In a nut shell the DXCC rules need a major overhaul in order to restore integrity and go back to it requiring an effort to accomplish. Now it is a give away to the lowest/no ability ham.
How is it a "give away to the lowest/no ability ham"?
This is a serious question.
Looking back over the history, I see the following changes:
1) It used to be that all US DXCC QSOs had to be made from stations located within certain geographic limits. For many US hams, a relatively short-distance move could mean having to start all over again.
Then, 40-odd years ago, it became "from the same entity". So a US ham could move from Maine to Florida to SoCal to Washington state, and all the QSOs would count for DXCC.
2) It used to be that you couldn't "guest operate" for DXCC, at least in the USA, because a station had to ID under the call of the station license. If someone other than operates from N2EY's station, they have to sign N2EY, not their own call. This was an FCC rule, not an ARRL one, but it changed.
3) It used to be that getting the DXCC QSOs was only the beginning; the QSOs had to be confirmed with paper. This meant either actual QSL cards, which could take months or even years to get, or, by log comparisons for QSOs made during recent ARRL DX Tests. Getting those QSLs often required dealing with bureaus, IRCs, and more. Just knowing where to
send a card was a bit of work. And it wasn't cheap.
Now, we have LoTW, which costs nothing other than time, and which can almost instantly confirm QSOs as long as the DX uses LoTW.
4) Spotting networks, etc.. It used to be that you read the DX column of QST, and various DX bulletins and club papers, to know what DX was on, where, and when. Some avid DXers would do telephone trees to alert each other, and in some places there were VHF voice frequencies (and later, repeaters) to pass the word. But you had to be a club member.
Now, a rare one gets on, and the whole world knows in a flash.
4) And of course....remote stations for hire. Connect to a remote in Maine and work a bunch of Europeans, etc. Even with the prices charged, the total usage fees probably won't exceed the price of a modest DX/contest station (good transceiver, amplifier, tribander at 50 feet, slopers, etc.)
5) On top of all this are the technology changes. Used to be that rigs had to be tuned up; that's all but a thing of the past. Computer control of entire stations is the rule for many; heck, the folks using Flex and similar rigs often sit at a keyboard, looking at a screen, with nary a "radio" in sight - it, and the autotune amplifier, are under the desk or on a rack someplace while The Computer takes center stage, handling rig operation, spotting info, panoramic display, logging, and much more. Instant band and mode change! Point and click on a spot, and the rig goes right there, turns the antenna, and changes band/mode if needed.
And it all costs LESS than the old-school gear did, back-when, if you count inflation.
6) New modes that don't even require that the operator hear or decipher the signal keep showing up. Just point and click, The Computer does the rest, even to the point of logging the QSO for you. No straining through QRM, QRN or QSB, the computer does all that, sending and receiving.
That's the short list
So......what changes would be needed to "restore integrity" to DXCC? Geographic limits? Only use one's own station? Only paper QSLs? No spotting networks? No use of remotes? No "modern" technology? No "automated" modes?
Or what?
Where
should the lines be drawn? What
should the rules be?
Serious questions
Jim, N2EY