7O6T - Yemen Approved For DXCC Credit

[K8WHB]

I agree it is greatly unfair, and shortsighted, if not blind to the Spirit of International good will But the operators have to abide by the rules of the country from which they operate. (It's even in the IARU guidelines.)

This is correct - BUT the organizers of the DXpedition, their sponsors and other associated with the project, if they had ethics & integrity, had another alternative: to refuse to accept the constraints imposed upon them by Yemen and discontinue the entire operation. This they did not do, and at least to me that speaks VOLUMES about them.

[KC9LGW]

As you so aptly note -- DXCC is a "game". It is not a serious life endeavor. It's simply a diversion for some ham radio ops who enjoy competing to contact others operating stations in various places both familiar and not.

Few games are ever truly "fair" -- ask any casino-goer even as they try to "beat the house".

So why get all worked up -- and foster rancor and anger -- over a "game"?

Let it rest, please. Life is unfair. Ranting and complaining here will do nothing to change Yemen's foreign policy and simply seems to be an exercise in trying to spoil the "game" for others.

First, I am not worked up; I expressed my opinion (not a rant). Second, what is unfair about casinos? Just because the odds favor the house does not make the games unfair, all players have the same chance to win. To fall back to “life is unfair” is a cop-out, I don’t buy it.

I don’t expect anything posted here will change any policy in Yemen, I am simply saying that the DXCC rules are flawed. The design of the rules has spoiled the “game” for others. Fair play should be the number one objective in any set of “game” rules; and the ARRL has missed the mark.

It is not a rant, not getting worked up, simply expressing my viewpoint on a topic that is worthy of debate.

[KF7PCL]

I will be perfectly honest here.
I am quite tired of everyone complaining about the exclusion of Israel. Of course it is wrong but the Yemen Government made up a non sense rule that the team has to follow. If the team does not follow the rules, the operators will likely get imprisoned and you can forget any more operations in Yemen. If a foreign ham was visiting the USA, would you expect them to follow the FCC rules? I sure hope so. And discrediting a dxpedition that the team has put so much time, money and effort into just because the Government is childish makes no sense either. There is about 100 hams listed on QRZ from Israel, but there are millions of hams world wide. It doesn't make it right to exclude those operators but there is little that can be done. It seems to Government in these middle-eastern countries is run by the participants of the QRZ forums and cannot get along because of trivial things.

Complaining about it rarely helps.

*flame suit on*

[K1VSK]

Complaining about it rarely helps.

*flame suit on*

Not complaining always results is worse. I'm sure it would not be acceptable for "credit" for DXCC if Yemen had prohibited communications with the U.S. and everyone would complain about that!

This is another example of the what's-in-it-for-me mentality

[K8WHB]

Not complaining always results is worse. I'm sure it would not be acceptable for "credit" for DXCC if Yemen had prohibited communications with the U.S. and everyone would complain about that!

This is another example of the what's-in-it-for-me mentality

AMEN Donald!! If we don't complain about something that is wrong, NOTHING will get changed. I for one intend to complain very loud and long.

I'll be at Dayton & I already have a list of folks I will visit to make my views on this issue known to them IN PERSON, including the participants in the DXpedition, their sponsors & assistants, and the ARRL.

[KF7PCL]

I'm sure it would not be acceptable for "credit" for DXCC if Yemen had prohibited communications with the U.S. and everyone would complain about that!

USA does have alot more hams which makes a difference.
But overall unfortunately this is probably true (and wrong) considering ARRL is an American organization.

But PLEASE do not blame the operating team, it is not their choice.

[KJ4VTH]

That does it! I packing up all of my marbles, before I lose them, and going home!

[KE4YOG]

I agree that Yemen should not have the restrictions that it does and I am split on the issue. Are there any other countries that forbid ham radio contact with another country? I am just wondering. We can go ahead and not count any mainly Islamic or Arab country that forbids its hams from contacting Israel. I am fairly new to being able to operate on bands that I would have to wonder about that.

[W4PG]

How odd that those who want ham radio free of political issues demand that the ARRL take a political stand on an issue that is simply a NON-issue to the Yemen government, which could not care less whether anyone chooses to work the expedition or not. The ARRL needs to stay OUT of this political mess and as long as the operators meet the requirements of the local government, it's good to go. I personally would find fault with the ARRL is they chose NOT to OK this expedition, as a ham radio organization has no business telling any country how to run its business.

We are a HOBBY for Christ's sake and we work the folks when we can. That a group of hams were able to even get permission to operate from where they are and faced serious issues with pirates in the area and STILL made the effort is quite remarkable.

Yet some folks want to punish the operators for the guidelines that the government set up? Seems pretty short sighted to me . . .

[KF7PCL]

How odd that those who want ham radio free of political issues demand that the ARRL take a political stand on an issue that is simply a NON-issue to the Yemen government, which could not care less whether anyone chooses to work the expedition or not. The ARRL needs to stay OUT of this political mess and as long as the operators meet the requirements of the local government, it's good to go. I personally would find fault with the ARRL is they chose NOT to OK this expedition, as a ham radio organization has no business telling any country how to run its business.

We are a HOBBY for Christ's sake and we work the folks when we can. That a group of hams were able to even get permission to operate from where they are and faced serious issues with pirates in the area and STILL made the effort is quite remarkable.

Yet some folks want to punish the operators for the guidelines that the government set up? Seems pretty short sighted to me . . .

Thank you!