My understanding is that Mt Athos is composed of 13 independent monasteries.? Each monastery has a leadership council that decides on matters within their monastery.? ??Each monastery is represented on the supreme council that decides on matters related to the outside world, including amateur radio operation.? I understand that the supreme council meets every 6 months and it may take several cycles to get on the agenda.? There have been a few expeditions approved in the past, but they are generally not in favor of radio expeditions.? ??YT1AD, Hrane, has approached the supreme council with a proposal for a radio expedition to Mt Athos and was turned down.? OH2BH, Marti, approached one of the local councils and was given permission, but they didn’t have the authority to grant amateur radio permission. When YT1AD found out he informed the supreme council and everything was halted.

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Mt Athos is a nice oddity in the DXCC program.? It adds excitement and challenge when an operation is active.? But, it is hard to justify as an “entity”.? Seems like an American Indian reservation.

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Looking at the ARRL DXCC Criteria it almost falls under

4. Ineligible Areas:
a)?Areas having the following characteristics are not eligible for inclusion on the?DXCC List, and are considered as part of the host Entity for DXCC purposes:
ii)?Any area with limited sovereignty or ceremonial status, such as monuments, indigenous areas, reservations, and homelands.

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It is only saved by

3. Special Areas:

e)?Entities on the 1998?DXCC List?that do not qualify under the current criteria remain as long as they retain the status under which they were originally added. A change in that status will result in a review in accordance with Rule 5 of this Section.

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73,

Don, N5DD

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