[Dx-qsl] NEW DXCC RULES - REMOTE STATIONS

[MG]

*/If I read the new rules correctly, and I am not certain that I did, 
there are no restrictions on applying for a DXCC award for operators 
using remote station. It further leaves it up to the user of a remote 
station to decide whether he wants to apply for DXCC credit? For 
example, a user on the east coast where there may be no propagation to 
Heard Island for example, can use a remote station where the propagation 
is favorable to Heard Island and apply for credit if he/she believes it 
is ethical?/ **Did I read this correctly? Comments.
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ARRL Board Okays Changes to DXCC Program

The ARRL Board of Directors has tweaked the DX Century Club (DXCC 
<http://www.arrl.org/dxcc-rules>) rules to clarify and expand their 
recognition of remotely controlled station technology. It has also added 
a rule that puts greater ethical responsibility on operators with 
respect to remotely controlled operation. In addition, the Board adopted 
changes to the ARRL VHF/UHF contest rules that are aimed at encouraging 
greater participation. The Board took the actions during its annual 
meeting January 16-17 in Windsor, Connecticut.

*ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, prepares to gavel the 2015 Annual 
Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors to order. [LJB Special 
Photography photo]*

The DXCC Rules <http://www.arrl.org/dxcc-rules> changes, which affect 
Section I, subsections 8 and 9, explain and extend how contacts with 
remotely controlled stations now may be applied toward the DXCC award. 
According to ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, the changes are subtle but 
significant. The modified rules make clear that contacts with legally 
licensed, land-based, remotely controlled stations count for DXCC, but 
the control point -- the operator's location -- of a remotely controlled 
station no longer has to be land based; the operator can be literally 
anywhere.

"It has always been permitted for a QSO to count for both stations, if 
either station was operated remotely from a control point within the 
same DXCC entity," Sumner explained. "Now the location of the operator 
doesn't matter; the operator could be on the far side of the Moon, if he 
or she could figure out how to remotely control a station on land back 
on Earth from there." Transmitter location continues to define a 
station's location, and, for DXCC purposes, all transmitters and 
receivers must be located within a 500 meter diameter circle, excluding 
antennas.

*The ARRL Board met January 16-17 in Windsor, Connecticut. [LJB Special 
Photography photo]*

Under the old rules, if either station was operated from a control point 
in /another/ DXCC entity, the contact did not count for DXCC for 
/either/ station. "This was unenforceable unless someone was transparent 
about what they were doing," Sumner said.

The Board further adopted a new rule, now Subsection 11 (subsequent 
rules have been renumbered accordingly), that acknowledges the reality 
of the technology enabling remote operation, and it puts greater 
responsibility on individuals when it comes to applying that technology 
ethically and responsibly.

*Midwest Division Vice Director Art Zygielbaum, K0AIZ, attended his 
first Board meeting. [LJB Special Photography photo]*

"Issues concerning remotely controlled operating and DXCC are best dealt 
with by each individual carefully considering the ethical limits that 
he/she will accept for his/her DXCC and other operating awards," the new 
rule states. It adds, in part, "the owner of these achievements needs to 
be comfortable standing behind his/her award and numbers. Peer attention 
has always been a part of awards chasing, of course, but in these times 
with so many awards and so many players, it is more important than ever 
to 'play the game ethically.'"

Subsection 11 acknowledges that technological advances "add to the 
difficulty in defining rules for DXCC," but stresses that the intent of 
the rules is what's important. "It will continue to be up to the 
operator to decide what types of legal remote control operating he/she 
will use (if any) to contribute to an operating award," the new rule 
concludes.