[RTTY] Digital DXCC or ARRL Board of Directors, respectfully: have my strong disagreement

[iw1ayd]

Hi to all.

Just to read the doc abou and not my personal opinion go there:

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/About%20ARRL/Board%20Meetings/2011%20Second%20MeetingMinutes%281%29.pdf

( Take care of the URL line fragmenting and about the dead space 
representation as %20 )


Abstract from "Minutes of the 2011 Second Meeting - ARRL Board of 
Directors - July 15-16. 2011"

29. On motion of Mr. Fenstermaker, seconded by Mr. Edgar, the following 
resolution was ADOPTED:
WHEREAS the DX Advisory Committee (DXAC) was charged to investigate many 
aspects of the ARRL DX program; and
WHEREAS Amateur Radio technology has advanced to include many variations 
of digital communication; and
WHEREAS the DXAC has recommended changing the DXCC Award category from 
RTTY to Digital or RTTY/Digital or Digital Mixed; and
WHEREAS the Programs & Services Committee (PSC) deliberated this change 
and, along with ARRL staff believe the best revised name for this award 
is Digital DXCC, and
WHEREAS, the ARRL thanks the DXAC for its work on this name change;
Therefore, it is RESOLVED that the ARRL Board accepts the recommendation 
of the PSC to change the title of the RTTY DXCC Award to the DIGITAL 
DXCC Award.


What to say, there are no reasons nor facts by any means about the 
decision taken inside that document, as seen here in the abstract.
The phrase " WHEREAS Amateur Radio technology has advanced to include 
many variations of digital communication ...", tells by itself all. 
Technology have changed a lot since the radio was only used for CW, 
sparking or funk (DL), in the meantime, since than and until quite now, 
there weren't changes in the radio technologies, accordingly to this 
2011 sentence: unbelievable.

So, RTTY was RTTY, Phone was Phone and CW was CW. Now, 2011, the 
silliest and subtle discovery that whatever is not Phone or CW must be 
called Digital, like several appliances we have on hands or at home. So 
CW, a digital mode by default and by any mean, will remain unDigital as 
Phone, they couldn't could not be assimilated. RTTY, that by itself 
haven't any remarkable nor visible soul as Phone o CW, instead will be 
fully assimilated. Yes like the Star Trek saga, "Any resistance will be 
futile ...". In the movie that was a nice characterization, now it is 
only an awful envision at best.

Instead to clearly change anything, i.e. adding a Digital DXCC award - 
yes why not, now we are all assimilated as Digital Borg. Worst, leaving 
out more than half of the world that is already digital since than. The 
sacred soul of CW and its big weapons. Playing  between presence or 
absence of a single signal and coding signs accordingly mean enough 
digital to my, any(?), eyes and my ears, but I would not start a 
religious discussion there. All the old DEC self instruction tapes have 
already made this point strong enough in the NRZ signals chapter, almost 
35 years ago (just the clock/timing recovering may seems to gets out of 
the picture ... fuzzy or not fuzzy). Well done, another foot in the 
grave and nobody know how many of those we have to spare.

Nemo propheta in patria.


                               73 de iw1ayd Salvo