Islands On The Air Programme

F

VALIDATION OF OPERATIONS

F.1

REASON FOR DOING IT

(F.1.1) The rise in popularity of the IOTA Programme over recent years has led more and more operators to activate islands. Many of these islands have had regular previous operations and are easy to reach and activate. Other islands, meanwhile, are remote, difficult and expensive to reach and present many operating problems. This is particularly true of the 280 or so island groups listed that have not yet been activated as well as those island groups that head the Most Wanted IOTA Island Groups list.

(F.1.2) The IOTA Programme, along with other major DX programmes, is based on integrity, honesty and fair play.

It is essential that the Programme should maintain these values if it is to continue to command support among the amateur radio community worldwide.

(F.1.3) During the last two years the IOTA Committee has discussed with the IOTA community, mainly at HamFests and Conventions, a proposal to introduce a requirement that island operators should be prepared to provide on request evidence to substantiate their operations. Views expressed have been almost universally favourable, with some of the most active and well-known island activators giving strongest support. To check practicality, the Committee has also carried out a pilot exercise over the last year to obtain validation for operations from unnumbered and some rare groups on a voluntary basis. This has run smoothly without problems.

(F.1.4) The Committee has now decided to implement the proposal on a permanent basis. It realised that the new procedure can work satisfactorily only if the IOTA community is prepared to give its full support and co-operation. The Committee wishes to reassure participants that it is not guided by negative perceptions but rather by a wish to be seen to be serious in its administration of a programme which in giving so much enjoyment has to take so much on trust.

F.2

REQUIREMENTS FOR OPERATIONS FROM UNNUMBERED GROUPS

(F.2.1) Within two months of the completion of an operation from a previously unnumbered group the operator should, without waiting to be asked, provide evidence in support of his operation under the three sections below.

Physical Presence

The following is acceptable evidence of physical presence on an unnumbered island:

• a dated invoice and receipt from a facility on the island, eg hotel, rented accommodation owner, camp-site manager or shop, in all cases showing the name and address of the company and the name of the DXpeditioner, or
• a signed statement from an official on the island, eg lighthouse keeper or harbour-master, giving the date/s that the DXpeditioner was there - this must include the official's name, address and position, or
• a signed statement from the operator of the boat or plane used for transportation to the island, giving the dates and times on which the DXpeditioner was landed and collected - this must include the name of the boat/plane operator and his/her address. In cases where public transportation is available to the island, a copy of the ticket will be acceptable in place of the statement if and only if the ticket shows the island destination and dates of travel. In cases of small yachts on extended voyages where the captain is the operator, the above requirement should be interpreted as requiring a statement from a crew member.

Any statement provided should be in English where possible or accompanied by an English translation - a statement in the local language is acceptable but may result in considerable delay in completing the validation procedure.

A photograph of the operator taken against an identifiable feature on the island, eg a name-plaque, is highly desirable and may be critical in any cases where the transportation statement is challenged and cannot subsequently be verified. This applies particularly to small yachts on extended voyages where photographs showing that the operation was land-based should also be provided as a matter of routine.

Licence

A photocopy of the operator's licence will be required, except where the operator is using his/her normal callsign for the island operation or is otherwise operating under the terms of his/her licence (eg CEPT).

Landing and/or Operating Permits

The IOTA Committee needs to see copies of landing and/or operating permits for islands where it is known that they are required. For example, it is aware that permits are required for the majority of islands off the coasts of Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and West Coast USA. The Committee advises DXpeditioners, in planning their island operations, to pay attention to the possible need for permits and, if their investigations show that they are required, to make a point of obtaining them since well-founded protests after the event could lead to disqualification of their activity from IOTA credit and withdrawal of the new Reference No. Evidence for or against the need for permits may take the form of copies of relevant correspondence or notes of reported conversations with named government/agency officials.

(F.2.2) DXpeditioners should understand that an operation which has triggered the issue of a new Reference No falls into a 'provisionally accepted' category until satisfactory evidence of validation is provided which enables it to be upgraded to the 'accepted' category. If such evidence is not forthcoming within a period of four months of the completion of the operation, the IOTA Committee may decide to downgrade the operation to a 'long term pending' category. Checkpoints are not authorised to accept for credit QSL cards submitted for operations falling into the 'provisionally accepted' and 'long term pending' categories.

F.3

REQUIREMENTS FOR OPERATIONS FROM RARE/DIFFICULT NUMBERED GROUPS

(F.3.1) The above procedure will also be applied to operations from

• specified rare islands/groups, defined as those which the listing of Most Wanted IOTA Island Groups [See the IOTA Directory and Yearbook] shows are needed by 90% or more of the stations on the IOTA Headquarters database, and
• difficult islands/groups, defined as those additional island/groups which are known to have restrictions on landing or operating an amateur radio station.

(F.3.2) The IOTA Committee reserves the right to operate this procedure also in cases of operations from islands which are extremely difficult to reach or present exceptional political or licensing problems.

(F.3.3) The IOTA Committee will endeavour to inform an island DXpedition either before or during an operation that it falls within one of the categories at paragraphs F.3.1 and F.3.2 and requires satisfactory evidence of validation to be provided within a period of four months of the completion of the operation. Again, DXpeditioners should understand that an operation which triggers this request falls into a 'provisionally accepted' category until satisfactory evidence of validation is provided which enables it to be upgraded to the 'accepted' category. If such evidence is not forthcoming within a period of four months of the completion of the operation, the IOTA Committee may decide to downgrade the operation to a 'long term pending' category as in paragraph F.2.2 above.

