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!
Saba and St. Eustatius QRV in June
DXers will have a chance this June to log Saba and St. Eustatius islands—a Caribbean DXCC entity since October 10, 2010 (10-10-10). From June 25-July 2, Dave, W9DR will be active from St. Eustatius as PJ5/W9DR, operating on 6 meter SSB, CW and FT8.
The dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010 prompted the creation of four new DXCC entities: Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, and Bonaire. With a population of close to 4,000, St. Eustatius lies southeast of the Virgin Islands, immediately to the northwest of Saint Kitts, and to the southeast of Saba. Seen by Christopher Columbus in 1493, the island changed hands more than 20 times between the 17th and 19th centuries, as multiple nations claimed it as their own. Today, St. Eustatius is a municipality of the Netherlands. As of May, Saba and St. Eustatius ranked as the 130th Most Wanted DXCC entity.
Tom KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, worked the 2013 PJ6A DXpedition from Saba Island on 10M SSB.
The PJ6A DXpedition team wrote: “We chose Saba as our operating site due to the uniqueness and beauty of the island. It is a rocky and volcanic island with a single road. It is located between Sint Maarten and St. Eustatius and is five square miles in size and has a population of 1,400. There is excellent scuba diving, snorkeling and hiking, making this tiny spot in the Caribbean a mecca for eco-tourism. It has earned the moniker the ‘Unspoiled Queen’. Saba has one of the shortest commercial runways in the world. Landing and takeoff from there is not for the faint hearted.”
George K3GP, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, earned these QSOs from both the PJ5NA and PJ5/ K3RGD DXpeditions to St. Eustatius.
