Combining the Latest
DX News with the Best Resources
DXing.info - DXers' new
home on the Internet
By Mika
Mäkeläinen
Wouldn't it be great to have one
single website where you could check out the latest
news, audio clips, loggings and background information?
All this combined with an interactive forum for
discussion, giving you the opportunity to chat with
DXers from all around the world. Not a dream anymore
- such a site is located at www.dxing.info and has
already become hugely popular with hobbyists worldwide.
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The first precondition for successful
DXing is to stay alert and up-to-date on changes
taking place in the broadcasting scene. International
broadcasting stations change their schedules regularly
and this information is normally available on their
websites. New domestic broadcasting stations, their
new frequencies or new schedules are much more difficult
to keep up with, and this is where websites like
DXing.info can be very useful.
In news, being fast and being
right is what counts. If you are among the first
DXers sending a report to a new radio station, your
chances of getting a QSL - or even hearing the station
- are much better than those arriving later. And
your reply is likely to be much more enthusiastic,
as the station has not yet been inundated with mail
from abroad. One of my best memories in this sense
is Radio Eco from Bolivia. I was the first
person in Finland to report the station and received,
among other things, a small stuffed alligator in
return!
After DXing.info
was launched in April 2002, it has consistently
been the first (public) website in the world to
publish news on the most important new shortwave
radio stations of this past spring, including Radio
Baluarte (6215 kHz), CPN Arequipa (was temporarily
on 6150 kHz), La Voz de tu Conciencia (6064.5 and
later on 6060 kHz) and Radio UNAMSIL (6137.8 kHz).
The latest news item or items are always featured
on the front page
(not a bad choice for your browser homepage), while
other news of the ongoing month are available on
the News
page where you can also find the news archive. It
pays to take a peek in the archived news of the
previous months, because DXing.info has often featured
new stations well in advance.
Unedited
news and indices in real time
But you don't need to rely on
the edited material written and selected by me as
the editor of DXing.info. What makes DXing.info
perhaps the fastest source for DX News on the Internet,
even faster than moderated mailing lists, is that
its users can post news on the Community
Forums in real time. Community members can send
their DX logs and QSL news in an instant, without
moderation causing any extra delay. This is why
several DXers have preferred to set the DXing.info
Community
as their homepage when browsing the Internet.
In addition to news, all DXers
need to keep up to date on the latest propagation
conditions. On DXing.info this is made as easy as
possible. The latest propagation report (solar-terrestrial
indices) and forecast from NOAA (the same as you
hear on radio station WWV) is displayed on the front
page and automatically updated every three hours.
If you want more detailed information, the Propagation
page contains for example maps (that are updated
automatically) of Auroral activity around the poles.
You can also find a forecast for the A-index up
to 45 days ahead, along with the best Internet resources.
I have reviewed all propagation
sites that I was able to find, and added links only
to the best resources, grouping them to categories
according to content. These links give you a clear
picture of the ongoing solar cycle and a good idea
on how conditions on the band are developing. The
page is well worth checking whenever you plan to
spend time on the dial, and is a vital resource
when preparing for a longer DXpedition.
Radio station
profiles and station identifications
Often when I listen to an interesting
radio station, I would love to know more about the
station. Visits to radio stations are among the
articles I enjoy most in DX magazines. A well-written
profile article on a station - especially of a station
that doesn't have a website - retains its value
for years. In the Profile
section DXing.info aims to collect such articles,
so if you visit a station, catch a rare station
on the dial or receive an exceptionally nice QSL
with lots of information about the station, why
not share your joy with other DXers - articles and
any other kind of contributions may be sent by email
to info (at) dxing.info. On DXing.info you will
get a worldwide audience of hobbyists who share
your enthusiasm and value your achievements.
Listening to station identifications
is equally fun and is often a great tool to determine
whether your tentative catch of some station really
is the station in question. The Audio
collection of station identifications from around
the world is probably the largest of its kind on
the Internet. Here you can listen to both studio
quality and DX quality recordings. Just pick a country
from the pull-down menu and you will get stations
listed in frequency order.
Many recordings are in the Real
Media format, and you need the Real Player software
to play them. A free version of this software can
be downloaded from the Real website.
More recent recordings are mostly in MP3 format,
and some also in Windows Media. Small file sizes
are preferred.
The audio section of DXing.info contains both new
stations - DXing.info was the first website to make
available for example the station identifications
of Radio Baluarte and La Voz de tu Conciencia -
as well as archive recordings of stations that no
longer exist, from countries that are long gone.
Over time the audio collection gains value also
as a historical reference source.
In addition to profiles and audio,
a useful feature is a list of radio station from
a particular country you are interested in. On the
Lists page
you can find a couple of X-band lists with the essential
contact information and hyperlinks to websites.
X-band lists on the web are handy because they can
be updated continuously, just like the situation
on the X-band which seems to change constantly -
making printed listed helplessly outdated. Also,
a list of links to other good station lists on the
Internet is provided on the same page.
