News

We regretfully announce that the following OCDX contest committee members have recently decided to step down. The reasons were all personal although unease with the nature and direction of the debate on the participation of Russian and Belarusian stations in the 2022 contest was a common contributing factor.

We are most grateful to these former committee members for their loyal service and personal sacrifice to support the successful running of the OCDX contest over many years. In particular, our success in growing the participation from 473 logs in 2001 to a total 1908 logs in 2021 would not have been possible without the selfless leadership and contributions from Martin VK7GN and Geoff ZL3GA for more than two decades.

Martin Luther VK7GN – Martin was a key advocate and foundation member of the OCDX Contest committee when it was first established by the WIA and NZART in 2001 with the objective of rejuvenating the contest and reversing the ongoing decline in participation. He was a significant contributor to the work of the committee including managing the finances for many years and more recently leading the marketing campaigns.

Geoff Clark ZL3GA – Like Martin, Geoff was also a foundation member of the committee since it kicked off in 2001. He has done much of the heavy lifting over the years including being our webmaster until 2015 and managing the production of the online certificates.

Mike Charteris VK4QS – Mike was with us since 2020 and has contributed to both researching the history of the contest and assisting with the marketing, including helping pen several promotional articles in overseas journals.

Mark Sullivan ZL3AB – Mark was only with the committee since July 2022 but we valued his input to the planning for the 2022 contest.

The contest committee received some vigorous feedback in response to our decision to limit the participation of stations from Russia and Belarus in the 2022 OCDX Contest. Most of the feedback was from amateurs in the VK contesting community who opposed the decision on the basis that amateur radio and the OCDX Contest should be apolitical. We received some feedback from both VK contesters and amateurs in Ukraine that supported the decision. We also received one objection from a Russian amateur.

In light of this feedback, along with the recent decision by CQ Magazine to relax its restrictions on the participation of Russian and Belarusian stations in the CQ WW DX contests, the committee decided it was appropriate to undertake a review of our earlier decision.

This review, like the original decision, was difficult due to the highly polarised range of views amongst the wider contesting community and differences of opinion within our committee. It was clear to us that whatever decision was made it would not be possible to find a solution that satisfies all stakeholders – some would be supportive while others would be disappointed.

The earlier decision included consulting and taking account of feedback from both the WIA Board and NZART Council as foundation sponsors of the contest. We reached out to them again as part of this review process. We also considered conducting a survey of 2021 participants to inform the review but decided there was insufficient time remaining to do a thorough survey.

After carefully considering all the options, and in accordance with the latest feedback from both the WIA and NZART, the committee has decided to remove any limitations on the participation of Russian and Belarusian stations in the 2022 OCDX Contest. The 2022 contest rules have been updated accordingly.