Since we had a special event last night, celebrating 30 years(!) of TVARC, I didn’t get a chance to give my usual presentation on our DXCC, WAS, and POTA standings. But since I did solicit your individual accomplishments over the past two months, I‘ll recap them here.
DXCC – Our Top Ten list had three stations immediately jumping on and working the big Desecheo Island DXpedition (more later). We also had a couple of stations grabbing LZ0A in the South Shetlands. We even had someone make it to 300 countries worked from The Villages. When I first began compiling the list, and Chuck, K9IA told me he had worked 292 countries from here, I truly found that to be quite unbelievable. But we’ve got another five in counting in the 290s, so it must be true!
WAS – We can add Bob, AC4MC, as our 56th TVARCer to work all states. Congrats, Bob!
POTA – More and more folks are getting into this latest aspect of our hobby. We’ve got four of us with our initial activations, and George, K2DM, managed to activate over 100 parks in calendar 2025. And he hasn’t stopped! If any of you are interested, there will be a group POTA the day prior to Hamcation Feb 12, starting at 8A at Lake Louisa Park, outside Orlando.
Dxpeditions – Desecheo (KP5/NP3VI) is the big one. It’s a US island, near Puerto Rico, and was used during WWII for bombing practice. It is now designated as a National Wildlife Refuge, and public access is prohibited due to the possibility of unexploded ordnance, as well for as the protection of endemic species. The previous amateur operation was back in 2009, so it’s gotten quite rare for DX chasers. This operation is one of the recent, Remote Deployment Unit types, also known as DXpedition-in-a-Box. Two of these were set up on the island, with the operators residing across the world, accessing these units remotely. In this way, operations are able to take place 24/7. They will be operating through February 10, so anyone with an HF radio in The Villages ought to be able to work them. By the time February rolls around, they will be begging for your QSO!
Lakshadweep Islands (VU7RS)– these are islands off the east coast of India that see Dxpeditions occasionally. This one had some logistical issues and so has been put off until February,
Bouvet (3Y0K) – the rarest of uninhabited islands (except for penguins). The group is in full preparation mode, and this one is scheduled for February. Hopefully, they’ll be successful this time, so that other TVARCers besides Rusty will be able to work ‘em!
Contests – this weekend is the North American QSO Party SSB version, and also the ARRL January VHF contest. The only other contest of note is the CQWW RTTY WPX in about a month.
I’ve attached the PDFs for these. Be back for the February meeting!
73, Pete, K2PS