BS7 – Scarborough Reef, a.k.a “Scaffold Rocks”

By far, this is one of the more controversial entities on the DXCC list. Many DX-ers that I talk to call it “Scaffold Rock” and wonder how it is any different than another such entity, 7J1 – Okino Torishima, which is now deleted:

7J1 was deleted in 1979, and BS7 was added in 1995. Here is a great web page that describes the “drama” as far as how it was added to the list:

Interestingly enough, the Board added a new “Minimum Size Rule” – also in 1995:

Here is the most salient part of that rule:

“(d) An island must meet or exceed size standards. To be eligible for consideration, the island must be visible, and named, on a chart with a scale of not less than 1:1,000,000. Charts used must be from recognized national mapping agencies. The island must consist of a single unbroken piece of land not less than 10,000 square feet in area, which is above water at high tide. The area requirements shall be demonstrated by the chart.”

The minimum size rule was re-written in 1998, and you should study the current rules:

BS7 (along with many others) would no longer qualify on the list if they hadn’t been “grandfathered in” during the 1998 DXCC Rules re-write.

Once I really started studying the History of the ARRL DXCC Program:

I realized that the rules have changed so much over the years that “the rules is the rules” and “like it or lump it”. I also have no vote or say in what is added or deleted, and (like Scrabble – where there is no word “Moops”), I enjoy the game enough to follow whatever the rules are. Also – while there have been some really heated debates and rivalry between the “add it” and “delete it” camps (and I have a few pet peeves myself), the program – over the course of the years has been pretty consistent. At least more consistent than the socio-political changes that the world has seen.

Back to BS7H in 2007 . . .

I was very lucky to work BS7H in 2007 – but conditions were pretty awful. What should have been like “shooting fish in a barrel” from the West Coast became a tough catch. Luckily, Martti, OH2BH did what he does best – control the pileup and insisted that he get my call – even though there was high static on the band and it took a few calls to get all call letters correct. But that he did. Others were going nuts calling on top of our QSO – which made it that much tougher, but we prevailed.

1994 – Operation that did not count because the scaffolding was in the water

1995 – First official operation:

1997 – Second operation that counted:

2007 – QSL card shown at the beginning of this article