The International DX Convention (IDXC) is known by many as a popular annual gathering of active contesters and DX chasers from around the globe. The convention’s first unofficial precursor meeting was held in 1949 in Fresno, California, and by 1957, the gathering became officially known as the IDXC.
Historically, the convention has been organized by two major DX clubs, the Northern California DX Club (NCDXC) and the Southern California DX Club (SCDXC). Each year these two organizations would alternate the responsibilities of hosting and coordinating the event. The convention was moved to Visalia, California, in 1979, as the Fresno venue could no longer accommodate the rapid growth in attendance.
After the 76th annual IDXC gathering in April 2025, hosted by the NCDXC, the traditional alternating-host rotation encountered a logistical bottleneck. The SCDXC was no longer an organized club and lacked the volunteer capacity to plan, organize, and coordinate an event of this size. The Southern California Contest Club (SCCC) and the San Diego DX Club (SDDXC) joined forces, stepping up to organize a similar social event, ensuring that hams would still have a dedicated springtime gathering.
The location was moved roughly 130 miles southwest from Visalia to Santa Maria, California. Since this was planned and arranged independently and was not structured exactly like traditional IDXC gatherings, the organizers gave this event a name of its own—the 2026 Santa Maria DXers & Contesters Convention. DX Engineering was the main sponsor of the convention, while Jim, N6TJ, served as Convention Chairman and Dick, N6AA, as Event Director.
The 2026 Santa Maria gathering had an attendance list of 198 individuals, including visitors from Canada, Nairobi, and Malawi. The scheduled forums ranged from technical presentations, such as antenna design and propagation, to recounting DXpedition adventures and discussing contesting strategies.
Bill, K8TE, led the HF university forums, delivering six presentations on DX-chasing skills, propagation behavior, essential computer programs and software, the advantages of various operating methods, and advanced antenna design. Gayle, K6GO, a longtime advocate for YL communities in amateur radio, led the YL forum. She discussed strategies for including more YLs in contesting, shared mentorship and education opportunities, and highlighted organizations such as the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL), which provides scholarships to young women pursuing a STEM career.
In the new product showcase, Tim, K3LR, DX Engineering CEO, shared an extensive list of products available through DX Engineering, including a USB isolator, a dry dummy load, and the A/B Station Selector previously manufactured by Top Ten Devices.
Tom, N6BT, introduced a new five-band (10 through 20 meters) pre-tuned portable field antenna that handles up to 500 watts. Eric, WA6HHQ, introduced Elecraft’s new K4/0 remote panel that provides a fully remote-controllable station with an identical front-panel experience from anywhere in the world.
During the Contest Update, Doug, K1DG, provided a report on the current World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) programs. The foundation manages the “CQ Magazine” contests, judges and evaluates log entries, and distributes awards. The Contest Forum, moderated by Bob, N6TV, offered a range of tips and tools for contesting. The first tool highlighted the importance of analyzing scores and rates from previously submitted contest logs using the online rate sheet generator. This website generates hourly rate sheets using publicly uploaded logs or your own Cabrillo log.
Another tip he shared for contesters is to utilize the new Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) spot analysis tool, which now combines results from multiple reverse beacon spotters. By comparing your spots with the spots of a competitor’s station, you can visually see the difference in the received signal strength at a certain location over a given time. The PowerPoint slides from the Contest Forum can be viewed here.
In addition to the technical forums, there were various presentations on recent DX activity. Jeff, K1ZM, shared his experiences operating from JT5DX in Mongolia. The multi-operator station, owned by Chak, JT1CO, features two 150-foot rotating towers and wire antennas for the low bands.
Marty, N6VI, talked about his activation of ZD7VI on Saint Helena for the CQ WW CW contest in 2025. He entered the contest in the single-operator, high-power, 10-meter category, and won first place in Africa and second place worldwide with over 2,000 contacts.
I gave a report on the activation of Northern Cook Islands in October 2025. Despite the many setbacks the team faced due to storms during the setup, issues with band pass filters, losing audio on one of the K3s, and ultimately having to go QRT early because of a fire that destroyed the island’s power source, the team managed to make over 20,000 QSOs in under five days.
During the Youth Forum moderated by Dick, N6AA, I discussed several methods of reaching out to young people to spark their interest in ham radio initially, as well as ways we can work to involve and retain newly licensed hams. A great resource to utilize and share with others is the Discord channel run by the Young Amateurs Radio Club (YARC). Several hundred members are active in the channel daily, providing a great place for youth to ask questions and for others to offer advice and connect them with resources.
A program to mentor youth who are specifically interested in contesting is the Youth Contesting Program (YCP) run by Connor, W4IPC, and Grace, K8LG. The goal of the program is to pair young operators with local hosts who have an established station. Although there are many host stations in the US, there are also stations in the Caribbean, such as PJ2T, J62K, and HQ9X, that are available to young contesters. If you are a young person interested in joining the program, or if you are willing to be a host and open your station to youth, please contact Connor at ycp@youthontheair.org.
The Friday evening Contest Dinner speaker was Tim, K3LR. He shared the history of building the renowned contest superst…
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