[ADXA] Joel's upcoming article in our newsletter ..

[HamOP]

Good post Joel
I will try to be brief. I was on the DXAC for many years and Chairman in late 70s and early 80s, and the talk began from those DXers who were chasers for a few years only and lacked 3-4 countries and wanted the uninhabited or countries not allowing amateur to be deleted. The DXAC was strongly against this, especially when some “real old timers” who had been around 2-3 times longer than those ‘newcomers’ still needed 1-2 of the same 3-4 rare countries..

I will NOT discuss the allowance of Burma a few years ago at this time and the “way too fast allowing it” without proper proof of “him” being there with permission, mainly because 100s on the DXCC needed only Burma for Top of Honor Roll. In the late 1970s to early 80s there was a time when 3 of the top 5 rarest countries suddenly appeared within 3-4 months and most DXers got them, including HZ/YI Neutral Zone, etc. Then people shut up a while! You don’t just delete 3Y, BS7 and No. Korea at this time and cheapen the DXCC award program for the ego of a few, politically motivated hams in our “HOBBY”… This ain’t a business you know.

Anyway, good prelim comment Joel about your upcoming dissertation for us to read slowly and understand and then support the right agenda that the ARRL should adopt, without politics!  The initial Kosovo operation sorta stands out too. Hmmm.
San K5YY

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: w5zn at w5zn.org
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 10:28 AM
To: adxa
Subject: [ADXA] Various Comments - LONG Email

Greetings ADXA Folks!

I'm sitting here early this nice, cool fall morning listening to 160 
meters for the first time this "season". I don't have my RX antennas up 
and running yet, that is this weekend's project. I am listening on my TX 
array and its good to hear some sigs coming in from South America and 
VK.

As Glenn has noted, the quarterly newsletter will be out in a few days. 
We have articles from Rick, AI5P and EJ, K5EJ plus my usual ramblings. 
In my section I talk about remote operation. It was, once again, a major 
topic of debate, confusion and agitation on the ARRL Awards reflector a 
few weeks ago regarding its impact on the DXCC awards program.

The ARRL Awards reflector debate has now turned to whether or not some 
reefs currently on the DXCC Entity List should be deleted. As you can 
imagine from other reflector debates the discussion has migrated to a 
variety of related and unrelated topics!

I won't repeat my editorial that is forthcoming in the newsletter as you 
can read it when it is distributed however I will state, firmly, that 
the expectation that a person should achieve DXCC Honor Roll, or 
"working them all" in some perceived period of time is not only a false 
perception, it is ridiculous! If you're sensing that I'm not a fan of 
"everyone gets a trophy" you're right. Whether you believe the pursuit 
of DXCC is a competition or an individual achievement is irrelevant 
because very simply it is an award that is EARNED regardless of how you 
view the program. Some have complained that the award and rules have 
become too political....uh??? Did they just wake up yesterday? I've been 
DX'ing and a DXCC holder for over 45 years and I've heard that statement 
the entire time! Since the DXCC program is based on countries (OK 
"Entities") that are controlled by governments would you expect anything 
else? The DXCC rules have evolved over time and that is a good thing but 
we simply do not change rules on a whim or because someone cannot have 
instant access to a country that currently outlaws or prohibits amateur 
radio. To quote John Wayne from the movie Big Jake, "Times change" and 
if you've been DX'ing as long or longer than I have you are well aware 
of countries that outlawed or prohibited amateur in the past that now 
are active on the air daily. Just hang on....remember this program is 
based on political entities that change and evolve over time. If you 
feel slighted because your one or two needed countries seem hopeless, 
just QRX, times change and remember I still need one, just one, to have 
"worked them all" that seems hopeless right now but I'm not throwing in 
the towel over P5!

I remember an interview with past ADXA Charter Member Dick Freeling, 
W5TIZ (SK) that appeared in the Arkansas Democrat statewide newspaper on 
May 29, 1975. During the interview he noted he had made contact with all 
countries except South Sandwich Island and Bouvet Island. Dickie said 
"It is highly unlikely I will ever contact them in my lifetime. There is 
no one there and they are closed down due to an active volcano." If you 
are not aware of W5TIZ he was a blind radio amateur. He lost his sight 
as a Lieutenant in World War II at the hands of a German sniper. At the 
end of the interview Dickie said his life was much better because of 
amateur radio. I believe we can all say that! Fortunately, times changed 
and he did work South Sandwich and Bouvet before he became a silent key!

Let's all remember one thing. The DX Century Club Award is still the 
premier operating award in amateur radio, period, whether you chose to 
only pursue a mixed award of 100 or you continue that pursuit toward a 
5BDXCC on your way to the Honor Roll or 3,000 on the DX Challenge. PAY 
NO ATTENTION TO THE WHINERS AND CRYBABIES that try to tell you 
otherwise. If you hold a DXCC award at any level YOU EARNED IT! Remember 
that. You earned that award using a shortwave station that you assembled 
at your home after you studied and passed an exam to be granted a 
license to transmit by the federal government. Don't forget that and pay 
no attention to the minority of folks who believe just because they 
can't work an entity today that somehow they have been "cheated" from a 
life achievement. To once again quote a movie character, James Bond, 
"We're not dead yet!" :-)))

I am being somewhat firm with my comments and highlighting them for one 
reason and that is I love the Arkansas DX Association. Why? Because 
we're not on our reflector fighting, crying, cussing or discussing 
things for the purpose trying to convince someone we know more than we 
really do. We're on our reflector posting juicy DX we're hearing and 
working so others can possibly grab a "new one". We're on here 
congratulating our fellow ADXA members for their DX achievements and 
helping each other improve our stations and operating efficiency. That 
is our objective.

Yes, the rules will continue to evolve and it is important that we 
provide our input on these matters. We are fortunate to have ADXA member 
Steve N4JQQ as our DX Advisory Committee member for the ARRL Delta 
Divison. Steve is very active in the discussions and always seeks our 
input on matters regarding the DXCC awards program. With that aside, 
let's continue to keep our actions civil and positive. Thank you ADXA!

NEXT TOPIC:
We most likely will NOT be hosting a virtual conference this year. I 
believe most of us are virtually Zoom'ed out, literally. If not, that is 
a blessing. Try to stay in perspective! This technology is great and in 
the future will provide an excellent path for folks to join our sessions 
who cannot attend in-person for one reason or another but for now we do 
not plan an annual conference event. What we do need is to hold an 
annual meeting of some sort to conduct a little association business. 
The ADXA board will be reviewing options.

SILENT KEY:
Some of you knew DX'er Jim Lane, KN4F, in Memphis. Jim became a silent 
key a couple of weeks ago.

That's about all (enuf??) for now. Thanks to everyone for your support 
of ADXA, the DXCC program and ARRL.

73 Joel W5ZN
ADXA President
______________________________________________________________
ADXA mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/adxa
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:ADXA at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/adxa/attachments/20200923/07336aeb/attachment.html>