Long Distance Radio
An interview with DX-World
DX-World is one of the most popular accounts on audio.com, but it might not be for the reasons you expect. It doesn’t host music or podcasts. Instead, it is dedicated to recordings of distant radio signals – over 560 at the time of writing – made by Col McGowan aka MM0NDX and a community of amateur radio enthusiasts.
In practice, DX-ing involves receiving and identifying distant radio signals. Often the aim is to establish two-way contact and obtain a written verification of reception, known as a QSL card. Occasionally, several enthusiasts will group together and go on expeditions to broadcast from remote locations, such as the recent TX5S expedition to Clipperton Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Stations and DX-ers are identified by their call signs and there’s a certain etiquette to the practice, not to mention the set up cost for some of the kit. That doesn’t stop DX-ing being enjoyed by many people across the world. Col’s blog has been a free resource since 2007 and, over the years, has amassed a significant global following. We caught up with him to find out more.
Can you briefly explain what DX-ing is and how it works?
DX basically means "long distance". My amateur radio hobby is heavily involved with DX-ing. For example, last year, an expedition (or DXpedition) took place from Bouvet Island – the most remote place on Earth – and that can be considered "DX" since that island is distant to everywhere else.
Expeditions seem to be a big part of all this. Why is that?
There’s something very pleasing about constructing an amateur radio station and making contact with a far away DX station. Sure, people may say why not use Skype or Zoom, but it's different – we're talking about radio waves here.
What attracts you to the discipline?
I've been intrigued by hearing or contacting DX stations since a young age. Amateur radio has always been a passionate hobby to me. In 2007, I started a blog all about DX-ing. Then it started to snowball. Seventeen years later I have a globally read platform called DX-World.net which I try to update daily.
How has the DX community changed since you began running your blog?
Social media impacted my initial website. From 2007 to 2014, the site was receiving huge hits, over 8 million page views per year. Then I noticed social media started to take away a lot of the views, but I think instead of becoming annoyed about that, you have to embrace it. I believe now there's a very good mix of website material and social media within DX-World. I stopped checking website statistics some years ago because everything went above and beyond what I ever imagined.
You feature not only your recordings, but audio by other DX-ers. What do you look for when receiving submissions?
I would prefer if more people sent recordings. I started the whole concept off so fellow ham radio operators might be interested in sending their recordings too. It's early days really, but through time I think more people will. All I require is an MP3 file, as you well know!
Do you use other audio hosting services? How does audio.com compare?
For DX recordings I have tried YouTube, Vocaroo, AudioBoo (previously called Audioboom, who managed to delete all my old recordings), SoundCloud, and Mixcloud.
I was looking for an alternative recording platform when I found audio.com. I forget where I found you guys, but it may have been on Facebook. I opened an account – it was very easy – and uploaded my recordings immediately. If I didn’t like audio.com, I would not have stuck with the site, but I find it's perfect and quick. It suits my needs.