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!
Crozet Islands QRV in December
When we ask the DX Engineering team of active operators to scour their carefully cataloged collections for QSL cards from our featured DXCC entities each month, the OnAllBands in-box fills up quickly with postcard-sized proof that there are some serious DXers here.
But even for longtime operators with well-equipped stations, some of the rarest entities remain unclaimed. Such is the case with the Crozet Islands (FT5/W), which stands as the third most-wanted DXCC entity per Clublog.
Crozet’s status as number-three behind North Korea and Bouvet Island is likely to change drastically thanks to Thierry Mazel, F6CUK, who has been authorized to operate from Crozet (IOTA AF-008)—a sub-Antarctic archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean 1,500 miles from the coast of Antarctica—from December 2022 to March 2023. Read up-to-date information from the Crozet Islands FT1W website on dates, modes, and highly restricted operating conditions. Other than the Alfred Faure scientific research station continuously operated on Ile de la Possession Island since 1963 (where F6CUK will operate from), the Crozet Islands are uninhabited. The last activation of Crozet was a solo DXpedition in 2009.
The avid DXers at DX Engineering are gearing up for this rare shot at Crozet, including Dave, N8NB, a ham since the age of 13 who only has four DXCC entities left on his list. Two members of DX Engineering’s team managed to contact the Crozet Islands during a couple of its infrequent activations over the years.
Scotty, KG9Z, DX Engineering customer service/technical support specialist, contacted this rare entity twice (40M CW and 20M SSB) during the FT8WA 1986/87 DXpedition from the Alfred Faure station. Only three entities remain on KG9Z’s ATNO list: Pratas Island (#6), Scarborough Reef (#4), and North Korea (#1).
Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer service/technical support specialist, received this QSL card from the FB8WW DXpedition in 1964 when his callsign was K8WOT. From 1961 to 1972, all Crozet Islands DXpeditions used the FB8WW callsign. A longtime DXer who caught the DXing bug during Cycle 19 (we’ll be featuring his card from Gus Browning’s Bouvet Island LH4C DXpedition next month), K8FF currently has a score of 379/340 mixed at the top of the Honor Roll.
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