FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) WHAT IS IOTA? WHY DO I NEED TO SEND QSL CARDS? WHY NOT JUST A Created in 1964 by Geoff Watts, a leading English short wave CERTIFIED CHECKLIST? listener, and taken on by the RSGB in 1985, IOTA is an amateur IOTA is a difficult award programme to administer. IOTA groups radio activity programme designed to encourage contacts with are not always distinguishable by the call-sign prefix or suffix. island stations world-wide. The oceans’ islands have been Also, occasionally, the island named on the QSL may not be grouped into some 1200 ‘IOTA groups’ with, for reasons of recognised immediately by the Checkpoint as falling within a geography, varying numbers of ‘counters’, i.e. qualifying islands, particular claimed group. In such cases it may be necessary to in each. The objective, for the island chaser, is to make radio check a good atlas or even to seek advice from IOTA contact with at least one counter in as many of these groups as Headquarters (HQ) in England. This takes time and it is possible and, for the DXpeditioner, to provide such island considered unreasonable to expect busy national award contacts. For both it is a fun pastime adding much enjoyment to managers or local radio club officials to carry out this function to on the air activity. 21 separate certificates are currently available the level of accuracy required. However, a number of overseas for island chasers, graded in difficulty, as well as two prestigious Checkpoints have been appointed to process IOTA applications awards for high achievement. See IOTA Rules, Section A. locally. WHICH ISLANDS COUNT? ARE PARTICIPANTS’ SCORES PUBLISHED? To count for IOTA islands need to meet a few simple rules The IOTA Honour Roll and other performance tables, giving relating to location. They must not lie in rivers, inland lakes or participants’ scores as at 1 February each year, are published in seas, or largely enclosed bays. They must be a minimum early summer on the official RSGB IOTA web-site1. As a record distance from the mainland. And they must be either 1 kilometre of current achievement these listings are a popular feature of the in length or shown on a 1:1,000,000 scale map. Islands IOTA programme. See Section D. worldwide that meet these requirements are listed in this Directory. They are grouped wherever possible since they are HOW DO I GET IOTA INFORMATION? far too numerous to be allowed to count separately. If you If you are on Internet, there really is no problem as a number of cannot immediately find the island you want in the list, look for excellent DX bulletins are available to subscribe to, which the officially recognised island group name, e.g. the Canary publish the latest information on island activity as well as official Islands if you want to find Lanzarote. Where there is no officially programme announcements from the IOTA Committee. The recognised group, an IOTA group name is often given to cover a latter information originates either from the IOTA Manager on his range of islands in a particular geographical sector. Look web-site2 or from the IOTA Committee Chairman on the RSGB through these, possibly with an atlas to hand. Don’t worry if the IOTA web-site. There are links between the two sites. If you are island qualifies for IOTA, it will be covered by a group in the list not on Internet, you can subscribe to one of the overseas DX and will most probably be named. See Section B. bulletins that provide information by post on a weekly or two weekly basis. RadCom also features a bi-monthly IOTA column HOW DO I KNOW IF AN ISLAND HAS BEEN ACTIVATED? giving latest news and information from the Committee. Access For a specific island, it is not always possible to know or find out. to one of these sources is a ‘must’ for the keen IOTA island The Directory indicates the IOTA groups that have been chaser. See Annex H. activated, not individual islands unless they constitute an IOTA group on their own. These are shown with a reference number, WHAT ARE THE IOTA MEETING FREQUENCIES? e.g. EU-001 for the Dodecanese. Such numbers are frequently The main frequency is 14.260MHz. Other ones on SSB are quoted on the air or on QSL cards. IOTA groups that have yet to 28.560, 28.460, 24.950, 21.260, 18.128, 7.055 and 3.755MHz. be activated are listed without a number. See Section B. The CW frequencies are 28.040, 24.920, 21.040, 18.098, 14.040, 10.115 and 3.530MHz. No specific frequency has been WHAT IS THE SCORING SYSTEM? nominated for 7MHz CW but it is recommended that