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The founding of DXA

Thanks to the increased communication during the 'Citizens Band Boom' at the end of the seventies, it became clear that co-operation between the listeners of short-wave was badly needed.

Due to the lack of an alternative at the Ham- and CB clubs, the former chairman of DX-Antwerp took the initiative and invited some fellow enthusiasts for a meeting on march 11 1982. As a result of this meeting the DX-club DX-Antwerp was founded.

The limited number of members posed no problems at that stage since they all lived close to one another, which ensured contact. Weekly meetings were held to exchange information. An important part of this information at the time was the Falklands war that raged and some auxiliary phenomena in the field of radio (such as radio Malvinas Argentinas).
DX-Antwerp was born and is to this day the only DX-club in Belgium.

In the beginning it was not yet clear whether DX-Antwerp was aimed at the Radio amateur or the shortwave listener. A radio ham course was even organised in order to obtain licence but this turned out to be the wrong approach. As a result DX-Antwerp was changed into a non-profit association, a Flemish club for amateur listeners.
DX-Antwerp was well received and welcomed by the Flemish Dxers: many were members of foreign clubs but missed the personal contact the local club offered.
Through the years membership increased as did the technical interest in receiving of utility broadcasts by some of the members. In those early years the PC (personal computer) as we know it today didn't exist. You had to improvise with second hand equipment, which was usually incomplete or not operational, or resort to building the equipment yourself. We remember extraordinary technical feats with homemade parabolic aerials in order to receive weather maps and foreign television stations. Boxes with complicated electronic contraptions enabled the enthusiast to receive international press agencies and satellite photographs.

At present it's fair to say that virtually all branches of radio communication are practised within DX-Antwerp; the simplest as well as the most complicated and advanced.
It's interesting to note that after all these years we still meet every Thursday night at our club venue: the meeting-room of tavern 'De Schorren' in Hoboken/Antwerp. These enjoyable meetings are probably the basis for the pleasant co-operation in our great club.

DX-Antwerp the Flemish association for shortwave listeners has since grown to a society known and respected far outside the country.