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DXAC to Formulate Final Report to ARRL Board

The WeeklyDX™ Helpful Hints No. 61 from the DX University™*

(2014.04.28)

In the coming weeks the DX Advisory Committee will be formulating its final report to the ARRL Board of Directors regarding potential changes to the DXCC program rules. While there are any number of issues that might come, two seem to be at the forefront in DXers minds.

One is that matter of the current country criteria. The current country criteria is not the same as was formulated by the so-called DXCC-2000 committee in 1998. As a result of world politics -- and ARRL Board changes -- the original 1998 criteria no longer exists.

At the same time, changes in world politics beginning well over six years ago, and currently accelerating recently may cause us to wonder where we are headed in the next decade. Ideally, DXCC country criteria should not be politically charged. Geopolitical entities with large populations should not be neglected from a DXCC point of view for political reasons. At the same time, the desire for new countries and alternately, the desire for no new countries should not be argued ad-infinitum by the ARRL and its advisory committee.

Clearly, the current criteria is broken. We need a new criteria that adds political entities to the list while rejecting those which don’t meet reasonable criteria.

The second matter is that of remote control. Originally, remote control was not really an issue. The technology just wasn’t there for its wide-spread use. The first DXCC rules allowed QSOs to be made from anywhere in your call-area, where call-areas existed. Where they did not, QSOs could be made anywhere within your DXCC country. That rule was later change to restrict your operation to a 150 mile radius of your “original location.” Since 1977, in order to accommodate our increased mobility, QSOs have been valid anywhere within one’s own DXCC country.

Today, enhanced technology utilizing the Internet makes remote control operation possible from anywhere in the world. Although enforcement is virtually impossible, DXCC rules would never be altered to allow contacts to be made with a transmitter outside the bounds indicated by a DXCC certificate. The physical location of a station will likely always define the place for which awards are issued.

Issues remain, however. From where should an operator be allowed to operate? That is where should control points be allowed? If they are restricted, how can such restrictions be enforced? There are many different combinations of equipment and control point locations to be considered.

Rules changes related to both of these matters are under consideration. Do you have some good ideas? This week’s hint is for you to be sure to contact your DXAC representative if you have a stake in these issues. Time is growing short. If you have the ideal solution, be sure to pass it along. Make your ideas known.

*The DX University™ maintains an Internet-based website containing lots of useful DXing information. Visit it at www.dxuniversity.com. The next scheduled in-person DX University session will be held on Thursday, July17, 2014 in Hartford, CT, at the ARRL Centennial celebration.