[RTTY] RTTY vs Digital DXCC

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

 > A couple problems as I see it:  1) No one asked the membership if the
 > change was desired it was announced with no forewarning.

If one will read Minute 29 from the complete minutes of the ARRL Board
Meeting: 
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/About%20ARRL/Board%20Meetings/2011%20Second%20MeetingMinutes%281%29.pdf>, 
page 9, one can see that
this change was recommended by the DX Advisory Committee (DXAC) and
reviewed by the Programs & Services Committee (PSC) as well as HQ staff
(I presume that means the DXCC Desk).

A recommendation from/by the DXAC does not exactly match with "no one
asked the membership."  DXAC is charged with representing the membership
on DXCC matters.  While I doubt that either DXAC, PSC or the DXCC desk
conducted a scientific survey of the membership as a whole or DXCC
members in particular, I am sure that members of those committees did
engage in discussions with at least some portion of the membership.  I
am reasonably sure that DXAC did not expect that changing the name of
"RTTY DXCC" in order to more accurately describe the nature of the
award - whether the final name was RTTY/Digital DXCC, Digital Mixed,
or Digital as was finally selected - would be any more controversial
than PHONE DXCC instead of SSB DXCC.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 8/17/2011 11:30 AM, Peter Laws wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 08:54, Dave Barr<recordupe at verizon.net>  wrote:
>> Come on guys.  The accomplishment is the same whether the name on the
>> DXCC certificate is RTTY or Digital.  Just because some of us have the
>> former doesn't mean we made all the q's on RTTY.   When you get your
>
>
> A couple problems as I see it:  1) No one asked the membership if the
> change was desired it was announced with no forewarning.  As I told my
> Div Dir, this does nothing but add to the chorus of folks who claim
> that HQ (if not the BoD) is out of touch with the membership; 2) No
> grace period for you!  Done deal.  All over.  No opportunity for those
> of us that wanted a RTTY DXCC to get one.
>
> As I've said before, I don't want to see DXCC become the morass of
> awards that is WAS, so I don't expect to see awards for every single
> mode and will grudgingly admit that Digital is a better fit.
>
> OTOH, I *do* expect that the League will ask the membership what they
> think before changes like this.  Further, I expect that there would
> have been a grace period to allow those of us that really wanted RTTY
> DXCC to still apply for it.  I submitted *the day* it was announced
> ... sorry, too late.
>
>
>
>
>