06/26/2019

The Islands on the Air (IOTA[1]) Amateur Radio awards program announced six new island entities at its HAM RADIO forum in Friedrichshafen, Germany, this past weekend. The new groups have provisional numbers and will need to be confirmed by an operation after June 22 that meets the 1,000-contact requirement, in addition to other validations. Credit for prior operations will be considered only after a group number has been confirmed. Addition of the six new groups takes the total of confirmed or provisional IOTA numbers to 1,172, of which 1,131 have seen activity. IOTA policy caps the program at 1,200 groups. The new groups are:

AS-206: JAO, 1, 2, 7 - Honshu's Coastal Islands East, Japan, created by splitting the current AS-117 Honshu's Coastal Islands in accordance with the "large island" criterion that allows more than one coastal island group. Considerable activity has taken place from both groups. The entry/title of AS-117 Honshu's Coastal Islands has been changed to JA3, 4, and 9 Honshu's Coastal Islands West.

AS-207: ROK - Chukchi Sea Coast Centre group, Chukotskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug, Russia - Asia (Kosa Dvukh Pilotov), valid for the Arctic Islands Award. This new "unofficial/coastal island group" was created by splitting the current AS-174 Chukchi Sea Coast West group. There has been no known previous Amateur Radio activity.

OC-298: FO - Tatakoto Atoll, Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia (Tatakoto), is a new "remote island group" previously part of OC-066 Tuamotu Archipelago but separated from the other islands in this large group by at least 154 kilometers. A handful of previous operations have taken place. Tatakoto will be deleted from OC-066 Tuamotu Archipelago without any change to the latter's group name or coordinates.

OC-299: V6 - Yap East group, State of Yap, Federated States of Micronesia (Elato, Lamotrek, Olimarao, Pikelot, Satawal, West Fayu), is a new remote island group whose islands previously were part of the OC-132 East Yap group but are separated from the remaining islands in that group by at least 160.5 kilometers. No previous Amateur Radio activity has been recorded. These islands will be deleted from OC-132 East Yap group, which will now consist of Eauripik, Faraulep, Gaferut, Ifalik, and Woleai and be renamed as Yap Centre group.

OC-300: T31 - McKean and Nikumaroro Atolls, Phoenix Islands, Central Kiribati, Kiribati (McKean, Nikumaroro), a new remote island group. These islands were previously part of OC-043 Phoenix Islands but are separated from the remaining islands in that group by at least 230 kilometers. No known previous Amateur Radio activity has taken place. These islands will be deleted from OC-043 Phoenix Islands, which will now consist of Birnie, Enderbury, Kanton, Manra, Orona, and Rawaki.

SA-101: CEO - Alejandro Selkirk Island, Juan Fernandez Archipelago, Chile (Alejandro Selkirk), a new remote island group, previously part of SA-005 Juan Fernandez Archipelago but separated from the remaining islands in that group by some 159 kilometers. There has been no known previous Amateur Radio activity. This island will be deleted from SA-005 group which will now consist of Robinson Crusoe and Santa Clara and be renamed as Juan Fernandez Archipelago (Robinson Crusoe Island).

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[1] https://www.iota-world.org/

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