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- YASME Excellence Award
- Congratulations to G3KMA and G3ZAY on being awarded with the YASME Excellence Award for their services to IOTA over several years.
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- G3KMA Back Online
- After being offline for 9 days, I am back connected again. I will try to catch up on emails over the next three days. In the meantime I wish all readers a Very Merry Christmas and Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year.
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- G3KMA Offline
- G3KMA apologises that his broadband connection is down at the moment and he is unable to reply to emails. He hopes to be back online in the next few days.
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- IOTA 50th Anniversary Marathon - Bulletin #3
- A reminder, the 50th Anniversary Marathon starts in two weeks time. DXpeditions are already gearing up to mark the launch of the event. As participants will need the island name, not just the IOTA reference number, for the island station worked, those who post spots on the clusters are encouraged to include the island name in their postings where there is more than one IOTA group possibility. Full details of the Marathon are available on this website.
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- Annual Update
- The deadline for the 2012 Honour Roll and Annual Listing approaches. Applications and updates submitted online on or before 31 January will count for the 2012 tables so long as the supporting cards sent to checkpoints are postmarked no later than that date. Updates postmarked after 31 January will be processed in the normal way but scores will be held over to 2013. Listing in the tables is restricted to those participants who have updated their scores at least once in the previous five years. In the case of the 2012 tables this means since the 2007 annual listings. If you wish to remain listed, check to see that you qualify and, if not, make a submission on or before 31 January 2012. Please submit online and not on paper - card volumes are now such that paper applications place an unacceptable burden on checkpoints. The 2012 tables will appear on this website in the Spring.
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- Operations Approved for IOTA Credit
- The following operations in the period September to November 2011 have provided acceptable validation and are therefore approved for IOTA credit: 9M2/IZ1MHY (AS-073), 7Z7AA (AS-191) and CE4A (SA-095). Fuller details of recent validation acceptances are on my website at www.g3kma.dsl.pipex.com. Information on which operations need to provide validation is given at Annex K in the IOTA Directory (available on this website).
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- Jean-Pierre Guillou F9RM, Silent Key
- It is with deep sadness that I report the passing of Jean-Pierre Guillou, F9RM, after a three month illness. An active DXer since 1948, he had 336/380 (current/total) confirmed in the ARRL DXCC Mixed standings. He was devoted to IOTA, maintaining top position in the Honour Roll continuously for almost 30 years from December 1979 onwards. This is a record which may never be beaten. In the last months he was active only in IOTA, making his final QSO, a new one with CE4A, a day before he died. The IOTA Programme has lost one of its strongest supporters. R.I.P. Jean-Pierre.
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- Retention of EU-155 in IOTA list in doubt
- The IOTA Manager was informed at Ham Radio 2011 Friedrichshafen that the two barrier islands listed as qualifying for EU-155, Baron and Scanno di Piallazza, no longer exist. Authoritative information has now been provided by a local operator to show this probably to be the case. It is worth noting that the Po Delta is a remarkably fragile natural environment with barrier reefs, as and when they occur, subject to change by tide and storm. IOTA rules require that, in the absence of qualifying islands, the group concerned should be suppressed. One final check will be made on the latest satellite pictures expected shortly following which a decision will be taken and a notice issued. In the meantime, no new operations claiming to take place from EU-155 will be regarded as qualifying for credit.
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- Operations Approved for IOTA Credit
- The following operations in the period August to October 2011 have provided acceptable validation and are therefore approved for IOTA credit: 5C2B (AF-068), 5C2J (AF-068), 5C2P (AF-068), 5C2S (AF-068), CN8QY/P (AF-068), MM0RAI/P (EU-189), 4W6A (OC-232), YB9WZJ/P (OC-239), YB0MWM/9 (OC-239), PQ8OP (SA-045) and PQ8XB (SA-045).
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- Funding for Operations from Rare IOTA Groups
- With the 50th Anniversary IOTA Marathon starting in January it would be great if we could get together a list of organisations who would be prepared in principle to help fund operations from the rarer IOTA groups during this two year period. Without lots of operations from this tier of IOTA groups the marathon will not achieve the success it deserves. For this purpose we have decided that "rarer IOTA groups" means groups worked by less than 33% of record-holders at the start of day 1 of the operation. Would DX funding bodies and individuals who are prepared to contribute to this two year IOTA initiative please let me know on g3kma@dsl.pipex.com. The intention is that grants would be made directly by contributors to the operation involved as is current usual practice, not through the IOTA Committee. However if we get a good response, we will consider providing some additional funding from a source of funds available to the IOTA Committee.
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- Operations Approved for IOTA Credit
- The following operations in July 2011 have provided acceptable validation and are therefore approved for IOTA credit: KL7RRC (NA-232) and K6VVA/KL7 (NA-242).
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- Changes to UK Checkpoints
- With effect from 1 September 2011 John Butcher, G3LAS will be stepping down as checkpoint for England (call-numbers G0, M0 & 2E0), Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and all British SWLs. We are grateful to John for his many years service as checkpoint and wish him the very best in his retirement. In John's place we have appointed two new checkpoints, Ian Sweatman, M0KCM to cover England (call-numbers G0, M0 & 2E0) and Tony Ritchie, G4VMX for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and all British SWLs. Check QRZ.com for addresses. Robert Small, BRS-8841, will continue to cover England (all G, M & 2E call-numbers except 0), Gibraltar, Ireland, Malta, and all Africa and Asia except Cyprus, Israel, Japan, Turkey and the CIS countries.
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- IOTA 50th Anniversary Marathon - Bulletin #2
- Now that the IOTA Contest has passed (I hope that you have submitted your entries - the closing date for logs is 21 August 2011), it is time to plan your island operations for the IOTA Anniversary Marathon that takes place during 2012 and 2013. The full rules have been uploaded to this site (check the toolbar). SWLs will be pleased to learn that an SWL competition has been organised separately to run parallel with the main marathon for amateurs and on the same rules except where amended to reflect SWL requirements. The organiser is Hans-Jürgen Schmelzer, DE3EAR and the full rules are on his website at http://de3ear.weebly.com. We encourage as many SWLs as possible to participate to provide healthy competition. So, Guys (that is Amateurs and SWLs), with little over 4 months to go before the event starts, are you ready?
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- Henry Lewis G3GIQ, Silent Key
- It is with deep sadness that I have to report that Henry Lewis, G3GIQ, passed away last night in hospital in Devon. Henry was one of the hobby's real gentlemen and will be greatly missed by his many friends, not just here in the UK but worldwide from the many close contacts made over the air and at conventions. A long-time supporter of the DXCC and IOTA programmes he amassed very large scores in both, 336/371 in DXCC and 1058 in IOTA. He was a founding member of CDXC - the UK DX Foundation. He also served in the early years of RSGB's tenure of IOTA as an IOTA checkpoint and Committee Member. We have lost a real friend. R.I.P. Henry.
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- 2011 Honour Roll and Annual Listings
- Corrected versions of the Honour Roll and other annual listings have been uploaded to the site (see Scores on IOTA Directory screen). Owing to a software glitch, previously not noticed relating to paper submissions, 23 callsigns were mistakenly omitted from the listings (9 Honour Roll, 12 Annual Listing, 1 Club and 1 SWL). Apologies to those concerned.
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- Operations Approved for IOTA Credit
- The following operations in the period February to April 2011 have provided acceptable validation and are therefore approved for IOTA credit: P29VCX (OC-117 and OC-240), F9IE/VK3/P (OC-136) and F9IE/VK5/P (OC-139).
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