Sep 29, 2026 · Steve Berry, N1EZ
The DXCC Honor Roll is the top of the ladder: not a hundred entities, not five hundred contacts, but very nearly all of them. It is the award people work toward for decades, and it is also the one where most operators genuinely do not know how close they are — because knowing means comparing your own record against a list that changes.
DxQSO now carries ARRL's published Honor Roll list and shows your standing against it. This is the post about the part that matters more than the number: other people can see it.
ARRL's DXCC rules define it simply: you must be among the top ten entity totals on the current DXCC list. With 340 current entities, that means 331 or more. Deleted entities do not count, however many you hold. #1 Honor Roll is the top of the top: every current entity.
ARRL publishes the count of current entities, and the number required, on its DXCC standings page every day. DxQSO reads both from ARRL's list rather than assuming them, so when an entity is added or deleted the target moves with it.
It is counted in granted credit, not in confirmations. The Honor Roll is built from what ARRL has accepted from you. An entity confirmed in LoTW® and never submitted does not count until you send it in, and for many operators that is the quickest gap to close. See how to check the credits ARRL has granted you.
It is tracked separately for Mixed, Phone, CW and Digital, which is why an operator can be on the Honor Roll for one and some way off for another.
It is the first tab on Achievements → ARRL Awards, alongside DXCC, WAS and VUCC/FFMA. For each of Mixed, Phone, CW and Digital it shows three things:
Your own credits are compared against ARRL's list, so the gap you see is a real gap rather than an estimate.
Say ARRL has granted you 318 current entities for Mixed. With 340 current and 331 required, you are 13 short of the Honor Roll and 22 short of #1. Now say DxQSO also shows 9 entities confirmed in LoTW that ARRL has never seen. Submitting those takes you to 327, and the real gap is four entities on the air, not thirteen. That second number is the one worth knowing, and it is the one most operators never work out.
Here is the reason we built it rather than leaving you to check on ARRL's site.
An award is worth more when somebody notices. The whole point of tracking standings in a community platform rather than in a program on your desk is that the people who would appreciate it can see it. The DxSocial Honor Roll badge surfaces an operator's standing to their club and to the operators they know — so a milestone reached on a Tuesday afternoon is not something you have to bring up yourself at the next meeting.
Of the members currently on DxSocial, a small handful appear on ARRL's Honor Roll list. That is the kind of thing a club should know about its own members, and almost never does.
This is also why DxQSO bothers to hold your award data at all. It makes the alerting specific — this confirmation moves you one closer rather than a QSO confirmed — and it lets the community recognize what you have earned.
The page tells you exactly, per category, against ARRL's published requirement.
Yes, and Mixed as well. Operators frequently reach one long before another.
If your callsign is on ARRL’s Honor Roll, DxSocial shows the Honor Roll badge on your profile and in your club’s member list. ARRL publishes the list itself, so this surfaces something already public rather than anything private to your account.
The Honor Roll is within nine of the current total (331 of 340 today). #1 Honor Roll is every current entity. Deleted entities count toward neither.
Not toward the Honor Roll. ARRL counts granted credit, so a confirmation only helps once it has been submitted and accepted. DxQSO shows the two side by side so you can see what is waiting.
ARRL publishes the number of current entities, and recognizes new members, on its DXCC standings page every day. DxQSO loads the list from that page.
73, Steve, N1EZ
LoTW® is a registered trademark of the American Radio Relay League. DxQSO is not affiliated with or endorsed by the ARRL.
