[Dx-qsl] 7O1YGF, 7O1A (long)

[Ron Notarius W3WN]

[My apologies for the length of the following post, but I am going to try
and say this once and for all... famous last words, I know]

The 7O situation may be an issue that is never resolved to everyone's
liking.  And every time it's hashed and rehashed, someone assume's someone
else's speculations or idle rants are facts, which only serves to muddy the
waters further.

Let's all stop for a moment, take a breath, and look at the facts as we know
them.

Fact:  7O1YGF and 7O1A both operated from within Yemen.  No one has ever
disputed that.
Fact:  Operators of both assumed that they had a valid license or equivalent
permission to operate.
Fact:  Neither did.

Now I know that some reading that last line will take it pretty harshly, and
I have no reason to come across negatively, nor do I mean any disrespect to
the operators and what they went through to get themselves and their
equipment into & out of the country.  But that's the cold hard facts.

Now... I understand that the 7O1A guys thought they had a valid license
issued by the local PTT authorities in Aden.  But I also further understand
that it was overruled by the central government PTT in Sanaa.  If I'm not
mistaken, this is equivalent to the State of PA issuing me a ham license,
but the FCC says "not so fast."  Regardless... they never had a valid
license.

In the case of 7O1YGF, we've heard from Hans DK9KX (one of the team) that
the team had a verbal license, but never were able to obtain a written one.
I truly feel for the whole team on this, because if what he alleges is true
(not that I doubt him, but I wasn't there!), he and the team were misled by
someone in the Yemen government.  I'd like to think it wasn't deliberate.

So what else do we know?

Well, there have been a few approved operations from 7O in the recent past;
they've been listed a few times so I won't repeat them.  Why were those
operations accepted?  Baring evidence (not speculation) to the contrary, one
must assume that these operations had something to indicate official
approval from the Sanaa PTT to be QRV.  Exactly what, I don't know.  But one
can derive from this that it is possible (albeit difficult to very
difficult) to obtain permission from the central government to operate.  So,
why couldn't 7O1YGF get this same permission?

Now, several posters have implied or outright alleged that there are certain
people in the ARRL in general and the DXCC in particular who for whatever
reason are blocking acceptance of these two ops for credit.  I have great
difficulty buying that.  And that's because I have personally talked with
certain current and former ARRL staffers involved with DXCC about that
matter at various times over the years -- either via email or in person at
Hamvention.  Because these were private conversations, I am not at liberty
to say whom (although you may guess -- and Osten, you know at least one of
them, you've had a similar conversation) lest their private conversations be
twisted into official ARRL / DXCC policy.  So you may or may not believe me
when I tell you this:  I have been told point blank that these people would
like nothing better than to approve both operations!

So why haven't they?

It's because that they can't until and unless the operations qualify under
the current DXCC rules (aka "DXCC 2000").  And that means some, any,
positive physical proof of license or equivalent permission to operate.

...oh, I see Fred and Doug and a few others saying "but they haven't been in
the past!"  True.  Very true.  If you look at the entire history of DXCC,
you will see that up through the Dr. Don Miller W9WNV era, most operations
were accepted on face value.  He was the turning point that began us down
the slippery slope to where we are today.  I won't rehash THAT whole issue
right now.  Suffice to say that to the best of my knowledge, since the
current version of the rules (with some small revisions) were adopted 8-9
years ago, the DXCC desk has been very consistent in how the rules towards
expeditions to the rarer spots on the globe have been.  And both of the
operations we've been talking about came about well after the current rules
went into play.

...did I just hear someone say "what about P5?"  QRX 1.

Anyway, one more set of facts to throw into the pot on 7O1YGF.  And if you
don't believe me, go back and check your old DX bulletins from that time
frame:
Fact:	the 7O1YGF team claimed before the operation that they had a license
waiting for them on arrival.
Fact:	the team said during the operation that they had a license, but hadn't
gotten it yet.
Fact: the team said after the operation that they were still hopeful to get
their hands on the license.
Fact:  members of the team claimed that they had sufficient documentation
for the DXCC desk that they were going to present to ARRL / DXCC staff at
the Friedrichshafen convention.  They didn't.

Why?  I don't know.  Maybe Hans knows more about this, but I really hate to
put him on the spot again.

But I also know, based again on my previously mentioned discussions, that
(at least at that time) the DXCC would have accepted ANYTHING in writing to
show that the 7O1YGF team had permission to import their equipment, thus
implying permission to operate.  Not even that was provided.

Bottom line is that the DXCC desk isn't the bad guys here, gang.  There are
no "bad guys," just a bad situation.  But you can't have it both ways.  You
can't claim that the DXCC desk has been inconsistent in the past in how they
accepted operations, when they're trying their hardest for the last few
years to BE consistent... and then demand that they be inconsistent and make
an exception, as much as they'd like to.  Either the rules are followed, or
they're not.  They are trying to follow the rules.

And remember:  NO documentation has ever been submitted to the DXCC desk.
Which is just how they treat any operation from any entity that is as
difficult to obtain a license or operating permission from as 7O.  So until
and unless that documentation is forthcoming, 7O1YGF will remain in
"pending" status.  They can't accept or reject it until something is
submitted -- and that's the responsibility  of the operating team, not the
desk!  [And surely after all these years, can't the official who gave the
verbal license quietly write a letter and say "yes, I gave them permission
to operate, and yes, I had the authority but was later overruled" ? I know,
I know, it will probably never happen...]

