SB DX @ ARL $ARLD048
ARLD048 Ducie is newest DXCC entity; DXpedition imminent

ZCZC AE48
QST de W1AW  
DX Bulletin 48  ARLD048
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  November 16, 2001
To all radio amateurs   

SB DX ARL ARLD048
ARLD048 Ducie is newest DXCC entity; DXpedition imminent

Ducie Island in the South Pacific is the latest DXCC entity--the
335th. As of 0000 UTC on November 16, 2001, Ducie Island became
eligible for DXCC credit as a result of a favorable vote to accept
the Pitcairn Island Amateur Radio Association (PIARA) as an
International Amateur Radio Union member-society.

PIARA filed its application for IARU membership last March, and the
matter went to a world-wide vote of IARU member-societies in June.
Votes were counted this week, and PIARA's application was approved.
Under DXCC rules, an entity that hosts an IARU society is considered
a ''political entity.''

ARRL Membership Services Manager Wayne Mills, N7NG, emphasized that
only contacts dated November 16, 2001, and later will count for
DXCC. The island has been activated previously for the Islands On
The Air program (it's IOTA OC-182), but Mills says those earlier
contacts will not count for DXCC.

A DXpedition group now headed for Ducie will use a VP6 call sign--to
be announced. Operation is planned for 160 through 6 meters on CW,
SSB and RTTY.

Pilot station Bill ''Dr Bill'' Avery, K6GNX, said the team was
expected to arrive on Ducie early on November 17. The DXpedition
operation should last about five days. Ducie is located east of
Pitcairn Island, perhaps best known among hams as the home of Tom
Christian, VP6TC, who's PIARA president and head of the Ducie
DXpedition team.
NNNN
/EX