Saint Lucia QRV in August
Located in the eastern Caribbean, the West Indies island country of Saint Lucia will be in play this month for DXers (August 10-17) thanks to N4XTT, who will be operating as J6/N4XTT from this popular tourist spot and 230th Most Wanted DXCC Entity per Clublog.
The holiday-style operation and POTA activation (J6-0001) will be on 40-10M in CW, SSB, and FT4/FT8.
The mountainous, volcanic island of Saint Lucia has an area of 238 square miles (about the size of El Paso, Texas) and a population of around 180,000. It has the distinction of being the world’s only sovereign state named after an actual woman—Saint Lucy of Syracuse (AD 283-304), also known as Saint Lucia, a venerated saint in Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Her traditional feast day is observed by Western Christians on December 13—the date, according to legend, that French sailors were shipwrecked there and named the island in her honor.
There are a number of other islands—not sovereign states—named after women, including Greenland’s Princess Dagmar Island, Australia’s Lady Julia Percy Island, Ecuador’s Isabela Island, and Canada’s Lady Franklin Island. This list also includes another DXCC entity, Saint Helena, named after St. Helena of Constantinople.
Wait a sec, there’s one more country named after a woman, right?
We wrote “actual” woman above because there is another sovereign state named after a mythological goddess. Can you name the country and the goddess? See answer below. Need a hint? Sorry. We don’t want to make it too easy. You’ll EIther get the right answer or you won’t.
QSL Cards
The avid DXers at DX Engineering have made several contacts with operators on Saint Lucia over the years. Here are a few of the QSL cards from their collections.
Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received the card below from J6/DK1RP.
Scotty, KG9Z, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, provided us with this QSL card from the J6LCV DXpedition in October 1981.
Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, received the QSL cards below from J68RI (20/15M QSOs) and J69DS from Babonneau, Saint Lucia. Babonneau is a region in the northern part of the island known for its extensive rain forests.
Dave, K8DV, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, reached J68V in November 2008 on 15M CW. The bottom left corner of the card shows the St. Lucia flag—a cerulean blue field with a golden triangle in front of a white-edged isosceles triangle. The flag has undergone several minor modifications since it was adopted in 1967, but it remains largely the same as the one designed 57 years ago.
The J68V card also shows St. Lucia’s most recognizable natural landmark. Called “Gros Piton,” the canine-tooth-shaped volcanic plug majestically towers over the southwest coast of Saint Lucia, 2,619 feet above sea level. The island’s other famous volcanic plug, “Petit Piton,” lies to the north of its more prominent brother. Both Pitons are popular attractions for hikers.
George, K3GP, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received the QSL card below for reaching J6/SP7VC on 80M SSB in January 2015.
Scott, N3RA, DX Engineering sales manager, made an FT8 QSO with J68HZ on 6M.
I’ll take “Countries Named After Goddesses” for $1,000, Ken.
Now back to our OnAllBands Geography Question of the Day. While Saint Lucia is the only sovereign state named after a woman, what country is named after a mythological goddess? If you said “Ireland” (DXCC prefix EI), you would be correct. The names Ireland and Éire come from the Old Irish Ériu, a goddess in Irish mythology.
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Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!
