Re[2]: [HCDX]: Country List Debate

[ahlrothe@xxxxxx]

Risto,

You brought up a very important point of DX-ing in Finland.  You said that it is
not sensible to compare with someone who travels everywhere and reports locally
or nearly locally.  That is exactly what you are doing over there.  The distance
between Hanko and Utsjoki is about 1100 kilometers.  About the same distance
than from my location 3 kilometers west of Geneva (Switzerland) airport in
France to Manchester, England or Budapest, Hungary or Hamburg, Germany or
Madrid, Spain or Palermo, Italy.  You really cannot compare your achievements
with DX-ers from other countries, when you do not do your DX-ing from a single
location as most of us in Central Europe do (Fellow DX-ers please correct me if
I am wrong).  If we travel the distances you do in Finland, we are very soon
outside the borders of the country where we live.

What about people living in USA?  They can travel quite a bit further than you
can travel within Finnish borders, but still their travelling cannot be called
"travelling everywhere", because USA is considered as one country.

It is not only the newcomers which should continue in the hobby.  It is also
with us "old-timers" for whom it is not always so evident, why we should stay
with the hobby.

I think, I am a "special case".  I started DX-ing back in 1959 in Finland.  I
went through the "Finnish Competition" at the time.  My best rankings among
Finnish speaking DX-ers were at one time 10th on short waves, 2nd on medium
waves, 2nd on utilities and 1st on TV.  However I did not stay long on that
level for several reasons (DX-ing from a single location, using my iron bed as
my best antenna, my studies, my work, etc.).

I left Finland in 1969 to work first in USA for a year and half.  After that I
moved to Switzerland and in 1987 to France.  As the "Finnish rules" for counting
stations and countries limits listening only inside Finland's borders, my
achievements could not be listed in the Finnish DX publication to compare the
results with listeners in Finland.  Therefore, I have been like an orphan for
the last 30 years.

As stubborn as I am, I am still a member of the same Finnish DX-club I started
with in 1959.

Fortunately there are other DX-clubs where competing with other members is not
the most important part of the hobby and your achievements from different
countries can be published without you feeling guilty on imposing your ideas. 

Best regards and good DX to everybody,
Esko

Esko Ahlroth
243 Route des Marlis
F-01280 Prévessin-Moëns
France

email: ahlrothe@xxxxxx
        

____________________Reply Separator____________________
Subject:    Re: [HCDX]: Country List Debate
Author: Risto Vahakainu <vahakain@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:       26-Nov-1999 10:27



The other problem in these comparisons is the QTH problem. Different
parts of the world are different QTHs and of course it is not sensible to 
compare with someone who travels everywhere and reports locally or nearly
locally. But some DXers also live during their hobby life in different
countries etc. In Finland this is pretty easy. We count the stations that
have been received in Finland, and many DXers travel to DXpeditions to
west Finland for Brits, North Finland from North Americans and East
Finland for Asian stations. But this rule doesn't work in all
countries. How would you define this?

>       I personally would prefer the NASWA principle of old radio countries to
be
> used, but it seems that the main principles of EDXC list can't even be
> discussed about. Anyway, I'd like to know if I am the only one in Europe
> with this opinion. In my mind any small detail that would keep a newcomer
> in the hobby would be good. There are already enough things which
> discourage newcomes to continue in the hobby (diminishing number of
> stations on SW, MW etc.). Old-timers have enough QSLs from stations not
> existing any more, and that's something that can't be changed. But counting
> DX countries is a different matter.

In general it is a worldwide problem to get youngsters to this hobby. I
don't think this making it a bit easier to hunt countries would really
mean much. Many countries have in practice disappeared, because they have
left shortwave and/or medium wave. And like I said I would feel strange to
be able to QSL old countries and "countries". If we would pick up the
NASWA system, we would then also need to modify the system to work on
medium waves and maybe FM, too, which would need a lot of history
work. This is the reason why I think a complete country list basing on
world politics and geography is better than a list where only radioactive
countries are listed.
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