[WVDXA] 5A7A -- the Untold Story

[Pstark]

Even Iranian hams may work the "Great Satan".

Pete K4OM (Lesser Satan)
  -----Original Message-----
  From: wvdxa-bounces at wvdxa.org [mailto:wvdxa-bounces at wvdxa.org]On Behalf Of
w8hc at aol.com
  Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2007 2:27 PM
  To: dx-list at yahoogroups.com
  Subject: [WVDXA] 5A7A -- the Untold Story


  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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