SCARC US Islands 2023 Annual QSO Party

On Saturday August 26th, the Annual US Island contest was held. The goal of this 15-hour long event is for hams on US and Canadian islands to work as many other stations as possible (both island and non-islands) and for non-island stations to work as many islands as possible.

This year the W7PIG effort was mounted at the QTH of Lee - K7IOC on Camano Island. The plan was to do the same in 2023 as we had done in 2022, only better. Operations were conducted on the non-WARC bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10 and 6 meters. Modes included SSB, CW & FT-8 (digital). It was slower than last year but there was more time for rovers to work one another and other stations as well. Everyone had a lot of fun with the contest! It also was good training experience. Glad we had some newcomers participate.

Several "new" previously unqualified islands were activated and worked during this event.
Supporters included rovers: Steve - AC7SG, Dan - KA7GPP, Dave - AL2I, Nairy - KG7KCD, Rick - KG7PMV, Fred - N7KRN, Terry - N7LRG, Gerry - W6RKE, Jonathan - KK7NQW, Dave - K7GYB and Dick - AH6EZ
Hope I didn't miss anyone. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for your support of the Club during this event.

Coincidentally, several club members earned the "I worked the Pig " Award! For details, please see the Awards page. Club members who worked W7PIG three or more times on different bands or modes qualify. Congratulations!

Conditions were somewhat challenging this year: mediocre propagation and high noise levels for some of the rovers. There were fewer Rovers operatiing this year resulting in fewer island contacts. Weather was much better this time around.

The SCARC results for the 2023 Contest:

	Contacts: 217	States worked: 36	Provinces worked: 2
	Territories: 0	Unique Islands: 25

As in the past, Rovers were key to our Club's success.
Final Score: 100,243 points earning FIRST PLACE in Fixed Station Category and FIRST PLACE Over-all!

KK7NQW – Jonathan, took to the water with an Expedition Class entry and placed third in that category.

N7LRG – Terry, operated from his Camano Island home and took third place in the Fixed Station category.

KA7GPP – Dan, W6RKE – Jerry, and AC7SG – Steve were our lead Rover Class entries, activating 11 islands between them and hold 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishes respectively.

Congratulations to everyone!

For more information about the SCARC US Island Contest efforts, contact:
Lee - K7IOC Email: K7IOC (at) ARRL.net

For more information about the US Islands program, please see US Islands.