Educators today find that the public in general, and young people in particular,have a poor grasp of world geography. Tests done recently in the United States
by elementary schools, high schools, and universities show that our young peopleneed to learn much more about our planet. Many students were unable to locate
their home states or cities on a U.S. map; many could not locate the United
States on a world map. Studies have found that many schools have not been
teaching or even offering geography for the last few years.
Amateur radio operators, especially those that are dx-oriented, are in a good
position to further geographic knowledge. We must know some geography to
operate; we pick up more knowledge as we become more experienced. We usually
pass along information about our own areas of the world. Sometimes, however,
we find we don't know enough about another operator's country to even ask
questions. One reason for this publication is to further educate dx operators
about the world's countries (``countries'' in this case, as defined for amateur radio purposes). As more and more young people join our ranks they too will be able to enchance their education in geography.
Dx operators are also in an excellent position to promote world peace. The morewe know about each others countries, the more we can enhance friendship and
improve relations between the countries of the world. Finally, this knowledge
will enable us to talk about something other than the weather or our rig!
Some disputes may develop about the MISC section since some of this
data may change before publication time. Readers are invited to submit
additions and corrections; please cite the source of the data for
