St. Paul Island QRV in August and September
It is one of the great ironies of DXing that it’s most often the smallest of places that are the biggest deals in the ham radio world. Evidence of this is tiny St. Paul Island, located about 15 miles northeast of Cape Breton Island along the boundary between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Cabot Strait.
At three miles long and one mile wide, the uninhabited, frequently fog-bound island—once named the “Graveyard of the Gulf” by sailors whose ships met their fate on its granite cliffs—will be the hot ticket for DXing enthusiasts when the DX Engineering-sponsored CY9C DXpedition team puts this 50th Most Wanted DXCC Entity (as of July) on the air from August 26 to September 5, 2024.
Today, the island’s automated, solar-powered lighthouse—built in 1962 as a replacement for a lighthouse constructed in 1917—welcomes the handful of visitors who arrive at St. Paul, including the Canadian Coast Guard, SCUBA divers, and amateur radio adventurers like the 11-operator CY9C team. CY9C will be using two helicopters to transport gear and team members to the windswept and treeless Northeast Island site.
The team will be employing six FlexRadio station setups for CW, SSB, RTTY, and FT8. The stations will include the FlexRadio Power Genius (PGXL) Amplifier (below), now available at DXEngineering.com. A seventh FlexRadio station will be devoted to UHF/VHF/EME and satellites.
The team of experienced hams, which includes members of the CQ DX Hall of Fame and participants in the CY0S Sable Island DXpedition in March 2023, plan to be active on 160-6M, employing Yagis on 20-6M and elevated sloping dipoles and verticals on the low bands. The team notes that at any given time, a minimum of three stations will be using the new SuperFox FT8 mode. Lighthouse chasers will be hoping to add this to their conquests (STP-002), as well as POTA (CA-0122) and IOTA (NA-094) enthusiasts.
You can get the latest news and read more about frequencies, the CY9C band plan, and 6M/2M/70cm/23cm operation details at the DXpedition’s official website.
DX Engineering is once again showing its commitment to high-profile DXpeditions by supporting CY9C 2024. The company provided the following equipment:
- DX Engineering Beverage Antenna System
- DX Engineering RPA-2 Modular Receive Preamplifier
- DX Engineering Beverage Termination Resistors
In August 2016, DX Engineering supported the St. Paul Island CY9C DXpedition by providing a range of DX Engineering-manufactured gear, including:
- Dual-Band 40/30M Thunderbolt Vertical Antenna
- Patented Radial Plate
- SO-239 SecureMount Bulkhead Connector
- Pre-Assembled Radial Wire Kits
- 1,000 Feet of RG-8X Coaxial Cable
- Butternut 9-Band HF9V Vertical Antenna covering 80 through six meters
Back in September 2016, CY9C DXpedition members Jay Slough, K4ZLE, and Wayne McKenzie, K8LEE (SK), stopped by DX Engineering headquarters in Tallmadge, Ohio, to chat with Tim Duffy, K3LR, DX Engineering CEO, about the challenges and rewards of this successful “tent and generator” operation (in Jay’s words) from St. Paul Island, in which the team braved capricious weather while manning camps on the island’s Atlantic Cove and Northeast Island sites.
“That island, in my opinion, experiences all four seasons in one day,” noted Wayne, K8LEE, who served as the DXpedition’s dedicated RTTY operator. “It can be very, very rainy with high winds—30, 35 knots—and very cold and damp in the evening, and then in the morning it’s extremely hot.”
Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, received the QSL card below from the 2016 CY9C DXpedition. The card’s back provides an excellent view of the Northeast Island site.
KB8UUZ earned the QSL card below by reaching CY9AA on six meters in June 1997.
Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received this QSL card from the July 2014 CY9M DXpedition. He worked CY9M on 160, 80, 40, 15, 12, and 10M CW; and 40, 20, and 17M SSB.
For all your DXing, contesting, or rag-chewing needs—whether you’re a Big Gun, Little Pistol, or somewhere in between, visit DXEngineering.com for transceivers, amplifiers, antennas,
headsets, and so much more.
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!