operations You count one credit for a confirmed contact with each should include a frequency above 7.025 when the band is open numbered IOTA group listed. Additional credit is not given for a to North America. The 14.260 frequency and other nominated second confirmed contact either with the same island or another frequencies are not reserved exclusively either for IOTA nets or island in the group. for the making of island contacts but are shared with others on a normal non-interference basis. HOW DO I APPLY FOR AN AWARD? The basic award is the IOTA 100 Islands of the World and this is CAN I HAVE A NEW GROUP ADDED TO THE LIST? where to start. First, check your cards carefully against the island The standard answer is no. The IOTA Committee has set a limit listings and the rules published in the Directory. This information of 1200 on the number of groups on the IOTA list. The reason is updated on a regular basis on the IOTA Manager’s web-site for this is to prevent the IOTA ‘total’ becoming an unmanageable and can be downloaded from there for personal use. If you have figure. QSL cards have to be submitted for each credit claimed an IBM compatible personal computer, consider making your and there has to be a limit on the work that we ask Checkpoints claim on an IOTA Members Application Disk (known as to undertake. For every island that seems to be a good IOTAMEM), available from the IOTA Checkpoint authorised to candidate for a separate IOTA group, there are hundreds of deal with claims from your country. This will simplify the other similar candidates elsewhere, each with its own ardent application process both for you and the Checkpoint as well as champion! A detailed set of criteria have been used to establish attract a discount on the administration fee. Otherwise, prepare a the present list and, while we don’t claim that different groupings paper application using the format shown in the Directory. When ready, send the computer disk or the paper application with the QSL cards, the appropriate fee and adequate return postage for 1 http://www.rsgbiota.org the QSLs to your Checkpoint. See Section C. 2 http://www.g3kma.dsl.pipex.com 32 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) might not have been equally feasible, we believe that the CAN I USE THE RSGB IOTA LOGO ON MY QSLS? present list is fair, provides a useful mix of easy and difficult Yes, you can use the logo so long as you do not amend it in any groups to work and at the same time reflects decisions taken at way. It can be downloaded from the RSGB IOTA web-site1. earlier stages of IOTA Programme development. The IOTA Committee is however committed to reviewing the list every five DO YOU HAVE ADVICE ON QSL DESIGN GENERALLY? years, the next occasion being in 2005. In the meantime, with Continuing growth in popularity of the IOTA Programme makes the rare exception of the occasional new island DXCC entity simplification of the card checking procedure essential. Care on group that might qualify under the rules for separate listing or of QSL design can help enormously if it removes scope for a previously declared ‘barren’ IOTA group found to possess a ambiguity about the station location at time of contact. It is for valid island, no new groups will be added. As for the five-year this reason that we ask that the island name be printed on the reviews, we can say only that, while we do not wish to bind the card and that the island be one that is recognised as valid for the hands of future IOTA Committees, we do not currently expect programme by being listed in this Directory. Please, therefore, any changes made to be more than minimal. See Section E. make sure that you print the island name, as well as, of course, checking that the cards meet in all other respects normal QSLing standards since failure to do this can invalidate your FOR DXPEDITIONERS operation for IOTA. If you add the IOTA reference number HOW MANY CONTACTS DO I NEED TO MAKE FOR MY (highly desirable), first check it against the listing in this Directory OPERATION TO BE ACCEPTED? as some numbers have changed from earlier listings. See There is no minimum number required unless you are operating Section C.4. from a listed unnumbered group and are expecting a new IOTA number to be issued. See Section E.2. CAN YOU PROVIDE OVERSEAS LICENSING INFORMATION? Ask RSGB Headquarters2. Or you can check the web-site3 run DO I NEED TO TELL YOU MY PLANS IN ADVANCE OR by Veikko OH2MCN, which covers the licence requirements of CONTACT YOU AFTERWARDS? almost every country in the world.