[ADXA] New Member stats for Ollie, W5GO

[Pat Patterson]

New member stats info has been posted for Ollie, W5GO.  Ollie added new ones of 30M and 17M as well as some new CW entities.  He raised his Desoto Challenge total to 1884 which is over an average of 5.5 bands confirmed for each of the 340 entities!  Ollie has done that with no 160M or 6M counters.  


I made my pilgrimage to the International DX Convention in Visalia last month.  I got there a day early and attended a morning Contest University session and DX University in the afternoon.  Great speakers/panels for both.  The hot button topics in the DX University session was DXCC entity criteria and remote station rules.  There were a minority of folks who were in favor of dropping/disregarding the UN membership criteria.  Kosovo was the example most cited....the probability of Russia ever allowing Kosovo to be recognized by the UN is near zero.  Most folks feel the current rules work pretty well and I don't think there is sufficient support for a change.  Wayne Mills, N7NG, provided a great review of the history of attempts to find "better" criteria and the pitfalls of each scheme.  While many operators were concerned about the proliferation of remote stations there doesn't seem to be an "enforceable" solution as far as DXCC is concerned. 
 The current rules only require that the operator be located in the same DXCC entity as the station (no distance rule) and that the call used must be for the entity the station is in.  There are no FCC rules that come into play to prevent a W5 op from building a great station in the Northeast  or West Coast and running it remotely.  Folks on the DX Advisory Committee who were present were generally not if favor of trying to implement a rule specifying a maximum distance from an operator's "home" station and a remote due to the lack of any way to enforce the rule and no regulatory basis for such a rule.  Richard, K5NA, spoke of the hard work he had done to build a very capable station in Texas to complete in the Desoto Challenge to only see his totals being passed by folks using remote stations.  Some folks likened the remote station issue to other technology issues that have changed DXing over the years....Internet spotting networks, weak signal
 digital modes, PSK, JT65HF, LOTW, etc.  It the VHF arena it's digital Meteor Scatter and EME versus traditional SSB/CW modes.  The Remote Ham Radio folks were in the vendor area demonstrating using a station in the New York area.  I listened to a couple of Qs made from a laptop and a K3/0 (K3 faceplate remote radio...no RF components).  Sounded pretty good.  It's a subscription service...pay and get a login/password!  Don't know if the price goes up when someone does a DXpedition to P5 or not??


Rick, AI5P, was also at Visalia....first time back for Rick since 1978.  We had a great time visiting and Rick got to catch up with many old friends.  I believe Rick is planning an article for the next newsletter.


There were lots of great DXpediton presentations....FT5ZM, T33A, XZ1J, etc.  I was sitting on the front row at the XZ1J presentation by Paul, N6PSE.  He asked for a show of hands of who had worked them for a new one.  I had one 10M CW QSO and raised my hand. Paul gave me a XZ1J baseball cap. Pretty cool.  The thing I took away from all the DXpediton presentations is just how much really hard work (and expense) goes into activating some of these rare ones.  The XZ1J effort involved 11 trips by Zorro, JH1AJT, and others to Myanmar to gain approval for the operation.  Jay, W2IJ, spoke of the extreme difficulties the T33A team had with getting their gear, antennas, etc. shipped and through all the necessary customs processes.....and the "added" expense at each step of the approval process! Keep that in mind next time you see a pleading for donations!


The Convention Center is very nice and the Southern California DX Club hosts did a great job. I think there were around 650 folks in attendance. It really is a great venue for DXing. As a bonus, you're only an hour away from the Sequoia National Forrest....home of the world's biggest and oldest trees.  I hope to attend again in the future.

Hope to see you all at the 2nd Quarter meeting on June 21st at Corky's BBQ in North Little Rock.

73 ex DX,
Pat  
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