Well done to all the award winners!

One nice thing about mixed DXCC is that it’s relatively easy to explain the essential goal of “contacting 100 countries” to friends and acquaintances who aren’t hams or don’t know about DXCC.

If you get further into DXCC, it gets trickier to explain ‘entities’, the endorsement stickers, single band and mode awards, honor roll etc., especially without coming across as a bit (errrr, how can I put this) obsessive – much the same as in other hobbies that involve collecting things. 

I’m quite sure there are accepted rules and practices among the teapot collecting hobbyists, for instance.  Someone’s excitement at finding a particularly rare piece of pottery, with a distinctive spout and a specific designer’s mark on the base (or whatever), would probably come across as fanatical or bizarre to me since I don’t collect teapots, don’t appreciate the value, don’t understand the attraction and frankly don’t really care.  Oh I feel their passion and appreciate their joy alright, but in a strangely detached “Are you for real?” sort of way.

So, I’d be interested to know how you handle this when showing off your DXCC certificates, plaques and the like.  Do you just beam with pride and leave it at that, or do you try to explain?  Any tips to share?

73

Gary  ZL2iFB