Also, it's not just on these two 7O ops.  For example, I know that if and
when I ever get off my butt and send in my cards for DXCC (yes, you read
that right... I've qualified for 5 Band with about 285 confirmed, but being
a master procrastinator, never applied for anything), I know not to bother
sending in my one and only 4W6 card.  Why?  Because I found out after the
fact that Thor's license had been cancelled when the UN turned over the
territory to it's then-new government, and that technically there's a period
of about 6-8 months where most 4W6 ops didn't hold valid licenses.
Therefore, even though I have worked the entity, it can't count.  [And we
won't even go into the whole 9U mess a few years back, will we?]

Finally, getting back to P5/4L4FN.  I must disagree that this situation is
analagous to the 7O ops; it's similar, but only to a point:

-- 7O1A and 7O1YGF were DXpeditions.  P5/4L4FN was a UN employee working in
the country; he wasn't there for a short term visit just to operate.

-- There is a past history of valid amateur operations from 7O.  There were
none prior to Ed from P5, only one short "demo" from OH2BH under the
watching eyes of the appropriate government officials.  So there was no
precedent for a "true" Amateur service operation.

-- Ed had written permission to operate, and no, I haven't personally seen
it.  He didn't have a "license" as we normally speak or think of it because
_there_is_no_Amateur_Service_in_North_Korea.  My understanding from my
sources is that this included the paperwork to show that he had permission
to import Amateur gear (rigs, antennas, etc.) into the country.

And it's also important to note that Ed was asked to leave the country for
political reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with Amateur Radio, not
because he was "caught" operating.

Am I entirely comfortable with the circumstances behind P5/4L4FN being
accepted?  No.  There are some questions I've raised that haven't entirely
been answered to my satisfaction, but I've learned enough to believe that
there was no ulterior motive involved -- no cases of "hey, it's my buddy,
and since I'm the King of DXCC, approve it" or anything like it. At worst,
you could make a case that a few items in the "gray areas" were given the
benefit of the doubt -- and IF that is the case, I would expect anyone else
operating from a place as rare and unique as North Korea to be treated the
same way.  (And as you've probably figured out, I don't put 7O in the same
category as P5)

Like I said -- there are no "bad guys" here.  It's a sad situation.  But
constantly harping on the DXCC desk to break the rules just is not going to
work.  Until they get the long promised documentation, if it still exists,
they're operating in a vacumn.

73, ron w3wn

Disclaimers:  I do not work for the ARRL, I do not officially hold a DXCC
certificate of any sort (procrastination at work, but I do have to get
around to it...), I have not worked any of the stations discussed, and since
Honor Roll and/or Working Them All is not an never has been a realistic goal
for me, I am not at all unhappy if I never do work those entities!

-----Original Message-----
From: dx-qsl-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:dx-qsl-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of jcowens1 at comcast.net
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 2:13 PM
To: DX-QSL Reflector
Subject: [Dx-qsl] 7O1YGF, 7O1A


Let me see if I have this correct now. In each case,  a group of amateuer
radio operators (doesn't matter who or which country) decides they are going
to help the many deserving ones of us by activating the difficult country of
Yemen.

They search for the authorizing or licensing agency for this kind of
operation, get permission from someone or some department that says they are
the ones that have the authority, and they tell you to go ahead and do it.
Then they suffer the expense, logistical nightmares and personal risk
toconduct the operation. I am sure it is no picnic doing this kind of thing
in Yemen  Then they print these expensive QSL cards and labor for hours to
get them mailed out to us, all in the interest of misrepresenting themselves
and fooling all us of into thinking we had a "good one". Joke's on you.

Got to be honest with you in saying that it has to be a real chore finding
out who is the licensing or authorizing agency in a country like Yemen. What
are the odds of getting it right the first time? Now Bernie and Ron have put
themselves right in the middle of this by defending the DXCC decision to
reject these operations. Bernie doesn't have to sweat it as he already has 3
confirmed ones in the box. That sure makes me feel better about it. The
7O1YGF (the Yemen German Friendship operation - apparently not so
friendly??) never did turn in any documentation to DXCC at all per the
defenders. The 7O1A operation didn't know the capital of Yemen is Sana and
not Aden and will thus be punished.

So the obvious conclusion to this has to be that the individual operators of
these 2 operations were the ones who frauded us and we should take them to
task for it. Public flogging seem appropriate.

Given the circumstances, trying to conduct a properly authorized operation
of this type in Yemen has to be a monumental, if not impossible task. I
think the DXCC committee should cut some reasonable slack for operations
like this that were obviously conducted from there, and with what the
operator's or group thought was proper authorization. Not all of these
countries allow a "clean as a whistle" authorization. I am sure this kind of
"flexibilty" has been applied to other operations. Perhaps the DXCC
committee should publish a list of authorizing agencies that must grant
permission from a DXCC country for it to be recognized. That would save
everyone a lot of  headaches and heartaches.

John Owens - N7TK

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