VK9XY youth DXpedition to Christmas Island set for Nov 16-Dec 4

Christmas Island is about to be run almost entirely by young operators. VK9XY, a youth-focused DXpedition to the remote Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, is scheduled for November 16 to December 4, 2026, according to DX Engineering's OnAllBands blog, which is one of the sponsors.

The effort is led by Max Freedman, N4ML, who operated from Bouvet Island earlier in 2026. Ten young but experienced operators make up the on-island team. Veteran DXpeditioners Gregg Marco, W6IZT, and Glenn Johnson, W0GJ, are going along as advisors.

Plans call for operation on 160 through 6 meters in SSB, CW and FT8, along with a dedicated EME station. EME, or Earth-Moon-Earth, means bouncing signals off the Moon. It is usually done on VHF and up, and it lets stations with suitable antennas work a rare entity even when HF conditions do not cooperate.

The youth angle goes beyond the island itself. Another 30 to 40 young hams will operate VK9XY remotely through NexGenRiB2 radio-in-a-box stations, funded by an equipment grant from the Northern California DX Foundation. Kees Van Oosbree, W0AAE, and Steve Molo, KI4KWR, will lead the remote operating team. The station lineup includes FlexRadio Aurora transceivers and 4O3A Power Genius XL amplifiers, with antenna tubing, coax and RFI suppression gear supplied by DX Engineering.

If you need Christmas Island, the window runs nearly three weeks. That is long enough to try several bands and modes. Watch the DX clusters for VK9XY spots, and check the VK9XY team website for operating news, pilot information and the QSL route, which were not included in the announcement.