Of course, this is good news. I understand it comes thanks not only due to the dedicated work of Bill and his staff, but thanks to the help of other employees who have been willing to put in overtime. All good. I congratulate those involved for their hard and profitable work.

On the other side of the coin, I interpret this situation to mean that we are approaching the 2/3 mark in February and have to this moment not worked meaningfully on 2010 submissions. Provided this is true, it would seem we perennially get behind the proverbial 8-ball in the latter weeks of each year and as a result we remain behind the 8-ball until at least well into March of the following year -- all because of a predictable situation.

That a large number of DXCC submissions comes during the latter weeks of the year is understandable and predictable. That processing these submissions annually continues to create extra expense and stress on HQ, and considerable displeasure among many members would seem to suggest sufficient anticipation, planning and execution may not have been focused on the problem.

I believe one answer to a major portion of this recurring problem has been proposed and its introduction promised for the past two or more years. This is Direct Field Entry. I certainly hope we take full advantage of the new IT worker the Board authorized so this promise can be fulfilled in time to minimize if not avoid still another recurrence of the backlog problem.

From: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B [mailto:wj1b@arrl.org]
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 4:38 PM
To: arrl-odv
Cc: Ford, Steve, WB8IMY; Glass, Katie; Hare, Ed W1RFI; Inderbitzen, Bob, NQ1R; Jahnke, Deb, K1DAJ; Johnson, Debra, K1DMJ; Kramer, Harold, WJ1B; Patton, David NN1N; Somma, Maria, AB1FM
Subject: [arrl-odv:18561] FW: DXCC Notice to Board

Hi,

I am passing along this update from Dave Patton:

The MVP staff, and a few helpers from other Departments, have now completed all of the 2009 DXCC applications. We are now doing “clean up work” on awards fulfillment before Bill Moore re-indexes the DXCC database. While this happens, DXCC will be shut down for a day. Then we will run a DXCC report and produce the data for the Annual Listing that appears in the DXCC Yearbook. Later next week, we will begin processing the 2010 applications. Bill Moore reports that this is the earliest in the year that DXCC has been at this stage of processing.

73,

Harold