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Kayak Island, NA-157

Ashmore Reef, OC-216

Iony Island, AS-069

Bhola Island, AS-140

Viktoriya Island, EU-190

Arakamchechen Is., AS-071

Dobrzhanskogo Is., AS-203

St. John's Is., OC-101

Rathbone Is, NA-243

Ellesmere Is, NA-008

East Pen Is, NA-230

Axel Heilberg Is, NA-043

Lunga Is., EU-108

Sao Francisco Is., SA-027

Sandy Islet, OC-294

Gonzalo Is., SA-097

Isla Escondida, SA-096

Welcome. If you want to learn more about us, you have come to the right place.

The IOTA (Islands On The Air) Programme is an exciting and innovative activity programme that has caught the interest of thousands of radio amateurs worldwide. Established in 1964, it promotes radio contacts with stations located on islands around the world to enrich the experience of all active on the amateur bands and, to do this, it draws on the widespread mystique surrounding islands. It is administered by Islands On The Air (IOTA) Ltd (called here IOTA Management) in partnership with the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB).

IOTA Management has grouped the oceans' islands into some 1200 'IOTA groups' with, for reasons of geography, varying numbers of 'counters', i.e. qualifying islands, in each group and has published the listings in the IOTA Directory and on the IOTA website. The objective, for the IOTA Island Chaser, is to make radio contact with at least one counter in as many of these groups as possible and, for the IOTA Island Activator, to provide such island contacts. The programme has a strong rule structure. IOTA Management encourages friendly competition among chasers by publishing details of participants' performance in an Honour Roll and annual listings, as well as by recognising it with certificates and prestige awards.

Right, now you know the basic idea. This website will fill in the gaps. It has been designed by the IOTA IT Team to meet the specific needs of those participating in the programme. We are indebted to Michael Wells G7VJR for making Club Log available for QSO matching for IOTA awards and to Rob Banfield DM1CM for allowing us to incorporate features from iotamaps.org into the website.

IOTA Management thank the many IOTA enthusiasts who have contributed to IT development through Friends of IOTA.

Join Friends of IOTA and support the development of the IOTA Programme!

IOTA Group Level - GBP 500+ Archipelago Level - GBP 250-499
Island Level - GBP 100-249 Atoll Level - GBP 10-99

Click here for a list of donors.

Announcement of new IOTA groups at RSGB Convention

IOTA Management announced on 31 August 2018 on the IOTA website the five yearly review of the Directory list of IOTA groups (see previous Management News item). It mentioned its intention of releasing a small number of additions at this year’s RSGB Convention in Milton Keynes with a second tranche at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen in July 2019. IOTA Management is grateful to proposers of some 28 candidate groups received by the 1 October deadline. On Sunday 14 October IOTA General Manager Roger Balister, G3KMA announced the first tranche of 6 new groups at the RSGB Convention. They covered a Swedish/Finnish joint sovereignty island and groups in North America, Asia and Oceania. All new groups have provisional numbers. This means that they will need to be confirmed by an operation taking place after 14 October 2018 that meets the 1000 QSO and other normal validation requirements. Only after confirmation of the number will credit for past operations be considered. Read the full list here.

G3KMA, 14 October 2018

New Checkpoint Appointed

The IOTA Management Team is pleased to announce the appointment with immediate effect of a new checkpoint to cover Portugal. Luis Sutil Teixeira, CT4NH has agreed to take on checkpoint duties for Portugal, previously covered by Julio Mateiro, CT1ZW. Our thanks go to Julio for his long service over many years and we wish him the very best for the future. Luis’s email is xx9tnh@gmail.com and mailing address Luis Sutil Teixeira, Rua Visconde Moreira de Rey 3, 2790-162 Carnaxide, Portugal. We welcome Luis to the team and look forward to working with him. IOTA Participants in Portugal, please note your new checkpoint.

G3KMA, 11 October 2018

Proposed Additions to the IOTA List of Valid Island Groups

IOTA Programme Structure A.4.2 in the 2018 Directory provides for a review of the list of valid island groups to take place every five years. The last such occasion took place in June 2014 with the announcement made at the 50th anniversary celebration of IOTA’s launch the following month. It resulted in 11 new groups being added. This time IOTA Management has decided to bring forward the review to give a chance for any new groups announced to be activated in 2019, the target year. The review process is scheduled to start with an announcement of some additions at this year’s RSGB Convention and may possibly finish with a top-up at next year’s Friedrichshafen Ham Radio event. Any new groups will be very few in number, probably between 5 and 10. It should be noted that only proposals that meet the programme criteria at Sections B and C of the IOTA Programme Structure chapter (2018 Directory) will be considered and, as guidance, it is unlikely that any additions will be made to the Europe list because it is already generously covered. Proposals for consideration should be sent to Roger, G3KMA by 1 October with a short justification (one paragraph please) in terms of the programme criteria.

Best Regards
G3KMA, 31 August 2018

Updated Privacy Policy

We have made some changes to our privacy policy in line with new data regulations. These include

Clarity on what data we have, how we use it, why we need it, how long we keep it and who has access to it;
Choices you have over how we use your data;
Details of where to contact if you have any concerns.

Perhaps the main change for holders of an IOTA record is that we have introduced a two year limit on the time that we retain your personal data if you have not logged in to your record on the IOTA website. Do log in at least once every two years, otherwise to recover your list of credits you will need to re-register your personal information. You can read the full privacy policy here.

