[ADXA] Message From DXAC - Delta

[w5znjoel at gmail.com]

ADXA Folks,

 

That a country does not allow amateur radio, or it has not been activated in 10 years or more is simply not a valid argument and has been debunked here many times. Three prime historical examples are China, Albania, and Viet Nam. There are ADXA members (me included) who cried to the high heavens we could NEVER work those countries because amateur radio wasn’t allowed. I remember ole Jim Crowley, W5IRG (SK) in Hazen claiming he would die before he could ever work BY. Then, low and behold out of no where and all of a sudden amateur radio was allowed in China. Same with Viet Nam and Albania. There are other examples. So these countries that are not on the air as of today, March 16, 2026, could change on a dime tomorrow. It has happened before and will happen again.

 

How many of you thought you would NEVER have a shot a Bouvet after the last failed effort a couple of years ago? How many of you thought you would never have a shot a Peter 1? That one is planned by the group that just very successfully pulled off Bouvet. The recent KP5 operation was a very successful experiment that proved to the U.S. Gov’t that amateur radio could be used in a restricted area with very minimal human intervention. The result will prove beneficial in activating other restricted areas that some of you need. I can tell you for a fact there are ongoing discussions with world governments to activate some countries that are currently highly restricted. It is unknown if those negotiations will be productive, but the effort is being made.

 

I still want to hear a valid argument as to why some folks believe they are entitled to achieve DXCC Honor Roll? DXCC is not, and never has been, an entitlement program. North Korea is standing in the way of me having #1 Honor Roll and I may very well be SK before it is activated again but that does not entitle me to an achievement level that would be watered down and the requirements lowered simply because of an entitlement belief. 

 

I do realize and agree there are a couple of entities on the list that seem ridiculous. Roger noted Scarborough Reef as one but that is a different matter to address in the DXCC rules than lowering the requirement for Honor Roll.

 

All of the current arguments to reduce the required level to achieve Honor Roll are nothing more than entitlement crying because some believe their DXCC achievement should receive some special reward. Well, it is rewarded by acknowledging the total number of DXCC entities they have confirmed and if you’re over 300 that is very special, but it does NOT warrant Honor Roll.

 

If I haven’t pissed enough of you off already let me finish by saying it is now easier to work DX than ever before thanks to FT8. Don’t believe me? I have a friend who just got on FT8 about 3 weeks ago and he has already worked 200 DXCC countries. 20 years ago that would have NEVER, NEVER, EVER happened in that period of time.

 

DX’ing is a marathon, not a sprint. I want to see every ADXA member achieve Honor Roll and I want to help you get there, but not by believing you are entitled to achieve it with lowered requirements.   

 

73 Joel W5ZN

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