Well Spoken!! Tho I have managed to make the honor roll, some that I need,
have not nearly been accessible over the years, as Mt. Athos. And, still are
not!
Ray
K5RPC
- Original Message -
From: Ron Notarius WN3VAW [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: DX Chat [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:45 PM
Subject: Re: [DX-CHAT] What is DX?
Urb, as always, raises some good points, and I find myself pretty much in
agreement with his sentiments.
However, I don't think that the issue is what is DX? so much as it is
what is a DXCC entity? There IS a difference.
In other words, if Mt. Athos, SMOM, 4U1UN, 4U1ITU, M-V Island, and so on
are
removed from the DXCC or WAE or whatever lists... they're still DX, just
not
additional counters in our specialized little game here.
Now, whether or not these, shall we say, unusual entities should have been
given their separate recognition (for whatever reason based on the DXCC
rules at the time of recognition) is academic; they have the recognition.
That other, similar potential entities (such as 4U1VIC and 4U1WB) have not
received similar recognition (again, for whatever reason based on the
rules
at the time recognition was applied for) is also academic; they ain't
gonna
get it, and won't unless the existing rules are modified. Should they be?
That, as they say, is the rub.
In other words, the system is as fair as possible considering time,
changing
politics, and changing rules. But it is not and never will be 100%
fair.
To get a little more specific for a moment:
I do not know if the Powers That Be on SV/A would prefer not having
separate
recognition for Mt. Athos from Greece for DXCC purposes; but considering
that, despite the importance of the SV/A counter in our game to us, it is
at
best a distraction to them that they could do without. And I think we all
forget to some degree sometimes that Monk Apollo is there for many other
purposes than giving us all a new DXCC band/mode entity. To that extent,
I
would agree with Urb that we have sometimes been spoiled by the 20/30/40K
QSO DXpeditions of late.
Nevertheless, Mt. Athos is a DXCC entity, and so long as it remains so,
activity from there will be coveted. And many won't be fortunate enough
to
work it. So it goes; it is simply something that we will have to learn to
accept. Otherwise, we run the risk that the Powers That Be will simply
revoke Monk Apollo's permission to operate from SV/A, and will not permit
anyone else to do so... and we will all be worse off for it. (Just
consider
that at least one low-level bureaucrat has allegedly written the ARRL to
have Navassa Desecheo removed from the list so that they won't have to
deal with all of the amateurs asking for permission to land operate from
there -- nice to know it's ok for the illegal fishermen, drug dealers,
pirates, and so on to land there but those of us who follow the rules and
ask nicely first get the proverbial bureaucratic shaft, but I digress...)
Remember too that even if you could make a case for removing SV/A and some
of the other oddballs from the list, under the current rules, the entity
does NOT move to the Deleted list but disappears for all time as if it
never were -- the one portion of the update I did not and do not agree
with.
You can just imagine the outcry from all of those losing that counter for
all time -- I'd bet it would surpass the current grumbling from a few of
those of us who haven't worked or confirmed it yet.
Finally, to address Urb's last question, taking into consideration that
despite the alleged waning interest in and number of licensed / active
amateurs in the world today... DX is probably easier for most of us to
work
and confirm today than it was or would have been 50 years ago. So yes,
some
of us are a little spoiled. (But I'll tell you, I was amazed at how much
fun it was, my first ventures onto 17 and 12 meters, to work some of the
common DX entities for the first times on these bands -- and without
benefit of linear, beam, net, or cluster either.)
So, whaddya think about trying to shift our focus from arguing about the
merits of whether or not a particular entity should or should not be on
the
list to trying to help get those less active entities QRV?
73, ron wn3vaw
AJ: Did you ever hear of Evel Kneival?
Lev: I never saw Star Wars
-- Armageddon
- Original Message -
From: Urb LeJeune [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 11:34 AM
Subject: [DX-CHAT] What is DX?
I totally accept the fact that I'm an old fart and that the condition
colors (and reduces) my thinking process. Having said that I fail to
understand some of the thinking express during the recent new country/
Mt. Athos threads.
There is a danger in any discussion that the definitions of key
terms may not be universally shared. To wit, what do we mean by DX?
To be sure, at one time DX was defined by distance, this is still
