[CQ-Contest] "D1WW"

[Kevan Nason]

Bosko wrote:

Please explane me, and many others in the word, difference between D1
and Z6 status, taking into consideration ITU regulations, without any
political explanations.


Thank you in advance.
- - - - - - - - - - -

Well Bosko, here’s my non-political amateur thought. It doesn't address the
ITU regulations as you asked, but it is applicable to the RBN system and
contests.



Having the RBN check something to verify what it thinks is a call truly is
an actual call is a good thing. So, what does it check? A logical place is
a listing of “valid” call signs. What is “valid”? Using lists the Contest
Sponsors specify in their rules seems a very good place to look for valid
calls. After all, I think it safe to say most people who both use the RBN
and are contesters only care about spots from stations that will give them
points. And the RBN was made possible, in whole or part, by several
contesters so it isn't surprising that was and still is a goal for them.
Getting a spot for a station that the sponsors will not regard as a
multiplier is of minimum use to a contester so I am glad they are excluded.
Also, spotting a station not on a list a contest sponsor thinks of as being
"valid" calls would not likely help a DXer either.



The Russian DX, ARRL, CQWW, and WAE rules all specify a multiplier is a
station found on either the WAE Country List or the DXCC Entity List. (The
ARRL only says DXCC). I didn't check but would bet many other contests use
those same lists for determining multipliers.  D1 is not found in either of
those lists. Z6 is on one of them. If D1 isn't a possible multiplier for
those big contests it seems reasonable to exclude it from a list of valid
RBN spots. If it is ever added to one of those lists then it should be a
RBN spot.



That isn’t a political statement from me or this community. Nor is it meant
to be critical of the hams in the disputed regions. I regret they are
caught in the middle of world politics. It simply reflects the realities of
people running the skimmers and RBN trying to provide a technical service
with available resources to a large number of people around the world
without using up all their free time trying to please everyone – which is
impossible to do anyway.



Kevan

N4XL