I received a nice note from Sharon Taratula, the Awards Manager at the ARRL today. She mentioned that the 5BDXCC award is so old that it predates computers, so all records are on paper. She also indicated that the most recent award, issued yesterday, was #9492.
Thanks to digital modes like FT8 & FT4 plus LotW confirmations, I am certain it is vastly easier to obtain 5BDXCC today than it was back when I was 13 years old sorting QSL cards into bins at the 4-land Bureau. I would handle each card like it was a delicate flower from some exotic land. Many were from places that I had never heard of, like far away Pacific island nations. At the time, my best DX was a contact with Arkansas, so even Canada and Europe were nothing but a dream to me.
As usual, I digress, so back to my main point…
My 5BDXCC arrived in March of 2015. Since I started DXing in 2012, that represented about 3 years of effort for me. All the contacts were using wire antennas, many were made using QRP, and only a few required more than 100 watts. At that point 8,178 awards had been issued. In the 55 months since then, another 1,314 awards have been issued, or about 24 per month. During the first 75 years, They were issued at a rate of about 9 a month. In fact, W1AW obtained its 5BDXCC in 2012!
So 5BDXCC is still very rare, but is far less so today than it was in decades past.
My quest for 9BDXCC continues. I lack 24 countries on 160 meters, so you can guess where I will be focusing during the quiet months ahead.
