[WVDXA] 5A7A -- the Untold Story

Sat Feb 3 11:57:01 PST 2007

Hal:

Absolutely right.  I think you should send that as a letter to the  editor of 
all ham publications.

Garry, W8OI

In a message dated 2/3/2007 2:37:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, w8hc at aol.com  
writes:

DXers,
I apologize for the length of this post up front.  I'll simply  ask that you 
draw your own conclusions and respond as you feel the need.   And of course, 
sometimes no response is a response as well.  

Actually, I have hesitated sharing this information for the past couple  
months but events in the past week have compelled me to speak  my mind and at the 
very least, ensure that the DX world is aware of a  situation that I find 
unbelievably depressing and depressingly  unbelievable, given the fact our hobby 
is supposed to transcend this sort of  thing.  

Let's rewind the tape to November 16, 2006.  Excitement  abounds as 5A7A hits 
the airwaves and DXers around the world celebrate  this rare DX entitiy as 
they enter it into their logbooks.   It's been a good while since a 5A was QRV 
and the seemilngly  relentless pileups bear witness to the need by the DX 
world.   The operation, headed by a team of veteran German operators does a 
first-class  job of making sure that it will be an even longer while before 5A hits 
any of  the Top-10 lists of needed entities.  DXers around the world are  
literally gorging themselves on 5A7A QSOs-- all bands  and modes!  The signals are 
great and everyone is having a blast  enjoying this great hobby!  "Hey, here 
comes another new band for  me, by golly!"  "Aren't they doing a great job 
operating the  pileups?!!"   

Well folks it wasn't quite like that for all the DXers.  Some of our  Order 
didn't get to experience the joy of a 5A7A QSO.   Why??  Simply because of who 
they are and where they live.  You see,  they are Israelis.  Yes, that's 
right, these 4X ham radio operators,  these Jews in Israel cannot be contacted.  
This was the restriction that  the 5A7A operators accepted from the Libyan 
licensing authorities before they  even made the first QSO with the rest of the 
world.  They apparently  signed some kind of blood oath that they would not make 
QSOs with 4X  amateurs.  And so, when an excited 4X DX operator called the 
5A7A,  he was simply told, "I cannot work you," "We are not allowed to make a QSO 
 with you."  

>From November 16 to November 29, 5A7A logged over 112,000 QSOs.  You  will 
not find a single 4X station in their on-line log.  Oh, there  was one up until 
last week.  That was for an 80m contact that Burt Cohen  W3GG made during the 
CQWW CW test with his 4X0G operation.  That QSO  has since been mysteriously 
purged from the on-line records.  I  am curious if it is still in the 5A7A 
Contest Entry submitted to CQWW  authorities however.  

During the time that 5A7A was QRV, emails, phone calls and pleas from  
several interested sources were made to the ARRL, the Daily DX, CQ Contest  advising 
of this discriminatory action.  It was argued that the 5A7A  should be DQ'd 
for breaching the "no-politics" code of conduct that  most of us try to adhere 
to in the hobby.  Amazingly, we were told that  we, as opponents of this 
conduct, were crossing the political line.   Therefore, all the movers and shakers 
of the DX and Contest world, in essence  said, "No harm, no foul."   Let the 
rest of the world enjoy this  feeding frenzy.  It is good for business, of 
course.  Oh, it was  suggested that this sort of thing had happened a long time 
ago and that one  way the 4X ops might get around this was to give a modified 
prefix with  their callsign.  "This is what has been done before and perhaps 
they  can contact the QSL manager after the DXpedition and provide their correct  
callsign and get their QSLs after everyone is safely out of the  country."  
As an example, if my callsign is 4X0WV, I would use "UX0WV" or  "VX0WV" to call 
the 5A7A.  

Hey great idea!  Use a "modified" callsign.... but under the  
circumstances.... Why not!  So yes, this is what some of the creative 4X  boys did.  You can 
find clever examples in the 5A7A on-line log if you  want to spend the effort. 
 And so now, I know that some of these 4X ops  this past week have contacted 
the 5A7A QSL manager, DL9USA and have  provided him with the information from 
these "unusual" QSOs with exact times,  callsigns used and frequencies 
expecting cooperation in the spirit of the  hobby so they can get their QSLs.  
Everyone can now be happy,  right?  

Well, guess what?  DL9USA says, "No QSO's, no QSL's to 4X."   5A7A Team 
Coordinator Andy DJ7IK was at least somewhat apologetic in his  response, "I'm very 
sorry that we are not able to send QSL to 4X-stations, as  we got our license 
with the restriction not to work with 4X. Because we like  to keep in touch 
with our partners in 5A to support the growth of ham radio in  Libya, we 
accepted this restriction, knowing that this is not hamlike!"

Poor Andy even seems to recognize that this wasn't in the real  spirit of the 
hobby.  

So this is where it stands folks.  This is where I  struggle.  I wonder what 
would have happened if the 5A7A license held the  restriction of "No USA QSOs 
permitted?"  No, it isn't my  battle.  I should just bow out of this and say, 
"Big deal, it's just a  stupid hobby. Hey who really cares about a handful of 
DXers  over in this tiny Middle-easten country."  But I just can't bring 
myself  to take the easy way out.  These guys are fellow ham radio operators,  
fellow DXers and Contester and although they would probably be too embarrased  to 
share this information themselves, I want people to know the truth.   In this 
day and age where we should place ourselves above the daily BS of  politics in 
our hobby, we shouldn't have discrimination of any sort.  It  doesn't matter 
if your a Jew, an Arab, a black, a white, a man, a woman,  handicapped, an 
astronaut, a whatever.... we are all ham radio  operators.  We have a common bond 
in this hobby and it is 2007 for crying  out loud!  And so if we start 
licensing to exclude a nation, or a group  or class of people or religion, then 
don't we have a problem?  At that  point it's time to rethink the priorities and 
take action.

Again, I apologize for the bandwidth.  But I think the DX world  needs to 
know the rest of this story. I think the 5A7A sponsors need to  know about this 
too.  I'm only one voice. Are there any  others out there?
73,
Hal W8HC

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