TenX DX News June 1, 2026
Mike Davidson N5MT #24949
Welcome to the Summer DX season of the 10-10 News and today is June 1st as this article goes to the 10-10 Editor. The Sun continues to be active and controlling skip/propagation for us on Ten Meters. The peak of Cycle 25 has past, in 2023 but we continue to have important radio events this past winter and spring DX season. DX across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is now less active with a declining Sun activity so I expect less skip for the next six months. The last 1010 Winter QSO Party contest was back on the first weekend of February 7-8th. I talked to several new 10-10 members and said hello to old friends that I have been able to log QSOs with on Ten. When I lived in Houston, I used a big four element antenna and amp to log new countries on Ten and that helped collect many new 1010 numbers on Ten. My new home in Louisiana only has a vertical antenna so my DX hunt is now not as a high priority as past times.
If you are a new 10-10 member chasing DX and need help with being a successful DX’er, you must be familiar with the American Radio Relay League and the ARRL website that deals with the DXCC award. 10-10 follows all the same rules for our DX Countries award as what you must do for DXCC credit plus swapping your 10-10 information. So you must know the DXCC rules so please visit the website at: www.ARRL.org after you finish reading this article! The ARRL does email a weekly DX news article that you can sign up for on the website. Remember, many DX’ers are not always a 10-10 members so ask!
Solar Cycle 25 has produced a few solar flares that have given our planet some aurora borealis light this past year. There have been several recorded storms on the Sun which gave Ten bad propagation and radio black-outs! Today’s solar flux is 132, A 10 and K 3 and three months ago it was 147, 10, & 1 which was almost the identical value.
Propagation on the lower frequencies has been better than on Ten. The highest solar flux this cycle was 343 back in February 2023. I have operated in five solar cycles and this Cycle 25, I would rank as the second strongest of the five.
Please take the time to compare these DX reports below with your log to see if you found a new DX member during the past three months. Watch for future DX announcements and try to work a new country or a new member in your log. Remember, your 10-10 is assigned to you for life, so if you get a DX license, you can give out your 10-10 number if you operate Ten Meters in a DX country.
The most important 10-10 club event this past winter was the Winter QSO Party last February. The phone QSO parties are always the biggest 10-10 event of the year and it was your best chance to have put a new 10-10 member in your log, which is always one of my QSO party goals.
As the 10-10 Countries Award manager, I monitor the ARRL website for DXCC for information. I follow all DXCC rules to take care of the 10-10 Countries Awards. By design, 10-10 follows all the ARRL DXCC rules plus you must swap your 10-10 info for a contact to be valid for all our awards. The ARRL DXCC award function has been working smoothly and the LoTW function is saving you money by replacing the required QSL swap. A software hack last year on the ARRL computer system, was fixed with no data loss. DXCC processing this past quarter was taking about ten working days to complete at the ARRL. With your 1010 paid membership you get all earned 10-10 awards free.
There is no best time for logging a DX contacts during the summer season due to the change of skip. Summer skip is different from the winter propagation, so the DX is harder to find! There are fewer contests in the summer so you will have fewer weekends to log DX on Ten. If you are serious in working DX, you should have a goal of finding members on Ten and logging them. I read a lot of DX email and look for members going out of town, so I can write about them here. My last new 10-10 country was logged about nine years ago, so I hope to find a new 10-10 country soon. Watch for DX on the dates given below and try to log a new member or QSO with a friend that you might find on the air to pass the time and keep the ten meter band active.
One more reminder that the most popular ham radio event is coming up on June 27-28th for Field Day. I have swapped a few 10-10 numbers during past FD weekends but 10-10 is not the point of FD. Go to the ARRL website if you need the rules of FD or search for a local club that is going to setup and operate! Home stations with commercial power are ok just get the exchange formatted correctly with info on the website. Have fun and make a bunch of QSOs. 73
Countries Awards: There have been no Countries Award applications submitted to me this past quarter.
General 10-10 DX reported in the past quarter:
4U United Nations NY. The UN club station 4U1UN #55555, in New York City, was not active in the last three months on Ten. I use a website called DXSummit to watch for callsign activity from the UN. The UN beacon was active but a weak signal on Ten due to propagation was recorded a few times on 28200 MHZ. By DXCC rules, the UN in New York City is the closest DX country for USA hams to QSO. The UN beacon is one of 18 beacons on five frequencies on the air 24/7. Depending on propagation, you may not hear all beacons because of the skip!
A4 Oman. The Royal Omani ARS club station A47RS #42043 was last heard in February on SSB on Ten. Guest ops may not know about 10-10 info so a 10-10 swap may not happen.
CE0Y Easter Island. Jorge CE0YHF #39382 was on FT8 in March. Last year, he had to replace his antenna with a vertical.
CY0 Sable Isl. A DXpedition from March 19-31, 2026 using callsign CY0S was a first time solar operation! Access to the island is by airplane or helicopter. The strong cold winds on the island, make for securing the antennas a major project to protect the setups. Sable is allowed to be used just a few times a year for ham radio. The three 10-10 members on the island were Ralph K0IR #2609, Larry W0PR #31559 and Michael K9NW #29804. Web: www.CY0S.com.
CY0/VY0 Canada Baffin Bay. Kris KM2KM/VY0 #45826 was on Baffin Island from May 26 to June 3rd all on CW. I do not know if Kris had a Ten meter antenna?
ET Ethiopia. Ken K4ZW #18573 was at ET3AA until March 2nd at the club station. The club callsign ET3AA is not a 10-10 member so you must find Ken when he is there on Ten and if it’s another operator, is good for DXCC. I found Ken only a few times on Ten in January at his home station.
FM Martinique Isl. Darrell AB2E #9753 was active as TO3E from May 26th to June 2nd on CW for WPX. Darrell was there in May 2025 as TO3E for the WPX contest. QSL home call.
