Very good Hank on the 10,000 mile station.
DX is in the ear of the beholder.
For Hams, DX is any station on the ARRL DXCC list -- fro Mexico to Reunion
island
SWLers have their own definition -- sometimes a weak rare station
irrespective of distance
Others here will give you their spin on SW DXing.

For propagation -- a good one -- easy reading is at this URL:
http://www.ae4rv.com/tn/propflash.htm

At present we are on the down slide of the 11 year solar cycle -- see URL:
http://www.wm7d.net/hamradio/solar/summary.shtml

The High for the current cycle - Cycle 23
Flux: 298 - 26 Oct 2003

Currently we are at Current Solar Flux report:
SFI: 100

In general the higher the SFI and the lower the A and K index -- the better
propagation will be.

When the SFI gets below 90 or so -- propagation will be grim on the upper
bands.

But the lower bands will still be good particularly in the winter time.

--
Caveat Lector



"HankG" wrote in message
...
Hi All:

Thanks to all who responded; both factually and humorously. The humor was
especially appreciated in light of my very recent, unexpected stay in the
hospital (cardiac event). Let me elaborate.

I have been interested in SWL off and on for many years as a casual
listener. I would just twiddle the tuning knob from low end to high and
catch whatever was available, rather than actively seeking DX. Never made
the connection between radio and computer (for information about
schedules,
technology, time of day, etc.).

About two years or so ago, I resurrected my SX-99 which is fed by a 30
foot
baseboard wire, and conveniently located between my computer, monitor, and
TV (ugh) as things were heating up in the middle east. Lots of
information
became available after joining the group, and general searching on the
Web.
The biggest drawbacks to actively listening were having an analog tuning
receiver and a relatively unstable pitch control/bfo.

Right before the war started, I purchased an RX-320, certainly not touted
as
a DX machine, but a solid performer nevertheless. I also erected Cliff
Donley's 33 foot folded dipole inside of my roof. I was totally amazed
when
tuning in my first sideband transmission--rock-solid, on frequency.

Well, so much for background. Back to my original question. I had been
tuning around and came across Radio Australia (verified) on 11.880 at
20:00
z on Sunday (prior to New Years). I had been trying unsuccessfully to
'log'
Australia for some time as I considered this to be a DX catch, perhaps on
the outer reaches of DX. According to a GC calculator, the distance from
my
location (NJ suburbs of Philadelphia) was noted as over 10,000 miles (did
not use coordinates for Shepparton, but rather Melbourne).

As I will be recuperating, and spending more time at the radio, I want to
try my hand at actively seeking DX. A few questions come to mind:

At what point does a transmission become DX? Is it a matter of
distance only, or distance when station power is considered?

I plan to use the ILG database in RLDB to see what's on and try to log it.
I've also been trying to get a handle on understanding parameters
influencing propagation, such as the SF, A, and K. A few links from
Google
were very technical and left my head spinning. Can some kind soul(s)
offer
a simple explanation of what these are and how they will impact my SWLing
(e.g., more or less of this or that is good/bad, or how knowing the values
can better my chances of logging a specific target)?

Again, thanks to all.

HankG