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CQ Communications, Inc. / 25 Newbridge Rd. / Hicksville, NY 11801 / 516-681-2922 www.cq-amateur-radio.com / [EMAIL PROTECTED] NEWS RELEASE CQ ANNOUNCES ANNUAL "DX MARATHON" (Visalia, California, 4/16/05) - CQ magazine today announced the revival of the long-dormant CQ DX Marathon, last run in 1948. The new CQ DX Marathon will essentially be a year-long DX contest, with stations competing to contact as many different countries ("entities") and CQ Zones of the World as possible over a full-year period, then starting again at zero at the beginning of the next year. The new CQ DX Marathon is part of CQ's broader "Waking Up DXing" program, whose goal is to reinvigorate DXing, or contacting hams in faraway places. The program was outlined for the first time at the International DX Convention in Visalia, California on April 16. "DXing has always been the heart of ham radio," says CQ Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU, "and it continues to be the biggest thing that sets us apart from other forms of electronic communication. Healthy DXing activity is vital to the long-term health of amateur radio." Bob Locher, W9KNI, of Idiom Press, provided the inspiration for the new activity and joined in the announcement at Visalia. "Many active DXers have noticed a drop-off in general DXing activity outside of contests and DXpeditions," notes Locher. "I suggested that CQ start up an event that would promote activity all year long, would minimize geographic advantages and provide for simple scoring. It turns out that the CQ DX Marathon, which evolved after 1948 into the CQ World Wide DX Contest, was already based on the same concepts." Scoring will be very simple, consisting of the total number of DX entities and CQ zones contacted over the course of a year. There will be no multipliers and each country and zone will count only once. In the case of a tie, the station whose last qualifying contact came earliest in the year will be the winner. Complete details and rules for the new CQ DX Marathon will be published in the May issue of CQ magazine and will be posted on the CQ website ( www.cq-amateur-radio.com) after the issue is in subscribers' hands. The first running of the event will be in 2006. -- |
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