The DX Century Club, or DXCC, is an award (and registered trademark) granted by the ARRL, given for contacting by means of amateur radio with other operators in at least 100 entities and confirming those contacts by way of a QSL card, or via the ARRL's Logbook of the World program. In the USA and its territories, an operator must be an ARRL member to receive the award. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) was founded in May, 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim. ... Mrs. ...
Entities are usually, but not always, countries. For example, Hawaii is a separate entity due to its separation from the rest of the USA. See the DXCC Rules for complete criteria. State nickname: The Aloha State Other U.S. States Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Governor Linda Lingle (R) Official languages Hawaiian and English Area 28,337 km² (43rd) - Land 16,649 km² - Water 11,672 km² (41. ...
Communication may be by voice, Morse code, or other modes such as RTTY. Separate awards and endorsements of the basic award are available for operating using specific modes or radio bands, such as using only amateur satellites (see AMSAT or OSCAR). Morse code is a system of representing letters, numbers and punctuation marks by means of a code signal sent intermittently. ... Radioteletype (RTTY) is a telecommunications system consisting of two teleprinters linked by a radio link. ... AMSAT is both a generic name for Amateur Radio satellite organisations world-wide, but in particular is the name of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation of North America (AMSAT-NA) with headquarters at Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington DC. Other national organisations exists, such as AMSAT Germany (AMSAT-DL), AMSAT... Oscar in Irish mythology was the warrior son of OisÃn and Niamh. ...
DXCC is the most popular awards programme, with the entry level requiring amateurs to contact 100 of the (as of 2005) 335 recognized countries and territories in the world, which leads on to a series of operating challenges of increasing difficulty.
Amateur radio operators who are involved in emergency communications often belong to a national or local emergency club, such as ARES and RACES in the United States, AREC in New Zealand, RAYNET in the United Kingdom, WICEN in Australia and Hamnet in South Africa.
In areas where severe storms are possible, such as the midwestern and southern states of the U.S., storm watching groups such as SKYWARN coordinate amateur radio operators in the roles of storm spotters and chasers to keep track of severe thunderstorms, particularly due to the threat of destructive and deadly tornadoes.
A good way to get started in amateur radio is to find a club in your area to answer your questions and provide information on getting licensed and then getting on the air.
If you are in the U.S., you can find a club near you by going to the American Radio Relay League's Affiliated Club Search page.
Different contests have different emphases, with some aimed at chasing DX stations, or stations in a particular country or continent.