I think the clear path South has more to do with it.

This one will be a challenge for me though, due to time constraints. I hope he comes on at night at least, otherwise I will be taking a day or two off.

Bouvet was weak most of the time until the one or two days we had propagation which is when you worked them.

I had worked them a full month before that, as did Annita, when nobody I had talked to in NJDXA was even hearing them.

ZS8M wasn't ESP here. He was about S5. But that was on 40m at night.

This may sound selfish but if they are weak like 3Y0E I wouldn't mind. It would keep the pileups thin, and only guys like me with serious metal in the air and a clear path South would be successful.

But even if they have strong signals and huge pileups I'll still be able to work them, I am optimistic.

It really doesn't matter in the end. DXCC is a game, so the country rules could be pretty much anything.

Common sense would dictate that physical separation and political entities should be separate from their mainland counterparts.

Rarely activated entities should stay for the challenge factor. Top of the honor roll shouldn't be easy.

So I agree with DXCC rules for the most part.

That's nice! I am glad it's being activated because the storm really took its toll.

Who operated from there on 7 bands! 

lmao yes, and the kids will be out of the house by then too.

Only wildcard is I don't know how long I will stay at this house and location.

Awesome bandfills. They pushed me over the top for Challenge! Now just need to submit my app, but I'm waiting for cards #299 and 300 to come in.

Well they aren't on US soil and in fact don't even follow US law in there. They also have a seprate prefix block. People used to even smoke in their offices up until recently. They still allow smoking in the cafe and delegates lounge. Last I was there it reminded me of an airport in the 1980s.

I think that the policy should be uniform though. 4U1WB and others should also be an entity.

BS7 without a doubt. Had to be specially voted in by ARRL BoD and was added strictly to keep things "interesting."

Yeah and he was subsequently arrested, not for the same thing though:

http://hamgallery.com/gallery/D/dj6si.htm

Just 2 more confirmations needed for challenge! Hope I get it SOON.

No, that is incorrect. Mail can be sent to Cuba and received from Cuba. I think it goes through a third country though.

The problem is getting return postage. Not sure if IRCs can be exchanged there. US$ may be stolen from the mail as I'd imagine mail is watched by big brother or stolen by postal workers.

You CAN get Cuban stamps from Bill Plum, plumdx@msn.com. Those may work.

By the numbers just plain SUCKS. Instead of spending 5 minutes in a pileup I have to spend 30 and if I don't get through when they are done with my number I have to wait a whole cycle again.

The best DXpeditions I have heard and worked did not go by the numbers at all. Even the huge pileups at 7O6T didn't require going by the numbers, yet they worked a lot of people, a lot of whom didn't have big beams.

If you are a weak station, you have several options. One of which is to wait a few days. After a few days most DXpeditions are begging because all the big guns have them in the log. People like W2IRT will have them on every band, every mode by then and won't need to crowd you out of the pileup. So you get your chance for a contact.

Another is to learn a technique that gets you noticed. I did a lot of mobile operating. Not exactly a big gun. So I learned to call near the end of when people were calling. Delayed my DVK or CW keyer until the last.

Another is to have a long callsign. My XYL with her call KC2OYY always gets through on CW even with 100w. (try that in your head dahdidah dahdidahdit dididahdahdah dahdahdah dahdidahdah dahdidahdah).

Another is to shape your audio to get noticed.

And don't really expect that an indoor antenna with 5w is going to get you to the top of the heap. It will take patience and more patience.

It has been approved for DXCC by the DXCC desk.