Glossary and other
DXing resources
Previously listed features of
DXing.info have been more or less focused on radio
stations, and can be of interest to anybody involved
in (international) broadcasting, but on DXing.info
you can also find content that is designed specifically
and only for DXers - or future DXers. An Introduction
of the hobby is included for those who come across
the site with no idea what DX stands for.
As for other abbreviations used
in this hobby of ours, they are numerous and can
remain mysteries even to experienced hobbyists.
For this purpose a hyperlinked Glossary
is featured, and abbreviations are included. Here
you can check the meaning of terms and jump easily
from one term to another. Having browsed other DX
glossaries on the Internet I would say this one
is really comprehensive and the interface is a pleasure
to use.
Always when I'm in contact with
radio stations by email I have explained what the
hobby is all about. To make the job easier, nowadays
I can just add a link to http://www.dxing.info/introduction.dx
without going into too much detail.
Oh, you may wonder about the
.dx ending in most of the file names on DXing.info.
It is just the final touch, made possible by the
server that hosts DXing.info, and named after our
beloved hobby, that makes the content on DXing.info
stand out from the mass of files on the World Wide
Web. Not used on any other site on the Internet,
.dx is hereby reserved for this hobby of ours ;-)
Articles
are for novices and more experienced DXers alike.
One of the most exciting pieces of DX reporting
that I have recently come across is Danny Wu's article
about DXing
in China, added in this section in June 2002.
To me at least this inside view was a first of its
kind and definitely a must to all DXers. I have
a feeling that DXing has great potential in China
and that we're going to hear a lot more from Danny
and his friends in the future. Articles like this
one on China are linked to other resources both
within and outside DXing.info so that you can easily
access any relevant additional information, such
as sound files of the stations.
Logs
are another vital brand of DX information. Individual
loggings are best posted on the Community Forums
(I'll tell you more about it in a while), but longer
and more comprehensive logs can be posted in the
logs section. There is a separate page for DXpedition
logs where you can also read exciting accounts
of DXpeditions to various locations and even watch
a video
report on Arctic DXing! The content under DXpeditions
is in fact what can be seen as the seed of the entire
site back in 1997 - something that you can learn
more about in the history
of the site.
Improve your equipment
One of the most popular pages
of DXing.info - to my surprise, I have to admit
- is the Equipment
section, which gives you valuable advice on how
to improve your antennas and other equipment, taking
into account the restrictions imposed by the urban
environment where most of us have to practise DXing.
From equipment reviews to construction guides, this
is also the page where you can have your own reviews
published.
One of the most interesting topics
on the equipment page is the K9AY antenna, which
seems to have become very popular over the last
two years. I use the antenna myself, but I have
mixed feelings about it. Is the antenna really as
good as many people say? Find out for yourself -
comprehensive reviews and test results by Bjarne
Mjelde and John Bryant are posted on the site.
And when you have your equipment
in order, it is time to start QSLing
DXing.info
gives you links to some of the best QSL
galleries on the Internet and offers other important
resources for collectors of QSL cards, including
links to various country lists - yes, there are
big differences in how we count our points in various
parts of the world. As for the latest verie-signers,
your best bet is to check out the next section of
DXing.info, the Community Forums.
Participate in
discussion forums
A core part of DXing.info is
the Community
Forums. This discussion forum contains news,
logs, QSL info and other kind of information useful
to DXers, all neatly organized by the topic. Unlike
the rest of DXing.info, where specified editors
write and upload information, on the Forums you
are the editor - you can post anything DX-related
and share it with the worldwide DXing community
in real time.
Information is divided into categories
such as National Radio (and further into continents),
International Radio, FM DXing, Equipment etc, and
subdivided into forums. The idea is that you can
check out only the information that you find most
relevant and interesting instead of having to go
through a pile of messages which you couldn't care
less about - as can be the case with some mailing
lists. Even afterwards the way that information
is organized makes it easy to retrieve whatever
you're looking for.
A sophisticated search
function (click the search icon on the Community
front page) is included in case you prefer to look
for information based on a keyword or author's name.
It allows you to limit your search to a specific
category or forum as well as to limit the time frame
of posts taken into account. You can for instance
type China and get all posts regarding Chinese
stations and Chinese DXing listed immediately, sorted
by category.
Another benefit in comparison
with mailing lists is that by using these Forums
you can reserve your email for truly private messages
and you avoid the many problems of email lists such
as getting your email account clogged. Over time
you may even reduce spam in your mailbox, because
when you post messages on the Forums, you don't
need to reveal your email address to other ordinary
users, like you would normally do on mailing lists.
This way your email address remains private and
is not spread around the Internet where search engines
have access to many mailing list and newsgroup messages.
It takes a bit more time to post
a message in the forum where it belongs to, but
by doing so, you make it a lot easier for others
to find precisely the information that they are
interested in.
As is evident on the site, the
Community Forums have become an instant success
story. Reading the memberlist is like browsing the
Who is who of international DXing; DXers
who are most active both on the band and on the
Net have welcomed this new way of distributing DX
information. No wonder really, considering that
the software used is the latest available, very
intuitive and easy to use. Navigation is fast and
the Forums include exciting features like private
messages and opinion polls.