F.4

GENERAL

(F.4.1) From time to time the IOTA Committee is required to take action over a past operation which is now found not to qualify for IOTA or is known or suspected not to have taken place as claimed or has failed to reach an acceptable standard of QSLing performance. The Committee reserves the right to withdraw credit for contacts made with such operations. In the latter two cases the operation will be downgraded into the 'long term pending' category and the operator concerned may find past and future operations classified as ineligible for IOTA credit.

G

MANAGEMENT OF IOTA

G.1

IOTA COMMITTEE

(G.1.1) The RSGB IOTA Committee is charged with overall responsibility for IOTA. It is a full Committee of the Society and operates under normal Committee Standing Orders. The IOTA Committee Chairman and the IOTA Manager (Honorary) are appointed by the RSGB Council. Current membership of the Committee is as follows:

• Martin Atherton, G3ZAY, Committee Chairman
• Roger Balister, G3KMA, IOTA Manager (ex officio member)
• Neville Cheadle, G3NUG, Committee Member
• Don Beattie, G3OZF, Committee Member
• Andrew Williamson, G0NWG, Committee Member (recently appointed)
• Dewitt Jones, W4BAA, Committee Member (North America)
• Mauro Pregliasco, I1JQJ, Committee Member (Europe)
• Lynnette Ranger, RSGB HQ IOTA Co-ordinator

(This section has been updated)

(G.1.2) Decisions of the Committee are publicised through Radio Communication, the official journal of the RSGB, the RSGB DX News Sheet and through the RSGB's Internet pages.

G.2

POLICY AND PLANNING

(G.2.1) The RSGB IOTA Programme is managed on a non-profit-making basis. Up to quite recently most administration costs were met from within the programme, principally from charges levied for directories and certificates, with Committee members paying the rest. This changed in September 1994 when as a first step towards strengthening the programme's finances the Committee entered into a sponsorship deal with Yaesu UK Ltd. Then in February 1996 the RSGB stepped in with significant administrative support. The future of the programme is therefore assured.

G.3

OVERSEAS REPRESENTATION IN IOTA

(G.3.1) In managing this award programme the IOTA Committee has been fortunate in being able to call on the assistance and goodwill of a large number of friends world-wide. They have helped in innumerable ways, both on the air in running nets, in providing information and in encouraging island activity and also behind the scenes in supplying maps and local translations of the Directory. The Committee is enormously grateful for all this support and encouragement which has done much to promote IOTA as a credible international award programme. Drawing on this goodwill it has created a body of overseas Country Assistants to help with the implementation of the programme. The first Country Assistants were appointed in March 1993. The title will not be given lightly. It will be an acknowledgement of work already undertaken and of a commitment to continue to assist the Committee to administer the programme in accordance with its rule structure. The Committee looks to Country Assistants in the first place to help in determining the islands in their country which qualify for IOTA and in resolving local problems.

(G.3.2) The IOTA Committee is aware that island chasers in some countries may wish to establish a national IOTA club or group to promote the programme in that country. It welcomes and encourages moves in this direction as a means of increasing participation in the programme and of providing a local service for answering queries and solving problems. It would expect any Country Assistant to be a main participant in such a group.

H

MISCELLANEOUS

H.1

IN RECOGNITION OF EFFORT

Going on your own island DXpedition? If so, please remember to provide advance publicity for your operation through DXNS or other DX newsletters. Give details of callsigns, dates, frequencies and special times of operations for island chasers. When, after the event, you next update, you may apply to have your Honour Roll or Annual Listing score credited with the island/group in question. You do not need to use your own callsign but the expedition QSL card MUST confirm that you were a member and needs to be submitted.

H.2

LIABILITY OF THE IOTA COMMITTEE

Neither the RSGB nor the IOTA Manager nor any member of the IOTA Committee nor the Committee acting as a corporate body can accept any responsibility for any financial or other loss resulting from action taken by island activators on the basis of any provision within this Directory or any communication from them.

H.3

EXTENT OF THE IOTA COMMITTEE'S DISCRETION

(H.3.1) The IOTA Award Programme is a British award, sponsored by the RSGB and administered on its behalf by the IOTA Committee. Members of the IOTA Committee, as well as the Checkpoints and Country Assistants, are volunteers, receiving no payment. They all put in countless hours of effort, particularly in the checking of QSL cards and handling of certificate claims. Painstaking care is taken at all times, not least to resolve any cases of doubt. The credibility of the award programme is largely due to their efforts. From time to time the checking process leads the Committee to question the validity of a QSL. When this occurs, the Committee will seek further information, including on occasion copies of logs or log extracts, from the member himself or the island operator. It considers that since it manages the IOTA Award Programme it has the right to require such information. All members participating in the programme are expected to co-operate with the IOTA Committee in providing on request such information as is judged to be within their control. When non-co-operation occurs and, more so, when award rules are broken, the overall integrity of the programme is judged of primary importance and continued participation in IOTA by the member concerned may no longer be possible.

(H.3.2) THE DECISION OF THE IOTA COMMITTEE IS FINAL.

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