The DX Marathon Sprint Is On. Here’s Your Score.

The 2026 DX Marathon Sprint is on the air right now. It started Saturday, October 17 at 00:00 UTC and runs ten days, to Monday, October 26 at 23:59 UTC. Logs are due by Sunday, November 1 at 23:59 UTC.

If you have been chasing DX this week, you already have a Sprint score. DxQSO works it out from the log you already keep, and builds the file you send in.

What the Sprint is

The Sprint is a ten-day event run by the DX Marathon team, alongside the full-year DX Marathon. The idea is the same, compressed into ten days: one point for each DX entity you work, and one point for each CQ zone. Your score is entities plus zones.

• Bands: 160 to 6 meters, including 60 meters and the WARC bands (30, 17 and 12 meters).
• Modes: anything you are licensed for. Enter all modes, or a single mode: CW, SSB or Digital.
• Classes: Unlimited, Limited, Formula and QRP, as defined in the full-year rules, plus a new Classic class this year for SSB and CW contacts only.
• Not counted: contacts through repeaters or satellites, /AM and /MM stations, and internet-linked contacts such as EchoLink, DMR and AllStar.
• No QSLs needed. The Sprint scores what you worked. A contact does not have to be confirmed to count.
• One location. Operate from a single location for the whole Sprint.

Every entrant gets a certificate of merit by email. The full rules are at dxmarathon.com.

Your Sprint score in DxQSO

Sign in at dxqso.net and open the DX Marathon page, then choose Sprint (or go straight to dxqso.net/qso/marathon/sprint). It is there for every DxQSO account, free ones included.

The page shows:

• Your Sprint score: entities plus CQ zones, counted only inside the ten-day window.
• Every entity and every zone you have worked, with the contact that earned it: callsign, band, mode and time.
• Which of them are already confirmed by LoTW® or QRZ. Confirmation doesn't change the score; it is there so you can see how solid each one is.
• How many QSOs counted for the class and mode you picked.

Pick your class and mode at the top and the score follows the rules for that entry. Choose CW only, and only your CW contacts count. Choose Classic, and only SSB and CW count. Classic with Digital scores nothing, and the page tells you so. The exclusions are applied for you: /AM and /MM stations, repeater, satellite and internet-linked contacts never reach the total.

The entities are the DX Marathon's own list, not ARRL DXCC, so your Sprint entity count will not line up with your DXCC total. That is expected.

Getting your QSOs into DxQSO is simple

The Sprint page scores the contacts in your DxQSO log, and getting them there takes a minute. Do it whichever way suits you:

• Upload your logbook. Export an ADIF file from your logging program (N3FJP, Log4OM, N1MM+, Ham Radio Deluxe, WSJT-X or whatever you use) and upload it at dxqso.net. It is the quickest way to get this week’s Sprint contacts in.
• Let them flow in automatically. Connect your LoTW® or QRZ logbook once, and DxQSO downloads your QSOs on its own, on the schedule you choose. After that, there is nothing to remember.
• Send them as you log. DX-TQSL, signed in, sends each log to DxQSO as you upload to LoTW, and the Network Listener picks up QSOs from N1MM+ and other programs that broadcast them, as you make them.

If your automatic download runs monthly, upload your Sprint log once the Sprint ends, so every contact is in before you build your entry.

Build your entry

This is the easy part. DxQSO generates the DXM file for you: the DX Marathon’s own submission format, with your entities, zones, class and mode already in it. No spreadsheet, no retyping a list of entities. When the Sprint is over, choose Prepare Sprint submission, check your details (name, CQ zone, grid, club and soapbox comments) and download the file.

Then submit it at entry.dxmarathon.com by November 1 at 23:59 UTC, choosing the same class and mode there. DxQSO doesn't submit for you; the entry is yours to send.

Still time to add to it

The Sprint runs until Monday night, 23:59 UTC. Open the Sprint page to see which entities and zones you have, look for the ones you don't, and go get them. Every new zone is another point.

73, Steve, N1EZ

The DX Marathon and the DX Marathon Sprint are run by the DX Marathon team. LoTW® is a registered trademark of the American Radio Relay League. QRZ and QRZ.com are trademarks of QRZ, LLC. DxQSO is not affiliated with or endorsed by the ARRL or QRZ, LLC.