Membership makes
things easier
Although anyone can browse the
Community Forums of DXing.info, you can take full
advantage of the Community only by registering first.
Community membership doesn't cost anything nor does
it oblige you to contribute regularly (although
that would be appreciated, after all sharing information
is the basic idea of the Forums) but it does give
you added comfort in using the pages.
To become a member, just click
the Register
icon on the Community main page, this will guide
you through the registration process. First you
need to approve the rules, then your information
is registered in the database. One of the aims is
to get DXers around the world to know each other
better, therefore only real names are used as usernames.
Your email is needed to confirm your registration,
but you may choose to hide your email address from
other users. In that case it remains visible only
to the administrator.
You can choose your password,
but don't make it too easy so that it could be guessed
by anyone. The password can be changed later. Not
even the administrator knows your password, but
if you happen to forget your password at some point,
no panic, you will get a new one automatically by
email and later you can change it to anything you
like.
In the profile you may list a
variety of online contact information for yourself
and give additional personal information such as
location, occupation and interests, which are visible
to all users - it is totally up to you how much
of yourself you want to share with other DXers.
You may choose that a signature file is automatically
added to each message that you post. In the end
you have control over several variables, such as
the publicity of your email address and online status
(down the Community main page there is a section
Who is online listing those members who are currently
logged in). You don't need to make final decisions
at this point, as you can change your settings any
time later on through the Profile link.
After you are done with the settings,
submit the page and your registration request is
sent automatically to the administrator - currently
me. I approve (activate) all registrations manually,
normally within 24 hours, but occasionally it can
take longer due to travel assignments, so please
be patient. When I have approved your application,
you will get an automated email reply saying that
your account is activated. Then you can log in with
your username (your real name) and password and
begin taking full advantage of the Forums.
Choose your personal
front page
After you've looked around, you
may want to change the appearance of the Forums
when you arrive there. On the front
page of DXing.info in the navigation bar on
the left you can see several options under the Community
heading. By clicking these (or by clicking the category
titles on the Community page) you can see how part
of the Forums can appear "collapsed" and
only the category that you're most interested in,
is visible. This may be useful, if your interest
in DXing is very limited to, say, domestic or FM
broadcasting stations. Likewise, if you're into
international radio you might want to have International
Radio as your personal entry page - by saving
it as your browser homepage, or by adding it to
your favorites or bookmarks.
When you're logged in,
you will soon notice that spotting new posts is
made easy by the color symbols, unread messages
appear in different color. By clicking the forum
and then the relevant topic, you enter the message,
or the thread of messages, if someone has already
replied to the message. When you're reading a message,
you can either post a reply (which will be added
to the same thread) or start a new topic (in which
case you write the subject first and then the message
itself).
Posting a message
is easy
If you've ever sent an email
and navigated the World Wide Web, you will instantly
learn how to post a message. After clicking the
"New Topic" icon (or the "Post Reply"
icon) you can give your message a subject and then
proceed to writing a message. Keep the title concise;
mentioning the name and frequency of the station
in question is a good idea, if your message is about
a logging or a QSL.
You can use emoticons to express
feelings and a special code called the BBcode
to format the text. With the BBcode you can for
example highlight and underline text and add links.
All this is optional, writing plain text is just
fine. Before submitting your message on the forum,
you can preview it, and even after having it published,
you can return to edit the message. This sounds
more complicated than it is - when you've done it
once, the second time is easy and fast. If you prefer
to take a practise shot first, there is a forum
specifically for test
messages.
Questions and
answers on the site
The forums have many additional
features that are best explored on the site itself.
On the Forums forum you can learn for example about
moderators and ranks. The Community Forums has a
very comprehensive FAQ
to answer any questions which you may have about
the Forums and how they function. The rest of the
DXing.info website has another FAQ.
For any other information about
DXing.info, please check the About
page - this contains links to various informative
texts about the site including an overall
presentation, FAQ, terms
of use, site history,
a look at what's new (not
a bad idea to check this page when you arrive at
the site to get a quick review of the latest updates)
etc. There are even banners
that you can place on your own website, and a page
of comments to see what
other users think of DXing.info.
Last but not least, the people
who make all this possible. The DXing.info "Hall
of fame" including profiles of the DXers
who have contributed to DXing.info. Your name and
presentation can appear here as well. You can contribute
to the site in many ways. Aside from posting messages
in the Community Forums, you can send recorded station
identifications for the audio collection (first
read instructions on the Audio
index page) or you can offer your DXpedition
logs, equipment reviews and other articles to be
published on the website for the enjoyment of other
DXers. If you have software expertise, especially
on PHP and website design, I could use a helping
hand. If you would like to translate some of the
contents of this site to another language, be in
touch.
Also, please do bear in mind
that there is no subscription fee for the content
on DXing.info - but it still costs to keep it going.
If you have enjoyed using the site, maybe you can
consider supporting the site financially. Any contributions
are warmly welcomed and will contribute to developing
DXing.info further.
In any matters,
you can be in touch by emailing to DXing.info -
an easy address to remember, for a site that is
easy to enjoy. The reliable information source and
the new home for DXers on the Internet.
published on
August 12, 2002
  
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