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Jeff Bolling NA9P delivered one of the most interesting presentations I heard at this year's W9DXCC convention: Top 10 Tools the Beginning DXer Shouldn't Be Without. We're doing something a little different on Q5 this week. Jeff joins me to reprise his W9DXCC presentation in its entirety, followed by questions and discussion about his remarkable progress as a relatively new amateur radio operator. Licensed in October 2024, Jeff has already confirmed 178 DX entities, operating with just 100 watts and a wire antenna from a suburban Illinois lot. His presentation draws on that experience, offering ten practical tools and strategies for getting more DX in the log, including propagation planning, GridTracker, contesting, CW, Club Log, and QSL management. What makes Jeff's perspective particularly interesting is that he's learning DXing in today's amateur radio environment, with today's technology and the guidance of experienced operators from the Northern Illinois DX Association. His presentation is valuable not only for beginning DXers, but also for experienced operators interested in mentoring the next generation. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

Tonno ES5TV is the builder and owner of ES9C, one of Europe’s most formidable contest stations. He started in Estonia at age 13, influenced by his father, operating a 40-watt homemade Soviet radio into a Delta loop strung between apartment buildings. Today, ES9C operates from his family’s old country home with multiple towers, full-size 80- and 160-meter four-squares, stacked tribanders, and an extraordinary 15-meter array with eight five-element antennas. But this conversation is about more than hardware. Tonno has won Europe as a single operator, built record-setting multi-multi teams, and assembled crews of more than 20 operators. Increasingly, though, the score isn’t the entire point. He talks about bringing young operators from across Europe into ES9C and creating an experience where they can learn, compete, and become part of a team. We also talk about contesting from Estonia, the challenges of competing from northern Europe, some extraordinary openings to North America, station design and automation, and why Tonno sees encouraging signs for the next generation of European contesters. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

I'm joined by Max Freedman N4ML and Gregg Marco W6IZT to talk about VK9XY, an unusually ambitious DXpedition to Christmas Island—and one designed to put the next generation of serious operators in charge. Max is leading a 12-person team with 10 operators under the age of 26, representing six countries and five continents. From November 16 through December 4, VK9XY plans to operate around the clock with a particular emphasis on 160, 80, and 40 meters. They'll bring four FlexRadio Aurora 520s, two Flex 6700s, two PGXL amplifiers, remote operating capability, and an EME station. They'll even take on CQ Worldwide CW from the island. The logistics are nearly as interesting as the operating. Getting gear from Perth to Christmas Island is complicated, baggage space is uncertain, and after landing the team will have only about four hours of daylight to start building stations. Then there’s the uniquely Christmas Island complication: the annual red crab migration, when some 40 million crabs make their way from the forest to the ocean to spawn. Gregg is hoping the team won’t have to contend with it. But Max has a different measure of success than simply putting a huge number in the log. He wants to hear afterward from the ham who worked VK9XY QRP from a park or from a mobile station. And with experienced DXpeditioners Gregg Marco W6IZT and Glenn Johnson W0GJ deliberately giving the younger operators room to lead, VK9XY is also about what happens after Christmas Island: who takes this experience and leads the next big expedition. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

Uli Ann DM5EE is a WRTC 2026 gold medal winner whose path to the top of radiosport was anything but conventional. For decades, Uli was primarily a low-power operator—working with wires, verticals, borrowed stations, and whatever opportunities came his way. He discovered contesting not because he wanted plaques, but because contests gave his 20-watt signal a chance to reach DX that otherwise couldn’t hear him. For years, Uli regarded WRTC as a competition for “the big guys.” That changed after listening to W2GD and AA3B train for WRTC 2018. He realized he might belong there—not yet as a competitor, but as a referee. Then a work assignment in South Africa created an unlikely opening to qualify for WRTC 2022, held in Italy in 2023. With DL9EE, Uli arrived hoping simply to prove they belonged. They ultimately finished fourth after later corrections to the results. That performance led Manfred DJ5MW to choose Uli as his teammate for WRTC 2026. Their partnership is striking for what it lacks: ego, shouting, and drama. Both are quiet and analytical. Mistakes happen; they move on. They prepared intensely, studied propagation and strategy, then trusted decades of operating instinct once the headphones went on. Following the post-event review of the results, Uli and Manfred were awarded the WRTC 2026 gold medal. Uli also talks candidly about the controversy surrounding WRTC and what should happen next. His position is notably focused on second chances: enforce the rules and accept the consequences, but leave a path back for talented operators willing to compete cleanly. It’s a conversation about winning, certainly—but even more about what decades of modest stations, persistence, friendship, and quiet confidence can produce. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

