2007 ISLANDS ON THE AIR PREVIEW

By Jamie Dupree NS3T 

After literally months of planning for some, the IOTA contest washes ashore this weekend, with plenty of offerings for contesters in one of the more popular summertime contests.

Among the many setting up island expeditions, a half dozen hams from the Cray Valley Radio Society in Britain, who make their fourth visit to the Isles of Scillly EU-011.

"We're looking to improve on last year's second place overall," says M8C team member Dave Lawley G4BUO, "so yes, this is a serious group."

The islands are 28 miles south west of the British mainland. "All the equipment except masts is taken in two cars," says Lawley, "which are lifted by crane into the hold of the ferry for the 3-hour sea crossing."

The team will have a mult and run station, with amplifiers as well.

Another of the many British teams that will be on the air for the IOTA contest is G7N, run by the Newbury and District Amateur Radio Society.

"The club has been entering IOTA for about ten years," says Kevin Martin G6FOP, "we are very competitive, we hope to win our section each year and aim to build a station to help us achieve our aim."

The G7N crew goes to the Isle of Wight EU-120, off the southern coast of England, for a field style IOTA effort. "It takes about three days to get the station up and running," said Martin.

Martin gave radio-sport.net a peek at the team's organizational spreadsheet - it's not as simple as just loading a few things into the car and heading for the coast by any means.

Along for the weekend again is Martin's wife Avril, who became a ham in 2003.

"I tend to operate SSB on the multiplier station," said Kevin, "(Avril) has become a very keen CW competitor and operates on the Club CW team."

While much of the IOTA activity is centered in Europe, there will be many islands activated for this contest. You can get an idea of some of those at the website of NG3K.

Among those in the United States getting IOTA fever are Steve Usary W3RFA and Bob Joliff KB3NYX, who will be operating from South Marsh Island in Maryland, NA-140.

"Neither of us are very experienced contesters," said Usary, "this is our first island contest." Usary has been a ham for "30 years or so" while Joliff just got his ticket last December.

Instead of taking a ferry like the boys in Britain, or just driving to a barrier island off the US coastline, Usary and Joliff will be loading their radio and camping gear into a sea kayak and making a four mile open water crossing to the island.

"It seemed like a fun way to get some exercise, see some of the remote parts of the Chesapeake Bay, and do some hamming to boot" said Usary.

The pair of US hams took a dry run to South Marsh Island earlier this month to check out their equipment, with an estimated total weight of less than 100 pounds each in their respective kayaks.

"We had to pare down the station so that we could fit the camping gear," said Usary. "Power will come from a large lead acid car battery and the rig is an SG2020 which puts out 20 watts."

If that sounds appealing to anyone out there, Usary told radio-sport.net "If you know anyone with a sea kayak, we could sure another operator."