[Dx-qsl] 7O1YGF, 7O1A

[jcowens1 at comcast.net]

Ron:

I answer this to you as you listed my email at the bottom of your rather lengthy defense of the DXCC and the ARRL. I am not trying to get the last word in on this, and think that we have pretty much beat this horse enough already. It has been done before and will likely have the same result as the previous rants. Neither of us is entirely right or entirely wrong. We agree to disagree and that is one of the great things about our country. We can do this and still be friends in the end. 

You and Bernie are out there strongly defending DXCC and their decisions on this matter and on the merits of their program. You for your personal reasons, and Bernie for one obvious reason. He gets a paycheck from the ARRL. 

I would like to extend my thanks to Hans (DK9XX) who was one of the 7O1YGF operators that gave his real lilfe account of what happened. It cleared up a a few points for me and made me stronger in support of their cause and the injustice done them in not recognizing their op for DXCC. The check was in the mail from the authorizing agency in Yemen,  but was never delivered. Without that, apparently DXCC will never credit their operation. Intent and promises are not enough. You can see how fickle situations like this can be when you look at the P5/4L4FN op. Permission was granted, the operation was conducted over a lengthy period, and then one day they came in and said to stop what you are doing and get your gear out of the country. My personal thanks to Ed for getting this done and for the personal risks he may have taken to do it. 

I remain convinced that 7O1YGF should be credited, and perhaps even the 7O1A op. My thanks to all of them for doing it in the first place as without people and groups like this, how would these entities ever be activated. Some of these operations take place in countries where it isn't always clear who is in charge and who has authority to permit it. Politics and egos no doubt are at play in this. 

My plea is for these operators to please not stop trying. I think that the DXCC could make life a lot easier on these groups by assisting them up front, but that doesn't seem to be happening and probably won't. We do need a framework and rules for operations to be conducted and recognized so that you don't have people trying to sneak in the back door with a clandestine operation and making a bad name for the hobby. From what I can see, that is not what happened in the case of 7O1YGF. They were there operating in plain sight with what they thought was proper authorization, and then the promise of authorizing paperwork wasn't forthcoming. It was not the fault of the 7O1YGF group, and DXCC should recognize this and change their decision regarding crediting it for DXCC. Nuf said. Let's go chase DX. And Gentlemen, let's please be considerate of each other and treat each other and the hobby with respect.   

John Owens - N7TK