The Gridlock at 331 <https://inbody.net/blog/the-gridlock-at-331-dxcc-honor-roll-is-impossible-for-newer-hams>
*Don Inbody, AD0K* Chasing the DXCC Honor Roll has been the long game for generations of DXers. Decades of listening through static, upgrading antennas, learning propagation, and losing sleep over an elusive prefix. The reward is a place on a short list of operators who have worked nearly every entity on the planet. The DXCC Honor Roll should be hard. It should not be impossible. Under the current rules, it is. At the risk of angering some of us old-timers, I offer the following for consideration: The Math The January 2026 ARRL DXCC List shows 340 current entities. Honor Roll requires 331, the numerical top ten of the total. Miss more than nine and you are out. That margin assumes every entity is reachable on a reasonable timeline. It is not. The Entities You Cannot Work A close look at the list shows a cluster of entities with no realistic prospect of activation in the next decade. North Korea (P5) is closed. Turkmenistan (EZ) does not license amateur radio. Scarborough Reef (BS7H) and Pratas Island (BV9P) sit in contested South China Sea waters with no civilian access. Johnston (KH3), Midway (KH4), and Kure (KH7K) are locked by USFWS marine monument rules. Navassa (KP1) was last activated in 2015 and USFWS has signaled it will not repeat. Syria (YK), Sudan (ST), Afghanistan (YA), and Myanmar (XZ) cannot host a legitimate operation under present conditions. That is twelve entities off the table, and arguably more. The achievable ceiling for a DXer starting today is roughly 328. What the Numbers Mean Threshold: 331. Ceiling: 328. An operator who builds a strong station, works the bands faithfully, and confirms every entity actually available will still fall three short of Honor Roll. The award now rewards the year a license was issued more than the work done at the radio. DXers who caught Navassa in 2015 or P5 in 2002 hold credits no one can earn today. That is longevity, not skill. The Fix The DX Advisory Committee is reviewing DXCC rules through 2026, and the Honor Roll threshold is on the agenda. Two options deserve attention. 1. Lower the threshold to a fixed number, say 318. Three hundred confirmed entities remains a serious multi-year achievement and preserves the elite character of the award. 2. Or tie the threshold to entities activated within the last twenty years. Long-silent entities drop out of the denominator, and re-enter when next activated. Either approach returns the Honor Roll to what it was meant to measure: what an operator did at the radio. What to Do Contact your division DXAC representative. The list is on the ARRL site under DX Advisory Committee <https://www.arrl.org/files/file/DXCC/DXAC_List_Sept_2024.pdf>. The committee is asking for member input now, and a brief, direct email carries more weight than silence. 73, Don, AD0K
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