Last updated: 2012-04-30
Notice: © 1994 to 2012, Chris R. Burger. This document may be reproduced as required for personal use, and may be freely referenced from other Web sites. However, publication elsewhere requires express prior written permission from the author.
This listing shows the number of current DXCC countries (or "entities") worked on each frequency band by southern African stations. To level the playing field to the greatest extent possible, the listed scores do not include deleted countries. The total number of possible countries for this list is 340. The latest new country included is South Sudan ST0 and the latest deleted country is M-V Island R1M.
Apart from single band totals, we also list a five band total and a ten band total. The five band totals are for 28, 21, 14, 7 and 3,5 MHz. These are the bands that are valid for the major five-band awards like 5BWAC, 5BDXCC, 5BWAZ and 5BWAS. From the tables, it's obvious that the level of competition is much higher on these bands than on the remaining five.
The ten band totals also include 50, 25, 18, 10 and 1,8 MHz.
This listing is updated regularly as often as justified by inputs. Please keep me up to date with your progress, so that your scores can be kept current. A monthly update would be ideal. Revisit this URL regularly, to see what the denizens of the ether have been up to!
Chris R. Burger ZS6EZ
Box 4485
Pretoria
0001 South Africa
| 50 MHz 136 ZS6WB 129 ZS6AXT 128 ZS6NK 110 ZS6EZ 105 ZS6BTE 98 Z22JE ++ |
21 MHz 329 ZS6EZ 306 ZS4TX 306 ZS6KR 304 ZS6WB 291 ZS6YQ ++ 272 ZS6AOO == |
10,1 MHz 266 ZS6EZ 236 ZS6UT 222 ZS6WB 221 ZS2DL 212 ZS5LB == 207 ZS2EZ |
1,8 MHz 207 ZS4TX 176 ZS5LB == 138 ZS6EZ 124 ZS1REC 107 ZS6UT 80 ZS6WN |
| 28 MHz 315 ZS6EZ 295 ZS4TX 285 ZS6WB 275 ZS6P 266 ZS6AOO == 261 ZS6KR |
18,1 MHz 303 ZS6EZ 267 ZS2EZ 260 ZS6AVM ++ 252 ZS2DL 247 ZS6AJD == 244 ZS6WB |
7 MHz 328 ZS4TX 313 ZS6EZ 280 ZS6KR 263 ZS6P 245 ZS6WB 243 ZS2DL |
5 Band 1534 ZS4TX 1526 ZS6EZ 1360 ZS6KR 1306 ZS5LB == 1291 ZS6WB 1259 ZS6P |
| 24,9 MHz 282 ZS6EZ 259 ZS6AVM ++ 249 ZS2EZ 228 ZS6NJ 225 ZS6AJD == 219 ZS2DL |
14 MHz 330 ZS6EZ 330 ZS6YQ ++ 315 ZS6KR 312 ZS4TX 312 ZS6AJD == 312 ZS6P |
3,5 MHz 293 ZS4TX 251 ZS5LB == 239 ZS6EZ 199 ZS6KR 168 ZS6WB 141 ZS6P |
10 Band 2623 ZS6EZ 2184 ZS6WB 2145 ZS4TX 2066 ZS5LB == 1850 ZS2DL 1761 ZS2EZ |
Key: "++" indicates Silent Key (ZS6AVM, ZS6YQ). "==" indicates inactive operators whose totals are unlikely to change. Some do not have access to antennas (ZS5LB, ZS6AJD). Some have emigrated (ZS5K, ZS6AOO, ZS6IR).
Important note: All totals above 150 have been reduced by one to reflect the deletion of M-V Island (R1M). If this reduction was inappropriate, please submit revised totals to more accurately reflect your actual standings.
Whenever you feel like it, you can send me your new totals. Whenever I feel like it, I'll publish an updated list. Fortunately, I normally do feel like it whenever I receive new information...
Basic policy: I want current, worked DXCC scores by band. All bands from 1,8 to 54 MHz are included.
To expand on this policy:
Several older versions of this document can be found on this Web site:
These tables make good reading for those who think that the current totals are out of reach. The leading scores were not all that spectacular when this list was first published. You could make the list on one band with 27 countries, and there were four bands with entry levels of less than 60. The leading 10 band score was less than 2000. Only three stations had single band scores over 300, and they were all on 14 MHz. The leading station on 50 MHz had 92 countries. In fact, there are two bands on which five of the top six scores would not have survived to the present day! Bottom line: Most of the leading scores on today's table were made in the past solar cycle. You can do it too!
As you can imagine, keeping this list up to date is a major chore. Updating totals as they arrive is the easy part. The hard part is nagging people to submit updates on a semi-regular basis.
The list's biggest drawback is that it relies on claims. Claims are subject to bad bookkeeping (such as when an HA callsign becomes a 5A callsign when the Morse code is too fast), wishful thinking (such as that contact that you're not really certain about, but it's worth a try) and even perhaps some deception (although I should hope not!).
DXCC gets past all of these drawbacks through objective scrutiny. They have a fairly secure process and they apply rules fairly uniformly. In years past, DXCC lists were not all that we required, because they did not have DXCCs on every band, fees were expensive and QSLing was also expensive. As a result, one could not reasonably expect a ZS DXer to obtain DXCC credits for every QSO.
Fortunately, times have changed for the better. There is now a single-band DXCC on every band and every mode. Confirmations have become far quicker, easier and cheaper with the arrival of LotW. Even DXCC itself has become cheaper with the arrival of Online DXCC. As a result, we might just as well publish DXCC scores. They possibly lag behind worked scores by a bit, but they are verified and they do not require direct reporting to the compiler. All I'll have to do is to periodically check the ARRL lists, as I am already doing.
I have therefore taken a policy decision to discontinue this Band Country Survey sooner or later. After that point, I will only publish ARRL DXCC scores. I haven't decided when, but it will probably be some time in 2013.
The DXCC scores are already being published on my Web site.
Unfortunately, historic scores such as those of ZS5LB, ZS6AJD, ZS6AOO, ZS6AVM and ZS6YQ will no longer be included in the records, as the single band DXCC awards were not available when they were active. However, as this archive will remain accessible on the Web, their achievements will not be forgotten.
Of the currently-active stations, most already hold single-band DXCC awards. On 7 MHz, the Top Six stations all hold DXCCs, and apart from minor reshuffling and slightly lower scores, nothing will change. And on each band, at least three of the top six stations already hold single band DXCCs. There is not a single band where more than two of the Top Six will be eliminated due to inactivity.
Bottom line: If you don't already have a Single Band DXCC on every band that you're active on, please go through the motions and get the certificates. We'd love to keep recognising your performance, even after I start taking a break from almost two decades of publishing this Survey!
I've written a short piece, describing how one can assess DX achievement a little more accurately than just comparing the numbers. For example, how much better is 280 than 240? How much effort is required to get onto the DXCC Honour Roll once you've passed the 300 mark? How much effort does it take to catch the remaining nine countries once you're on the Honour Roll? How does your score on a specific band really stack up? The answers may astound you.
In these pages, I've often mentioned that I felt that ZS DXers were under-achieving. To impart a notion of why I feel this way, I've included results from a comparable survey in Britain on this Site. Look at them, and see what you think!
The tables can be very impersonal. I've therefore written a short profile on each of the operators. The intention is not only to put some "faces" to the callsigns, but also to give the reader an indication of how active each of these operators is. Clearly, while a few are retired and have enough time to play radio, the majority hold down jobs, raise families and generally spend time pursuing other interests. The odd spell of DXing certainly doesn't preclude balance!
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