While this is a matter that primarily affects the Pacific Division, others of you may have seen various items in the DX press about the formation of the American Samoa Amateur Radio Association (ASARA). This is a positive development with one exception: the idea that the new association should apply for IARU membership. Briefly, Kan Mizoguchi, JA1BK, likes to "invent" DXCC countries. A few years ago we made what I believe was a mistake in rewriting the DXCC rules in such a way that, if a DXCC entity has its own IARU member-society, it is treated as if it were sovereign for the purposes of measuring distance to an island to see if the island is a separate DXCC country. This becomes important when islands are between 350 and 800 km away. Kan used this provision to engineer a new DXCC entity, Ducie Island, by getting the Pitcairn Island Amateur Radio Association (PIARA) admitted to the IARU. There is such an island in American Samoa: Swain's Island. If American Samoa is separately represented in the IARU, Swain's Island will qualify as a separate DXCC entity. In pursuit of that objective, apparently Kan has persuaded some people that American Samoa ought to have its own IARU member-society. Other than Swain's Island, there is no reason for American Samoa to be separately represented in the IARU. It has always been represented in the IARU by the ARRL, and is part of the reason why the ARRL is a member of IARU Region 3 (the rest being Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Baker, Howland, Jarvis, and Wake Islands, Palmyra Atoll, and Kingman Reef) as well of IARU Region 2. American Samoa is of course not separately represented in the UN system, so adding it to the list of IARU member-societies would buy us nothing at the ITU. Its amateur licensees are licensed by the FCC, so having it separately represented in the IARU would create a situation whereby the ARRL would no longer be recognized by the IARU as exclusively representing amateur radio to the FCC. Under the IARU Constitution, there can be only one IARU member-society per "country or separate territory." The "separate territory" provision allows, for example, for the Radio Society of Great Britain not to have to represent Bermuda in the IARU. (Bermuda is separately represented and in times past has been a very active member of IARU Region 2.) However, the provision does not require separate representation; for example, the Azores and Madeira are autonomous regions of Portugal but are represented in the IARU by REP in Lisbon. Because Pitcairn Island is a British territory, the application of PIARA for admission to the IARU had to be accompanied by a letter from the Radio Society of Great Britain stating that it had no objection to the application. (Even so, PIARA was barely admitted; there were 57 affirmative votes required and they only received 58.) Such a letter would be required from the ARRL in order for an application for IARU membership from ASARA to be considered. While it is a policy question that ultimately is up to the Board, it is my strong recommendation that the ARRL should continue to represent American Samoa in the IARU. Licensed amateurs in American Samoa are eligible to be Full Members of the ARRL and to participate fully in Pacific Division and Pacific Section affairs. Apparently the ASARA is a brand new organization. The best way forward for them would be to apply for ARRL affiliation and drop the idea of separate IARU representation, but of course that would not suit Kan's purposes. I hope this background is helpful in case any question comes up. 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