Yesterday in my post noting Don Search’s veracity administering the DXCC rules I time warped to today and my displeasure at how the current DXCC Desk administers the program. In doing so I failed to note that ADXA’s very own Bill Kennamer, K5FUV, took over after Don Search and maintained integrity and adherence to the rules and as a result some DX operations and DX’ers were “outed” for their attempt at falsifying documentation or contacts.

I’m very pleased Bill is back with us in Arkansas but wish he was still there !!!

Thanks for your work over the years at the DXCC Desk, Bill !!!!

73 Joel W5ZN

From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, February 8, 2026 7:13 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: The "Cheaters"

Jussi’s post yesterday morning generated a large number of responses, although it migrated away from his original topic like many threads do.

Any time a discussion about less than honest operators occurs whether in-person, in a chat room, or on email someone will always mention “cheating” has been going ever since the DXCC program began, seemingly to suggest it’s “OK”.

Is it ???

I hope the ADXA folks, as a minimum, all say NO! From my perspective the difference today is ARRL appears to not care one bit about it. For the ADXA folks who were in DX’ing back when Don Search ran the “DXCC Desk” in the days long before LoTW, you probably have at least one QSL card that was rejected or, as a minimum, you were interrogated about its authenticity. When we gained access to the 30-, 17-, and 12-meter bands some unscrupulous chaps would take their 18 MHz card and mark a period between the 1 and the 8 in an attempt to indicate the Q occurred on 160 meters. A quick “red flag” that would appear on some of these cards showed the time of the Q was at high noon when the band was closed up tighter than Fort Knox!!

Don Search retired the program moved on, and somewhere along the way DXCC was labeled by the sponsor (ARRL) as a personal achievement, not a competition, and therefore these folks are only cheating themselves rules enforcement stopped.

Does that suggest cheating is OK??

Rules exist for a reason but that reasoning is meaningless if they aren’t enforced. Sometimes rules are vague and enforcement becomes subjective. There’s an advertisement from a lawyer that states “Just because you did it doesn’t mean you’re guilty”! Maybe so but the DXCC rules are very clear and identifying folks who don’t abide by them are easily identifiable, sort of like an old Arkansas law that is still on the books “You can not walk your cow on Main Street in Little Rock after 1 PM on Sundays”. It would be quite obvious if some was doing so.

Once upon a time folks were disqualified from the DXCC program for breaking the rules but that has not occurred for years. One big operator that is still on the air that was DQ’ed doesn’t appear in any DXCC standings as a result but when ask why he’s not there he simply states “I don’t care about awards, I just keep my own numbers”. Yea right, some of his “numbers” are bogus.

So that brings us back to operator integrity. Since no one is held accountable these days remember this; If you cheat and pull a lot of shenanigans, we all know who you are so not only must you live with your own actions, you must live with the fact you have lost the respect of your peers and that tag will hang on you long after you’re gone. Do we want that to be our DX legacy?

The ADXA folks are a highly respected group of DX’ers that operate with integrity. I hear that about you when I’m among other DX groups. Let’s keep it that way!!!!

Now, GET IN THERE………………….

73 Joel W5ZN