G3KMA, 24 August 2018

Two New Checkpoints Appointed

The IOTA Management Team is pleased to announce the appointment with immediate effect of two new checkpoints to cover Spain and Canada. Christian Cabre, EA3NT has agreed to take on checkpoint duties for Spain, previously covered by Josep Gilbert, EA3BT and Nuria Font, EA3WL. His email is ec3adc@gmail.com. Our thanks go to Josep and Nuria for their long service over many years and we wish them well. Bud Powell, VE7SMP has agreed to accept a similar task for Canada, previously covered by Reg Beck, VE7IG (SK). His email is ve7smp@rac.ca. Their mailing addresses are OK in QRZ.com. We welcome Christian and Bud to the team and look forward to an increase in IOTA awareness in their areas. IOTA Participants in these countries, please note your new checkpoint.

G3KMA, 23 August 2018

VE7IG SK

It is with great sadness that I learned of the death on 24 July 2018 of Reg Beck, VE7IG. Reg had served as IOTA checkpoint for Canada since 2003, carrying out the role conscientiously and with great care. He stepped down in March this year for personal reasons. As long as I can recall, he showed himself to be a passionate supporter and friend of the IOTA Programme although he put as much into several other award programmes and was amongst the top achievers in all of them. In recent years he operated at times as VE1DXA from his daughter’s home in Nova Scotia from where he activated a number of IOTA groups. He was a real IOTA enthusiast who will be sadly missed. The IOTA Community expresses heart-felt thanks to our friend Reg and passes sincere condolences to his family.

G3KMA, 29 July 2018

IOTA Directory 2018

Copies of IOTA Directory 2018 can now be purchased from the IOTA Shop. This 18th edition will probably be the last paper edition to be printed, the inevitable consequence of the Internet age. The Directory contains the complete listing of 15,000 IOTA islands as well as everything readers need to know to participate in the programme. Included in the colour section are fascinating reports on several rare IOTA operations, well worth reading. The rules have seen a major and once only restructuring to make them easier to follow. The list of Most Wanted IOTAs has been recast to show the listing in three ways: based on contacts credited all-time, credited to those who updated in the last 10 years and to those who did so in the last 5 years. Regular features such as the Honour Roll and other performance listings, award winners and advice on making a first application are also included. Remember, this may be the last printed edition published, so if you prefer to check data in paper form, you would be well advised to purchase a copy. In addition to the Directory the newly established IOTA Shop also offers IOTA flags, large and small, and IOTA patches. More to come.

G3KMA, 28 May 2018

2018 IOTA HONOUR ROLL - ANNUAL LISTINGS

The 2018 Honour Roll and Annual Listings have been posted on the IOTA website at https://www.iota-world.org. Together the two main listings show growth of 4.6% over the same listings in 2017. 221 record-holders have scores of 1000 or more IOTA groups, an increase of 6.8%, and 562 have scores of at least 750 groups, the number required for the IOTA Plaque. Scores at the top continue to close with 37 record-holders breaking through the 1100 mark and 17 of them within 10 of the top score. Congratulations to joint leaders 9A2AA and I2YDX on 1119 groups out of a possible 1124 and indeed to all who have joined the IOTA family or updated in the last year.

G3KMA, 10 April 2018

2017 IOTA Contest Data Uploaded

The 2017 IOTA Contest data has now been uploaded to the IOTA database and is available for QSO matching. We thank all concerned on the RSGB Contest Committee. It should be noted that if an operation is asked by IOTA’s Validation Team (not the same as the RSGB Contest Committee) for validation and this is not sent in good time, QSO matching will not be allowed and a warning that the operation will not be accepted for IOTA will be posted on the database for applicants to note. IOTA’s help point is at info@iota-world.org. Enquiries relating to the contest results should be directed to the RSGB Contest Committee at www.iotacontest@rsgbcc.org.

G3KMA, 24 November 2017

Change of Checkpoint

It is with regret that we inform Scandinavian IOTA chasers that Jan Hallenberg, SM5DJZ has had to step down as their checkpoint for health reasons. Jan has been the checkpoint for Scandinavia for many years and we owe him a great debt of gratitude for a job well done and send him our good wishes.

Claes "Mel" Carneheim, SM0MPV has agreed to take over his duties with immediate effect.

Our thanks go to Mel for stepping forward – his address is Claes "Mel" Carneheim, Sagov. 3, SE-182 47 Enebyberg, Sweden and his email address is sm0mpv@ssa.se.

Calling Chasers with a Pending Score on the IOTA Database but not in the Programme

As a further step in database housekeeping we have to inform all chasers who have registered but have never entered the programme with an accepted score that the Board of IOTA Ltd has decided to allow them one year to post a score, failing which it will close their records. It considers that it makes no sense to allow substantial numbers of chasers to maintain a pending record assembled using all the benefits of an IOTA programme but not take the simple step of entering the programme. The one year will run from the date of this news item (26 September) or the date of first registration whichever is the later. Closed records will be moved without further notice to Archives where they will no longer be visible to their “owners”. To avoid this action chasers will need to submit an application within the year. The Board regrets the need for such action but has taken it in the interests of good management. Queries about this notice should be sent to info@iota-world.org.

G3KMA, 26 September 2017