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It’s All in the Cards: QSLs from Solomon Islands and Burundi

Posted by on August 27, 2019 at 6:50 pm

DXers will have a chance to put Solomon Islands in their log books this August. Michael, DL2GMI, is scheduled to be QRV on 80/40/20/15/10/6M from August 23 to September 2 on SSB, RTTY, and FT8. As of July, Solomon Islands ranked as the 88th Most Wanted DXCC Entity in North America.

Consisting of six major islands and 900 smaller ones in Oceania, Solomon Islands has a land area of 11,000 square miles and a population of around 600,000. Michael, DL2GMI, will be operating from Malaita Island in the Malaita Province, one of the largest of the nine provinces making up the Solomon Islands. After Guadalcanal, tropical and mountainous Malaita is the second-most populous (140,000) of the Solomon Islands.

Often referred to as “The Heart of Africa,”the Republic of Burundi will be active from August 31 to September 17 thanks to Francesco, IV3TMM, who will be operating as 9U3TMM during this holiday-style DXpedition on 60M through 6M—SSB, RTTY, and FT8. As of July, Burundi, one of the smallest countries in Africa, ranked as the 74th Most Wanted DXCC Entity in North America. Bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Burundi has a population of over eight million people, most of whom live in rural communities.

George, K3GP, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, worked the H40XX DXpedition from the Temotu Province (formerly Santa Cruz Islands), the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands, in 2002 on 15M CW.
In February 2012, Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist,   reached the H40FN Solomon Islands DXpedition on 40M, 30M and 20M CW. Gear used by the DXpedition team included an Icom IC-7000 transceiver and Ameritron ALS-500 amplifier.
In October 2001, Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, contacted the H44AT DXpedition from New Georgia Island, part of the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, on 10M SSB.
Mark, W8BBQ, contacted the 9U0A Burundi DXpedition in November 2010 on 17M and 15M SSB. George, K3GP, contacted them on 40M, 20M, and 17M CW. The four-operator 9U0A team logged more than 13,100 QSOs during the DXpedition to the landlocked African nation.


Tom, KB8UUZ, reached the highly successful 9U4U Burundi DXpedition on 20M and 15M SSB back in 2013. The team logged more than 70,000 QSOs during its ten days in Africa.
The back of the QSL card reads: “Once upon a time in a faraway land a bunch of crazy radio amateurs got this foolish idea of installing antennas and four radio stations to spread their message over the airwaves…When they reached their destination in the heart of Africa’s subtropical region, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, they bundled forces to build four stations with numerous antennas. Blazing heat, heavy rainfall, and countless mosquito bites did not prevent them to complete all work before nightfall.”

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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!

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  1. Pingback: ソロモンと台湾が国交断絶におけるH44の扱いについて | JF2IWL

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