Islands on The Air (IOTA) in Amateur Radio

Islands on The Air (IOTA) in Amateur Radio

Islands On The Air program (IOTA) is another outdoor activity for the amateur radio operator which is challenging. Those who contact IOTA operators are called Island Chasers. Parks on The Air and Summits on The Air are similar popular outdoor activities in amateur radio. IOTA was created by Geoff Watts way back in 1964 and later taken up by the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) in 1985. IOTA program was transferred to a Not for Profit company in 2016. There are around 1200 groups of ocean islands included in the IOTA program. Certain criteria have been laid down for islands which can be considered for IOTA program. IOTA islands must not lie in rivers, inland lakes or seas, narrow gulfs or enclosed bays. A minimum distance from mainland should also be there. They must be visible on Google Earth or an official reference map. Individual islands have not been listed, only groups.

I could find 15 islands groups listed from VU land in the directory. Interestingly, AS-001 is Andaman Islands and AS-033 Nicobar Islands. AS-161 is quite near my location in Kerala, which is called locally as ‘Velliyan Kallu’, meaning ‘White Rock’. This tiny rock about 40 km from Kozhikode coast has been named ‘Sacrifice Rock’ due it its ominous past history. A few years back I had visited the Thikkodi light house, not for light house activation, but as a casual visit. Climbed to the top of the light house and the operator there showed me the Velliyan Kallu off the coast, which was part of the spectacular view from the top of the light house. So I was pleasently surprised to find out today that it is the Sacrifice Rock listed in the IOTA directory as the only one from my state of Kerala!

Today there was an activation on Mousuni Island by VU2JFA and team, from IOTA group AS-153 in the Eastern State of West Bengal, quite far from my region. Had seen messages on various VU groups mentioning that they were active on 14.260 MHz, the main meeting frequency. No idea how many Island chasers had the opportunity to work them. May be we will get the data soon. There are about 22 certificates available for Island chasers, starting from IOTA 100 Islands of the World to IOTA World Diploma.