[Updated Sep 14, 23:45 UTC] Special event station ZM9ØDX will be on the air from New Zealand for 13 months, from October 1, 2013, until October 31, 2014, to mark the 90th anniversary of that country's first DX activities on the amateur bands and to commemorate the DX pioneers who made them happen.

The first New Zealand-to-Australia contact took place in April 1923, followed by then-world record contacts between New Zealand and Argentina the following May, and between New Zealand and California the following September. The first contact between New Zealand and California happened in September 1924, and just a few weeks later came the first contact between New Zealand and the US East Coast (Connecticut).

Organizers say “the ultimate” contact between Frank Bell, Z4AA, and Cecil Goyder, G2SZ, happened in October 1924.

Activated by the Kiwi DX Group, ZM9ØDX will operate from locations around New Zealand on all bands and modes from 1.8 MHz to 1.2 GHz and beyond.

A commemorative QSL card will be available, and there is an award program for contacts with New Zealand during the event period as well. Event organizers say that in the spirit of the early pioneers, the ZM9ØDX operators will call CQ on bands and in directions one may not necessarily expect “with the intention of exploring the boundaries of radio propagation.”

Further details are on the ZM9ØDX website. Note that this is a ZL-based activity, not ZL9, Campbell and Auckland Islands, so participants may wish to update the country file for their logging software. — Thanks to Bill, ZL3NB/Kiwi DX Group