For US amateurs, you actually do have to be a member to participate in DXCC independently. " ARRL membership<http://www.arrl.org/membership> is required for DXCC applicants in the US, its possessions, and Puerto Rico. " That's DXCC rule I. 1. Foreign amateurs do not need to be ARRL members. It doesn't mean that you lose your awards once your membership lapses but from what I understand your DXCC is "frozen" and to do any updates you'll need to have a valid ARRL membership. I am not comfortable with the idea of disincentivizing membership. There are members who become members *only* because they can participate in DXCC. If we remove that requirement I'm sure that some will opt to save that $49 per year. As for LoTW, anyone can upload logs there, member or not. The idea is to not deny someone a confirmation because the person at the opposite end of the QSO is not a member. Ria N2RJ ________________________________ From: arrl-odv <arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org> on behalf of Mark J Tharp <kb7hdx@gmail.com> Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2022 3:36:50 PM To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:33934] member question Can I get some clarification as to why you have to be a member to have award credits applied to your DXCC record from LoTW yet you do not need to be a member to participate in DXCC and LoTW independently. We have additional fees for non members and this particular person for reasons I will not go into, has dropped membership, and now has been denied updating their DXCC record via LoTW. If they want to pay the extra fees, I don't understand why we would not accept that. Perhaps someone here was around when that decision was made. I do not see where LoTW is listed as a "Member Benefit" so I am confused as to why we would require membership for the award credit via LoTW. Thanks, Mark, HDX