ARRL DX Century Club (DXCC) Rules — 1957 Edition

(Effective January 1, 1957; superseding the 1954 rules)

A copy of the 1957 ARRL DXCC Rules is needed to added here.

Purpose

To recognize the achievements of amateur radio operators who establish confirmed two-way communication with at least one hundred (100) different countries, as defined and maintained by the ARRL Awards Committee.

The 1957 revision introduced the formal recognition of island groups and territorial separations as qualifying criteria in addition to political distinctness.

I. Definition of a Country

A country (entity) shall be determined by political distinctness and, where applicable, by geographical separation or distinct administration.

A. Political Distinctness

Any area of the world under a distinct, recognized government, exercising separate control of its internal or external affairs, shall be considered a separate country.

Examples (1957 list):
USA, France, United Kingdom, USSR, Japan, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc.
Also included were protectorates, mandates, or trusteeships if administered independently.

B. Geographical Separation

Islands or island groups separated from their parent country by a distance of approximately one hundred (100) miles (160 km) or more of open sea, or by intervening territory of another country, may, at the discretion of the Awards Committee, be considered separate countries.

This clause refined the earlier “100-mile rule” into a formalized distance criterion — the clear precursor of today’s Rule 1C.

Examples recognized under this provision (1957 DXCC List):

Madeira, Azores, Canary Islands (separate from Portugal/Spain)
Reunion, Mauritius, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Greenland, etc.

C. Administrative or Colonial Status

Territories, possessions, or colonies maintaining their own administration or communications regulation, even if under the sovereignty of another power, shall be considered separate countries.

Examples (1957 context):

British Honduras, Aden, Trinidad, Malaya, French Equatorial Africa, Dutch New Guinea, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Canal Zone.

D. Exceptional Cases

Certain dependencies not meeting the above tests but having a long and continuous record of independent amateur operation may, by specific ruling of the Awards Committee, be listed as separate countries.

This permitted retention of entities such as SMOM (1A0) and Vatican City (HV) despite their small size and proximity to parent countries.

II. Eligibility Requirements

Open to all licensed amateur operators worldwide.
All contacts must be two-way amateur QSOs in accordance with regulations of both operators’ licensing authorities.
Contacts made after November 15, 1945 are valid for credit.
Any amateur band or authorized mode may be used.

III. Confirmations

Each claimed country must be confirmed by a QSL card showing:
- Both callsigns,
- Date and time (GMT),
- Band and mode, and
- Country or location of the station.
Cards must be verified by ARRL Headquarters or an authorized DXCC Field Representative.
Duplicate countries are not counted.

IV. Qualification for Award

Confirmation of 100 countries qualifies for the DX Century Club Certificate.
Endorsements are available for additional totals (125, 150, 200, 250, etc.).
Announcements of award recipients appear in QST and the annual DXCC List.

V. Maintenance of the DXCC List

“The Awards Committee shall revise the DXCC List as political or geographic changes occur, or as new information warrants.”

This clause governed:

Recognition of newly independent nations (e.g., Morocco, Sudan, Ghana, Malaya),
Deletion of entities absorbed into others, and
Creation of geographically distinct entries (e.g., island dependencies).

VI. Determination of Borderline Cases

“All questions as to what constitutes a separate country shall be resolved by the ARRL Awards Committee, whose decision shall be final.”

This rule formally codified the Committee’s adjudicatory authority and laid groundwork for the structured “Rule 1 A–C” classification system introduced after 1960.

VII. Publication and Recognition

Successful applicants’ names and totals published in QST and the ARRL DXCC List.
Certificates issued without charge to ARRL members; non-members could apply upon payment of a small fee.

VIII. General Provisions

The ARRL may revoke credits found to be improperly obtained.
All contacts must represent lawful amateur operation.
Maritime mobile or aeronautical mobile operation counts only if the station is within the defined limits of a country or dependency.
The decision of the Awards Committee is final in all matters.

IX. Summary of Major 1957 Revisions

Aspect	1954 Rule	1957 Change
Distance criterion	“Approximately 100 miles” informal	Clarified as standard test for islands
Offshore groups	Mentioned but undefined	Explicitly recognized (foundation of Rule 1C)
Administrative autonomy	Recognized	Further detailed to include communications authority
Exceptional cases	None	Added clause for special recognition (SMOM, Vatican)
Award structure	100 + endorsements	Same, with formal recognition of additional levels

Historical Context

By 1957, decolonization, Cold War sovereignty shifts, and increased DX activity forced the ARRL to balance political legitimacy with geographical fairness.
This version of the rules effectively bridged the 1947–1954 political model with the 1960+ distance-based model — setting the stage for the formal Offshore Island Group Rule (Rule 1C) adopted in the 1963–1965 editions.

Historical Significance

The 1954 rules continued the early DXCC tradition of combining political recognition and geographic separation to determine what qualified as a distinct DXCC entity. They relied on distance thresholds between landmasses and administrative independence to separate one entity from another, with basic separation distances used to distinguish islands or offshore lands from their parent territories.

By 1957, the rules had been refined and clarified to address ambiguities that had arisen in applying the 1954 criteria. The later rules adjusted specific separation distances, introduced more structured guidance on how to treat archipelagos and island groups, and placed greater emphasis on consistent application of the criteria rather than discretionary judgment. They also tightened the definitions of what constituted distinct administration and political separation, making the entity decisions more systematic and less ad hoc.

In essence, the evolution from the 1954 to 1957 rules was incremental refinement: the criteria became more precise and consistently applied, with clearer guidance on geographic and administrative thresholds to reduce subjective interpretation in entity determinations.