Yemen QRV in January and February
Vlad, OK2WX, is scheduled to activate Yemen from January 25 to February 12—an excellent opportunity for hams to log this 44th most-wanted entity (as of December). The 7O2WX HF operation will be focusing on the low bands (160-40M) and will certainly be a sought-after station during the CQ 160 Meter CW Contest, January 26, 2200Z to January 28, 2200Z. OK2WX will be operating from Socotra Island.
It has been a busy time in the amateur radio world for the Republic of Yemen, a West Asian country of nearly 35 million bordered by Saudi Arabia and Oman. There were two prominent Yemen DXpeditions in November 2023—7O8AD/7O8AE (57,102 QSOs) and 7O73T (41,304 QSOs). Prior to these ventures, the last major activity from Yemen was 7O6T in 2012 and 7O1YGF in 2000.
Quick Facts About Yemen
- At 203,850 square miles—57% of it desert—Yemen is slightly smaller than France, ranking it as the 50th largest nation.
- The current Republic of Yemen was established in May 1990, resulting from the merging of North Yemen and South Yemen.
- Yemen’s government, like North Korea’s, prohibits citizens from obtaining an amateur radio license.
QSL Cards
The active hams at DX Engineering have had great success contacting Yemen over the years—a good reason to contact them for help with your gear if you’d like to do the same. Here are a few Yemen QSL cards from the collections of the DX Engineering team.
Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, made contact on 20M SSB with the April/May 2012 7O6T DXpedition from Socotra Island (IOTA AF-028). One panel of the 7O6T QSL card shows the Yemen flag—equal horizontal bands of red, white, and black.
The 15-operator venture produced more than 162,029 CW, phone, and digital QSOs, currently ranking 7O6T #9 in terms of most total QSOs logged during a DXpedition (#8 on the list is the DX Engineering-sponsored 4W8X Timor-Leste DXpedition from November 2023, which recorded 163,242 QSOs).
Other members of the DX Engineering team who reached 7O6T included George, K3GP, customer/technical support specialist (30, 20, 15M CW; 20/15 SSB); and Mark, W8BBQ, customer/technical support specialist (30,17, 15M CW; 40/15 SSB).
About Socotra Island
By far the largest of four islands in the Socotra archipelago, 1,466-square-mile Socotra Island lies between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea—geographically part of Africa but controlled by Yemen. It has a population of around 60,000. Its unique landscape features snow-white sand dunes, limestone plateaus, and the Hajhir Mountains. A research study in the 1990s found 700 endemic species on the island, ranking it with other biodiverse lands such as Hawaii, New Caledonia, and the Galapagos Islands.
Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, reached the December 1996 7O1A DXpedition on 20M SSB. The port city of Aden, located in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, was the capital of South Yemen prior to uniting with North Yemen. Its population of over 860,000 (numbers on this vary per source) ranks it as Yemen’s second largest city behind Sanaa.
Scotty, KG9Z, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, reached the July 1990 7O8AA DXpedition from Aden. The DXpedition took place only a couple of months after the merging of North and South Yemen.
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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!
