• Home
• QSL Cards
• Toolbox

US Islands 25th Anniversary Award

NFARL Activations

An introduction to the US Islands 25th Anniversary Awards Program is available here.  If you need help planning your activation or qualification, Terry W4YBV is a great resource.

Activation Details (Date, Island, Activating Team)	Comments
February 9th Casey Key FL272S Terry Joyner, W4YBV
February 9 Elk / Nokomis Boat Ramp FL273S Terry Joyner, W4YBV	More information about Terry's operation at the Elk / Nokomis Boat Ramp is available here. Per Terry: The first two activations yielded 49Qs in 21 states.  The club needs to activate a total of 25 islands this year for the 25th Anniversary Award so 2 down and 13 to go!
February 21 Casey Key FL272S Terry Joyner, W4YBV	Terry went back to Casey Key FL272S on Thursday Feb. 21 and made 36 more contacts in 14 states in 3 hours. The best DX station was S51DX Slovenia. The only club member worked was Jim N4SEC. 12 to go!!
March 17 Pine Island GA031L Terry Joyner, W4YBV	On Sunday 3/17/19 Terry only had about an hour to activate Pine Island GA031L.  He made 5 island contacts: 3 in Virginia , 1 in Oklahoma, and 1 in Michigan.  All on 40-M.  He was using his new FT 891 with a hamstick antenna. The club needs 11 more contacts for the 15 contacts for the contest this year.
May 11 Indian Island GA025L Terry Joyner, W4YBV	Also participating but not pictured was Stew Tarkington W8LLX.  The NFARL team made 31 contacts including Spain and Venezuela.
May 25 St. Simons Island GA003S John Tramontanis, N4TOL Phil Graitcer, K3UT (formerly W3HZZ)	John & Phil made 17 SSB QSOs on 20 meters, working 12 different states. Below are pictures of the view from their operating position on St. Simons and a shot of their vertical antenna in the marsh - great natural grounding!
July 17 Caspersen Island FL574S Terry Joyner, W4YBV Jim Paine, N4ESC	Jim N4SEC and Terry W4YBV qualified Caspersen Island FL574S, a new island for the U S Islands Awards Program and the club, on 7/17/19.  The Island is in Venice FL.  They made 18 QSOs in 9 states and 1 Costa Rica station. An island must be "qualified" for the U S Islands Awards Program if the expedition is the first to operate from it under the program.  Advanced planning with the U S Islands Awards Program Qualification Manager is required and a minimum of 15 contacts must be made to qualify an island.  After the island is qualified it can be activated by anyone interested. There is no minimum number of contacts required to activate an island.
July 17 Blackburn Point Island FL 274S Terry Joyner, W4YBV Jim Paine, N4ESC	Jim N4ESC and Terry W4YBV also activated Blackburn Point Island FL274S on the same day as Caspersen Island.  They made 37 QSOs in 16 states and 1 Panama station. The island is close to Osprey FL, between Sarasota and Venice.
August 1st Pawley's Island SC018S Terry Joyner, W4YBV	Terry activated Pawley's Island on August 1st using the club's NF4GA call.  He made 15 QSOs in 6 states and one DX station.  The DX station was S57DX in Slovenia.  The domestic QSOs included club member John N4TOL. He used his FT 857D and a hamstick antenna. The island is located 25 miles south of Myrtle Beach on the South Carolina coast.
August 24th Mary Alice Island GA028L Terry Joyner, W4YBV and a host of others	Saturday the 24th was a full day for our participants.  In addition to activating the island, we participated in the US Islands QSO Party and enjoyed our summer picnic.  That brought lots of folks out to socialize and enjoy the good food and very nice weather (at least until the squall hit mid-afternoon). Details of our operating setup and photos of the event are available in NFARL's 2019 Photo Album.  Cllick here to view the album. Terry estimated that the team made 125 contacts, with at least six of those being island-to-island which provide extra QSO Party points for the team.  As soon as Terry and Jim tally the scores and come up with a final set of numbers, we will post them here.