noticeable shift in the season.
PSK Reporter at 20260930 0930UTC
In the world of DX (FT8), we are moving away from the summer doldrums into the autumn DX season. Looking from JA, the conditions are shaping up nicely: mornings bring SA and NA (as well as EU and AF on the lower bands), afternoons open up to Asia, Oceania, and then Europe, followed by Africa in the evening. Around 22:00 UTC on 20 meters, it is sometimes even possible to copy signals from every single continent at once. Radio propagation is truly a fascinating phenomenon, isn't it?
Now, onto the main topic. The DXpedition timeline for this month (starting in October) has been published on DX World. Which DXpeditions are you all targeting in terms of entities, bands, and modes?
Of course, your results will vary greatly depending on your location, operating style, and timing. I hope you all manage to catch your target stations without overextending yourselves!
As for my wife and me (IZX & IZY), we run a modest little station, and our preferences are Digital (Data) > CW > SSB (IZX only). Because of this, FT8 will be our primary focus. While I would love to score a "New Mode" on CW if possible, the reality is usually quite challenging.
Timeline
Now that the timeline has been published on DX-World, I’m planning to start targeting these DXpeditions one by one, starting with the ones coming up first.
Looking at the upcoming schedule, figuring out which ones to chase is always one of the most exciting parts of this hobby. Since my wife and I will be focusing mainly on FT8, we will be keeping a close eye on the greyline and band conditions to find the best windows for our modest station.
I’ll make sure to update you all here on the blog with our targets and how our hunting goes.
Enjoy Dxing!! ... JJ5IZX & JJ5IZY 73&88 : )
