[South Florida DX Association] Rare IOTA's

[Norman Alexander]

The following may be of interest -
Norm W4QN
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There have been two recent IOTA activations from the far north and 
you might be wondering why go to the far north when everything is 
still frozen?  Here are the answers:

VY0A was QRV from an island offshore Churchill, Manitoba.  Churchill 
is the "polar bear capital of the world" and is where tourists go to 
see polar bears.  But in winter (when Hudson Bay is frozen) the polar 
bears are out on the ice hunting seals and not likely on Fox Island 
which is a polar bear preserve.  So this is the best time to activate 
this island and still avoid meeting up w/ the polar bears.

VX8X is on Ellice Island which is offshore very far northern mainland 
Canada.  There was recently a drilling crew on that island (looking 
for oil?) and part of the infrastructure they built was an ice road 
from the mainland to the island.  They also installed a 
communications trailer w/ a tower.  The drilling team left this week 
and VE8EV obtained permission to drive out on their ice road, stay in 
their communications trailer, and put a yagi on their tower to put 
this rare one on the air.

Watch for AT9RS this weekend:  a new Indian IOTA just offshore from 
Goa on the west coast.