I'm joined by Chris KL9A and Randy K5ZD to break down the WRTC 2022 rescoring, what changed in the final results, and what it could mean for WRTC judging going forward. A new review of the Italy logs resulted in two teams being disqualified after investigators found evidence of pirate multipliers and frequency-holding schemes similar to tactics uncovered following WRTC 2026 in the UK. The revised results move DJ5MW and DL1IAO into first place. Randy explains how contest logs, SDR recordings, and Reverse Beacon Network data can reveal patterns that weren’t caught during the original judging and why trying to produce final results just hours after a WRTC may no longer be realistic. Chris and Randy look ahead to what could change next time: real-time logging, better automated detection of suspicious activity, more people involved in judging, and potentially a longer period before results become official. They also discuss what consequences should follow a WRTC disqualification. Through it all, both make the same larger point: the operators breaking the rules represent a very small part of contesting, and the effort to find and address these problems reflects how seriously the contest community takes the integrity of the competition. Then we turn to contest season. Randy reports on CQ Worldwide RTTY and what the conditions—especially a lack of east-west activity on 10 meters—might tell us about CQ Worldwide Phone. He’s headed back to the Caribbean, while Chris is preparing KM7W in Montana with antenna work, hardware upgrades, a crew coming in from around the country, and a long list of projects to finish before the contest begins. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

I'm joined by Filipe CT1ILT, Dave 9A1UN, and Kris ES7A, all WRTC 2026 competitors, for a European perspective on the controversy surrounding four team disqualifications—and what it means for the future of elite contesting. Filipe, whose team moved from seventh to fourth after the disqualifications, was among the operators who began digging into the statistics. He, Dave, and Kris describe how unusual multiplier patterns emerged from relatively straightforward log analysis. Their larger point is what comes next: better cross-checking, faster log submission, more powerful tools, and perhaps giving referees a dedicated computer with real-time access to each team's log. The conversation also turns surprisingly optimistic. Rather than seeing WRTC 2026 as permanently damaged, Filipe, Dave, and Kris believe what happened could cause contesting to evolve. They discuss AI-assisted log checking, the limits of what a referee can hear while following two world-class operators running two radios, and whether final results should wait until a more complete review is finished. Filipe offers the simplest philosophy of the day: WRTC is a team competition. You prepare as a team, operate as a team, and accept the result as a team. Beneath the controversy is a bigger question for ham radio: as operators get better and technology gets smarter, can contest adjudication keep pace? Their answer is that it has to—not only at WRTC, but across major contests worldwide. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

Braco Memic E77DX and Sven Lovric DJ4MX speak publicly about their disqualification from WRTC 2026. They apologize, accept responsibility for arranging to have their starting frequencies held before the contest, and agree that the Judging Committee made the correct decision in disqualifying them. They also emphasize that they were not involved in the separate fake-multiplier scheme. The conversation then expands into a candid discussion about rule violations in contesting, including excessive power, remote receivers, past enforcement practices, and whether stronger consequences can change behavior. Braco and Sven discuss what they believe needs to change, while Kevin W1DED presses them on accountability and whether a culture of tolerated rule-breaking can be changed. Finally, Braco and Sven reflect on the personal consequences of the disqualification and what comes next. Sven expects to continue contesting, while Braco is less certain, describing his disappointment, concern about repercussions for people associated with him, and hope that there can still be a positive path forward.

Amateur radio took two operators from Malawi halfway around the world—and what they bring home from Tokyo may matter even more than the trip itself. I'm joined by Urgent Jere 7Q6UJ and Elayi Banda 7Q7EB as they prepare to leave Tokyo after attending the Tokyo Ham Fair and events surrounding the Japan Amateur Radio League's 100th anniversary. For Urgent, the journey included his first-ever airplane flight. Both describe meeting operators and amateur-radio leaders they had previously known only through radio and the internet. Their paths into amateur radio show just how different becoming a ham can be outside the United States. With no local examination available to them in Malawi, they studied for U.S. licenses, took exams remotely, and then used those credentials as part of the process of obtaining their Malawian licenses. That success helped show other young operators around them that getting licensed was possible. The technical challenges don't end with licensing. They talk about acquiring equipment, repairing and reusing a Hexbeam, operating remotely, dealing with unreliable electricity, and finding ways to stay on the air while attending school. Elayi, now studying computer engineering, has also been developing his CW skills and plans to put a 10-meter station on the air from school. And Tokyo isn't the end of the story. They're heading home with ideas to share with younger operators in Malawi, while preparations are also underway for the upcoming VK9XY Christmas Island DXpedition. It's a revealing look at what amateur radio can accomplish when knowledge, equipment, mentorship, and opportunity cross borders. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

