Dave, If someone asks, was this the final decision of the DXCC desk, the DXAC, or both? Just want to make sure I'm accurate in my statement. Second, does the DXCC Desk generate ADIF country numbers? If so, have they been assigned yet? Lots of fun on the bands! '73 de JIM N2ZZ ARRL Vice Director Roanoke Division ARRL, the national association for Amateur RadioT From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 12:38 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [Bulk] [arrl-odv:19409] PJs and DXCC Shortly there will be an announcement that the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles has resulted, in addition to the deletion of the two Netherlands Antilles entities announced earlier, in four new DXCC entities effective 0400 UTC 10 October 2010: (1) Curacao, (2) St. Maarten, (3) Saba & St. Eustatius, and (4) Bonaire. The announcement will not include the following additional background, which may be useful to you if you're asked. Curacao and St. Maarten are added by virtue of their appearance on the U.S. Department of State list of "Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty" <http://www.state.gov/s/inr/rls/10543.htm> http://www.state.gov/s/inr/rls/10543.htm as Political Entities under Section II, Rule 1.c) of the DXCC Rules. The two other new entities, Saba & St. Eustatius and Bonaire, are added as Geographic Separation Entities under Section II, Rule 2.b)ii) of the DXCC Rules. While some have questioned whether the distance between Bonaire and the northern islands is 800 km, multiple tests of the distance using a WGS84-equipped calculator and other calculators and charts show the required minimum separation of 800km. Prior to the appearance of the revised State Department list there was some uncertainty as to whether Bonaire, Saba, and St. Eustatius also would be added to the list, each with its own local administrative center. Had that occurred there would have been five new entities rather than four. Confirmations for these new entities will be accepted for DXCC credit beginning 1 January 2011. 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