Topband: ARRL DXCC - 160 Meters - Station Location and Boundary

[GEORGE WALLNER]

Dear TopBanders,

I think the League's rules have not caught up with the digital age.

Four things have changed since the "analog age":
1. Noise is up
2. 160 meter DXCC (and up) is one of the last remaining HF DX challenges
3. Shared low-noise RX sites have become easy to build and for many may be 
the only hope for 160 m DX
4. Remote operation has become quite common (more then we think), but its 
not all the same

There are two kinds of remote operations:
A) A Ham has his remote station within the same region or country and 
operates through that
B) Somebody uses a remote station to gain a favorable position for a DX.
A) and B) are very different animals. For A), the station address should be 
the remote site: i.e. not the radio is remote, but the operator. B) should 
not be allowed for DXCC credits (but play with it all you want as long you 
ID correctly)
The current rules make little sense: Not a precise analog, but it is like a 
target range where you were not allowed to use a scope, but you could walk 
up to the target and put the muzzle against the bulls-eye. And get credit 
for it!

My 1.9 cents worth...

George
AA7JV/C6AGU


On Fri, 23 Nov 2018 17:44:31 +0000 (UTC)
  Dan Edward Dba East edwards <dan.n.edwards at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> gotta chip in my $0.02 on this, for what little it may be worth..
> i have access to some remote rural property, here in texas, and in oklahoma..but k5rk and w7rh pointed out 'its not legal for dxcc if an Rx only site'....but RHR is ok ( ????? )
> the league's requirement that my transmit antenna be there also greatly increases the cost / time / complexity commitment compared to an Rx only site; i COULD continue to Tx from my home qth, and listen from someplace quieter, with more favorable local terrain..IF it was 'legal' for DXCC..
> how about 'same call area' or adjacent states / provinces instead of 500m ?????
> presently, still struggling with man made noise in Hunter's Creek, longview, texas...a very long ways from any salt water...VERY lucky to land zone 17 recently, #38, on demon-cheater mode ( FT-8 )... atter 10 years on 160m, when i started from scratch.
> happy holidays, y'all, and good luck!
> 73, W5XZ, dan
>    On Thursday, November 22, 2018, 8:05:50 AM CST, Bill Cromwell <wrcromwell at gmail.com> wrote:  
>
> Hi Joe,
>
> I would have never assumed that you have acreage whether 5 acres or 
> something the size of the King Ranch. All of those electrical belches 
> are difficult to escape. Moving your receiver out into the swamp, 
> forest, desert, craggy mountaintop or anywhere besides your desktop can 
> help. Using DSP can help and maybe even more than physical isolation. 
> Remote receivers can have both. Have you tried DSP?
>
> The software packages come with spectrum displays - much like 
> panadapters - and I have been able to pick out Morse signals between the 
> points of some digital crap resembling the Burger King's crown. Without 
> the DSP there was no way to even hear that CW signal or know it existed. 
> It's not 1956 any more. We have to do whatever we have to do to pull 
> those signals out. Where I live my worst handicap is my 100 foot lot 
> followed by the automotive body shop and it's welders about 250 feet 
> from my back door. DSP is able to pull some signals out even when the 
> welder is in use! In spite of my undersize antennas. 160 DXCC? It ain't 
> going to happen here. I shouldn't even be on 160 meters, But I keep trying.
>
> 73,
>
> Bill  KU8H
>
> On 11/22/18 7:38 AM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>>
>> On 2018-11-22 2:08 AM, kolson at rcn.com wrote:
>>> And this is easy to say when you have 5 acres in a semi-rural area, hi 
>>> hi.
>>
>> With no antennas.  I have not been seriously active on low bands in the
>> 20 years I've been here precisely because of the increasing prevalence
>> of the multiple remote receiver/remote station operations.  However,
>> even semi-rural areas have significant problems with noise from poorly
>> maintained power lines, neighbor's plasma TVs, etc.
>>
>> Multiple remote receiver/"pick your remote station" is the scourge of
>> DXCC in general as it completely removes both station building and
>> operating skills from the equation and replaces them with the check
>> book.  One might as well replace amateur radio with "hamsphere" or
>> IRL.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>>     ... Joe, W4TV
>>
>> _________________
>> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
>
> -- 
> bark less - wag more
> _________________
> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
>
> _________________
> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector