..:: 425 DX News #1600 and counting ::..

425 DX News was born on 11 May 1991. That was issue #1.

Today is 1 January 2022, and we celebrate issue #1600 - that's 1600 weeks of uninterrupted, free of charge service to the DX community.

Many things, including DXing itself, have changed over nearly 31 years. The newsletter has gone from the BBS and PCL networks to the Internet era, with the mailing list, the website, the social media.

Our passion and enthusiasm has remained unchanged ever since, though. For us who are part of the 425 DX News Team this is a festive moment to share with our readers, as well as the right moment in time to renew our commitment to the DX community worldwide.

73 de Leo IZ5FSA

..:: The 425 DX News Story ::..

425 DX News originates from a group of local amateurs (the so-called '425 DX Gang') who used to meet on 145.425 MHz and exchange DX information.

At a certain point 2 metres did not suit any more: many people living far from call area 1 wanted to participate in the exchange, so that the Gang moved on the HF bands (10 metres at first, then 80 metres) and organized a weekly info net for Italian DXers.

In the early nineties, as Packet Radio got a footing and the Packet Cluster Network links became more and more reliable, a bulletin in writing was born. It was called 425 DX News in memory of the frequency where everything had started from.

Between May 1991 and March 1995 the bulletin was sent in Italian language on the BBS and PCL networks. On entering the Internet era, a website and a mailing list were created, and 425 DX News began being produced in English. In 2005 it became the DX Bulletin of ARI, the IARU member society for Italy.

In June 2010 the mailing list [425eng] moved to Google Groups, and has been administered by Stefano Turci, IK4WMH since then.

425 DX News is also available on other mailing lists such as Yahoo Group's [DX IS], and in other languages (for instance in Russian, translated by Alexander Venderovich, UA9MHN).

Complementary to 425 DX News are the 425 Magazine, initiated by Maurizio Bertolino (I1-21171) and continued by Nicola Baldresca (IZ3EBA), and the popular piece of software developed by Leonardo Lastrucci (IZ5FSA), which allows to query the 425DXN Archive from the PacketCluster and on the Web.

In May 2007 the Editors of 425 DX News were inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame, "in recognition of their extraordinary and unselfish contribution to the sport of Amateur Radio DXing".

Mauro Pregliasco, I1JQJ
Valeria Pregliasco, IK1ADH