One of the Southeast’s longtime gatherings for DXers and contesters is returning to Pigeon Forge—and W4DXCC has some new ideas for its comeback. Jay Slough K4ZLE previews the return of the W4DXCC DX & Contest Convention on September 19 at the LeConte Hotel in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. After a one-year hiatus, the convention that traces its beginnings to 2005 is bringing operators together again for a day built around DXing, DXpeditions, technology, contesting, and the future of amateur radio. The program includes Greg W6IZT presenting an update on the next generation of the RIB—Rig in a Box—technology successfully used on DXpeditions. Jay will explore why there’s more to DXing than simply adding another DXCC entity, while other presentations cover propagation and the Sun, DXpedition operations, youth in amateur radio, and Glen Johnson W0GJ discussing the recent CY0S Sable Island DXpedition. There are changes off the stage, too. W4DXCC is adding a flea market for the first time, operating W1AW/4 and KB4C stations, and holding a 50/50 drawing benefiting Youth on the Air. Jay also explains why fellowship has remained central to the convention since its beginning—and why the organizers want operators and their families back in Pigeon Forge. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

There’s a side of the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) that has nothing to do with radios, antennas, multipliers, or scores—and Bill Vinci believes it can make ham radio stronger. Bill Vinci is the husband of noted contester and WRTC judge Rusty Epps W6OAT, and for years Bill has watched serious operators disappear into the intensity of contests while their spouses and significant others are left on the sidelines. Instead of getting licensed himself, Bill found another way to contribute. The idea began at WRTC Finland. With little for non-operating partners to do during the competition, Bill organized a night out. The next day, an operator handed him $100 and asked him to take his wife out again. Eventually, Bill was taking roughly 60 people by charter bus to Estonia—and the idea that became the Ham Widows Ball was born. At WRTC Wyboston, that idea had matured into something much bigger: an early-week event designed to help spouses and partners make their own connections before the operators disappear into competition. In fact, so many operators signed up that Bill and the organizers had to enforce one of the event’s defining rules: generally, if you had a callsign, you weren’t invited. A few ham radio operators even had to be escorted back out. Bill and Kevin also get into the larger lesson for Dayton, Visalia, WRTC, and other ham gatherings. If amateur radio wants healthy events and committed operators, perhaps organizers need to think beyond the people behind the radios. Give families and partners a reason to enjoy the experience too, and everybody wins. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

The Oceania DX Contest gives operators worldwide a reason to turn their antennas toward a part of the world that can be surprisingly easy to overlook. Grant VK5GR and Holger ZL3IO are experienced contesters and members of the community behind the Oceania DX Contest, an event whose history reaches back to 1935. They explain how the contest works, why roughly half of submitted logs come from outside Oceania, and why organizers would like to see significantly more North American participation. For DXers, the propagation discussion is particularly useful. Grant and Holger explain why long path can be bread-and-butter operating from Oceania, including 20-meter opportunities that North American and European operators may miss simply because they're pointing their antennas in the expected direction. Holger also puts the immense geography of Oceania into perspective: from his New Zealand station, reaching either edge of the region can mean paths approaching 10,000 kilometers. We also look at the overlap between the SSB weekend and the California QSO Party. Contacts with Oceania can count in both events when properly logged, creating an additional opportunity for California and other North American operators to find activity across the Pacific. The 2026 phone contest runs October 3 at 0600 UTC through October 4 at 0600 UTC, followed by CW October 10 at 0600 UTC through October 11 at 0600 UTC. And these aren't casual perspectives on contesting. Holger describes logging roughly half a million contacts from New Zealand and the development of the ZM4T station; Grant operates 20–30 contests a year and has helped assemble a portable multi-multi effort. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

WRTC 2026 ended with one podium. Weeks later, an investigation produced another. The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) brings together many of the world’s top contest operators to compete from comparable stations under a common set of rules. I'm joined by Randy Thompson K5ZD, Chris Hurlbut KL9A, Dan Craig N6MJ, and Bill Fehring W9KKN to examine the investigation that led to four WRTC teams being disqualified and the final results being rescored. Almost immediately after the competition, operators studying the public logs began noticing multiplier totals that didn’t look right. What followed went far beyond ordinary log checking. The investigation examined suspicious “pirate” multipliers, reverse logs, team recordings, independent SDR recordings, operating patterns, and evidence surrounding how particular teams may have been identified on the air. In one case discussed here, logged QSOs appeared in the record even though investigators could not hear the corresponding stations in the recordings. The revised results put Manfred Wolf DJ5MW and Uli Ann DM5EE in first, Dan Craig N6MJ and Chris Hurlbut KL9A in second, and Randy Thompson K5ZD and Tom Georgens W2SC in third. But this conversation goes well beyond who ended up with the medals. The group looks at the roughly 12-hour window judges originally had to certify results, why some manipulation is so difficult to detect in real time, and whether WRTC can continue announcing winners immediately after the contest. There’s also a larger question here for serious contesters: what happens next? Randy, Chris, Dan, and Bill discuss qualifying, enforcement, the future eligibility of disqualified competitors, the role of peer accountability, and why they believe this episode can ultimately strengthen rather than diminish WRTC and competitive amateur radio. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

