In honor of the upcoming youth-focused, DX Engineering-sponsored VK9XY Christmas Island DXpedition (Nov. 16-Dec. 4, 2026), OnAllBands is featuring QSL cards from past activations of this remote Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean. As always, the QSL cards come from members of the DX Engineering team—amateur radio operators with a combined 1,000-plus years of experience.
About VK9XY
Led by Max Freedman, N4ML, who earlier in 2026 operated on Bouvet Island, the on-island VK9XY team is composed of ten young but experienced operators. Longtime DXpeditioners Gregg Marco, W6IZT, and Glenn Johnson, W0GJ, will join the team as advisors. You can view the team here. They will be operating on 160-6M in SSB, CW, and FT8, along with running a dedicated EME station.
In addition to team members who will be operating from the island, 30 to 40 young hams will operate VK9XY remotely via NexGenRiB2 (radio in a box) stations made possible through an equipment grant from the Northern California DX Foundation. The remote operating team will be led by OnAllBands blogger Kees Van Oosbree, W0AAE, and Steve Molo, KI4KWR.
For more information, visit the VK9XY website.
DX Engineering provided a range of equipment for the DXpedition, including:
- Various sizes of DX Engineering Aluminum Tubing
- DX Engineering Complete Fiberglass Tubing and Cam Lock Clamp Kit
- RG-8X PL-259 Low-Loss 50-Ohm Coax Cable Assemblies
- DX Engineering Ferrite RFI Suppression Kits
Read more about DX Engineering’s VK9XY contributions in this OnAllBands article.
In addition to DX Engineering-provided gear, the VK9XY team will be relying on FlexRadio Aurora transceivers and 4O3A Power Genius XL (PGXL) amplifiers.
QSL Cards
The seasoned DXers at DX Engineering have had great success contacting Christmas Island over the years (a good reason to contact them for help with your gear if you’d like to do the same). Here are a few QSL cards from their collections.
Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, reached VK9X/K7CO in March 2014 on 10/15M SSB. In September 2012, he contacted VK9XS on 17M CW.
Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, provided OnAllBands with QSL cards from VK9XAB, which he contacted in August 2003 on 17M CW, and VK9XV, which he reached in September 2001 on 17M SSB.
Visit DXEngineering.com—Powered by Active Hams—for expert advice and everything you need to upgrade your station to make sure you’re ready when DXCC entities like Christmas Island are on the air.
You’ll find transceivers; antennas; a wide selection of amplifiers from ACOM, OM Power, Icom, and others; CW keys and paddles; headsets and speakers; and much more.
Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!
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- The above card features a TransWorld (TW) Antenna. DX Engineering acquired the TW Antennas line in May 2016 and has manufactured and sold these portable, easy-to-deploy antennas ever since. Visit DXEngineering.com for available models of TW antennas. (Image/DX Engineering)
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