J6 St. Lucia. Bill K9HZ #2618 has not been back at the J68HZ contest station on St. Lucia this year. It is hard to get a 10-10 swap during any contest, so I hope Bill returns this winter for more DX QSOs. LoTW.
KP5 Desecheo Island. A rare DXpedition with callsign KP5/NP4VI began on January 12, 2026 until early March. They made more than 100,000 QSOs which is a record for a solar power-only operation! A lot of remote radio equipment was used on KP5 with a group of remote ham ops located in KP4 Puerto Rico. I found five 10-10 members that were listed as ops. You must find a 10-10 member who was the op and swap a 10-10 number on Ten! LoTW.
P4 Aruba. John W2GD #14109 was active as P44W on May 30th mostly on CW on Ten and other bands.
PJ2 Curacao Isl. Thaire W2APF #50022 used callsign PJ2/W2APF from January to March 31, 2026 on CW. Look at Thaire QRZ page for many pictures of DX sites he has operated from. LoTW.
VP6 Pitcairn Island. Miralda VP6MW #50434, was last active on Ten using FT8 in December 2025 and she has not operated on Ten meters this year from Pitcairn Island.
ZL3 New Zealand and ZL7 Chatham. Holger ZL3IO #22401, was back home in New Zealand and then went back to Chatham Island at the end of May. Holger operated from home in March and April 2026 on CW which is his favorite mode. Holger was reported on CW & FT8 on 40, 15 and 10 on May 26th. Remember when anyone operates from ZL7, it’s rare DX and that’s why Holger created a ham radio station on Chatham!
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Future DX & New Activity:
W USA. The ARRL W1AW #57575 club station celebrating America250, will be going to several call areas in June, like W1AW/2 in New Jersey host by NP4H on June 3rd. W1AW/7 in Oregon same date host N7JI. W1AW/4 in Tenn on 10th host W4CMG. W1AW/5 in Arkansas 17th host K5DB and W1AW/0 in Neb host KA0BOJ same day 17th. Each portable activation is for a total of seven days each. Website: WWW.ARRL.Org/America250-was. LoTW.
VP0 South Georgia Island. A rare DXpedition to South Georgia will hopefully happen in March 2027 using callsign VP0SG with twelve operators and the only 10-10 member is
Steve W0ZB #37921. Try not to miss this chance to put a new 10-10 DX country into your log for DXCC!
Miscellaneous Items & Notes:
Ten-Ten Website: http://www.Ten-Ten.org .
WM7D Solar: https://www.wm7d.net/hamradio/solar/ .
Propagation forecast: http://www.solen.info/solar/ ,
www.SolarHam.net and http://ARRL.org/Propagation .
More propagation: http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/ .
DX Calendar: http://www.dxwatch.com/ .
DX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4dJcK-WVRw.Https://Secure.Clublog.org/mostwanted.phphttp://ebarc.org/pdf/dx-entity-history.pdf
Ham Lookup various ways:
https://Haminfo.tetranz.com/map .
Ham LoTW users: http://www.hb9bza.net/lotw-users-list .
FT8 Fox/Hound Video:
https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=GcbtTKSRkus .
K9LA Cycle 25 Expectations 2026:
DX Propagation: I expect the solar flux could range from 90-145 this Summer and Fall DX season. The June 20th Solstice will be in three weeks so days will be longer for us in the N. Hemisphere. The last X-flare was on Feb 4th at X4.21 and the next day an M-flare M2.4 occurred, and the last Geo storm was Feb 22nd. The high flux this Cycle 25 was on Feb 17, 2023. Last year on Nov 11, 2025 we had a X5.1 flare, the sixth strongest solar flare of Cycle 25 which started seven years ago in November 2019. Sun spots are counted by looking at the Sun daily but the solar flux is measured by radio at 2.8 GHz several times a day.
The monthly max solar flux in 2026: Jan 194, Feb 178, March 162, April 156 and May 159. Average 170.
The monthly min solar flux in 2026: Jan 111, Feb 108, March 109, April 93 and May 101. Average 104.
On June 1st, the solar flux was 132, the A index 10 and K index 3. Previous solar cycle peaks happened in 2014, 2001, 1989 & 1979. A current solar flux graph indicates cycle 25 has peaked in August 2024 but NOAA has not declared a peak solar flux date. The NASA solar flux forecast for the next 45 days has a range of 100-150, which is down from the last quarter. The old USAF forecast was replaced by a
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center website: Services.SWPC.NOAA.gov .
Select: Parent Directory Select: text then find and select: 45-day-ap-forecast.txt.
My Prediction: In the next three months, I think the best propagation on Ten could be on: June 21-25th, July 18-21st,
Aug 14-18th and Sept 9-12th.. For USA, expect a 15-35% chance of DX to South America or the Pacific. First turn on your radio to the beacons on 28.175-28.300 MHZ to see if the band is open. If the band is closed for SSB or CW, try CQing on FT8 on 28074 for a QSO and good luck.
Five new DX members joined 10-10 in the last 3 months:
Paulo CT1ETE #78464 in Portugal, Frank VE3GID #78477 in Canada, Frank WH7U #78483 from Hawaii, Harri DL4FBZ #78512 and Heinz DL4HBF #78513 both in Germany .
The last US member to join was David K5SRZ #78511.
Thanks to the Daily DX by Bernie W3UR #25731 and the ARRL DX Bulletins. This 10-10 DX News edition is my number 137th of DXing reports for the past 34 years. Any
DX news to: Mike Davidson, 26274 Whispering Pines Ave, Denham Springs LA 70726 USA Email: N5MT@aol.com.
DX IS! 73 Mike Davidson N5MT #24949
Copyright © 2026 by N5MT