The Beta Version of the Next.POTA.app is live, bringing new tools for operators and a faster development model for what comes next. Thom Martin W8TAM is a member of the Parks on the Air board and part of the technology team working on the "Next" POTA system. He joins me as Next.POTA.app becomes available to operators to test drive, connected to POTA’s production database and ready for real-world use alongside the existing site. There are meaningful changes for operators: 27 languages and localizations, improved phone and tablet support, more sorting and filtering options, customizable spot information, faster modern software, and sticky comments that let activators put important information directly on an active spot. But there’s another important change behind the screen. POTA’s experienced developers have embraced Claude Code as a development tool, using AI to increase the speed and efficiency of their work while keeping experienced developers in control of the process. Thom says the team has been able to make significant changes in a remarkably short window—from the end of May through mid-August. We’ve discussed this approach with Thom previously on Q5, and this release gives us a chance to see what that development model is producing. That increased development velocity matters because POTA itself continues to grow. The program has grown to more than 90,000 users, with Thom expecting it could reach 100,000 before the end of the year. We discuss what that growth means for database and QSO storage, technology costs currently running roughly $3,700–$4,000 per month, and the increasing demands placed on POTA’s help desk, mapping representatives, technology team, and volunteer network. We also touch on the ongoing discussion around park eligibility and how POTA is working on mapping team expansion and a more scalable volunteer structure. And the Beta version of Next.POTA.app has already been tested well beyond the development desk: Thom recently used it during a huge park rove through Missouri and Iowa, finding problems in the field that the team was able to address. The new system is available now. More importantly, POTA now has a faster path for continuing to improve it. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio. Thanks to DX Engineering for supporting Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio and the operators who continue to build, experiment, compete, chase DX, and take amateur radio into the field. Their support helps us bring the people and technology shaping modern amateur radio directly to the Q5 audience.

Dan Craig N6MJ is one of world's top contesters—and now the new contest manager for the North American QSO Party SSB contest. It’s a fitting assignment: NAQP was the first major contest Dan ever won, back in 1997 when he was just 16 years old, operating from his dad’s house and discovering that maybe you didn’t need the biggest station to compete with the best. Dan explains what goes on behind the scenes of running NAQP and why its simplicity matters. The exchange is just a name and state, single operators get 10 hours out of the 12-hour contest window, and the format gives newcomers a remarkably accessible way into serious contesting. For operators chasing a score, Dan gets specific: check 10 meters immediately, don’t neglect the difficult summer bands, and make enough time for 80 and 160 to hunt multipliers that can separate a good score from a winning one. But Dan’s most interesting strategy has nothing to do with winning this year. He'll deliberately stays on bands later than conventional wisdom dictates so he can find casual operators and newcomers. Sometimes, when he hears an especially enthusiastic new call, he’ll even email afterward with encouragement. Now he wants to build a stronger bridge between NAQP and Parks on the Air—and says the contest team has even discussed the possibility of a future POTA category. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio. Thanks to DX Engineering for supporting Q5 and the operators who keep amateur radio moving forward. From POTA activators discovering contesting to DXers and competitors chasing the next multiplier, DX Engineering continues to invest in the people who get on the air.

Finishing near the top at WRTC takes far more than fast operating. It demands preparation, teamwork, logistics, and thousands of decisions made under pressure. Connor Black W4IPC and Kees Van Oosbree W0AAE join me after their outstanding performance at WRTC 2026, where they captured the Youth Championship and finished 17th overall, outperforming many veteran world-class contest teams. We discuss how they qualified, why they set a modest Top 25 goal, and what surprised them most once competition began. They explain how careful preparation, generous support from experienced contester Tim Shoppa N3QE, donated gear from OM Power, and extensive equipment planning allowed their station to work flawlessly from the moment it was assembled. The conversation also covers the strategy decisions that mattered most, including missing part of the 10-meter opening, choosing to stay on the high bands later than expected, balancing CW versus SSB, and even losing a valuable run when their competition tent nearly blew away during the contest. Beyond the operating, Connor and Kees share what it was like competing alongside many of the biggest names in contesting, meeting fellow youth teams from around the world, and reflecting on what they'd change if they could do it again. Our thanks to DX Engineering for supporting Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio and helping operators everywhere, from contest stations and DXpeditions to Parks on the Air activations and home stations, build, improve, and enjoy amateur radio. Thanks for watching and being part of the Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio community. We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.