While the Azores enjoy year round nice weather they, like any place, are not immune to natural disasters. The Azores are situated on three of the largest tectonic plates making the islands susceptible to powerful earthquakes. And in recent years heavy rains have created mudslides severely impacting the infrastructure and resulting in evacuations.

Emergency Communications in the Azores

The role of radio amateurs in the area of civil protection is extraordinary and well tested during the 1980 earthquake, and more recently in the wake of landslides isolating the remote villages. And ultimately, this meeting of minds will connect all nine islands not only to the world but also tightly together in the spirit of testing the power of their radio network, both for their own pleasure and for society at large.

For events outside of the Azores, the islands are situated in a good location so Amateurs in the Azores may be a regional communications asset.

Find out who won here…(click)

QSL Information

All QSOs will be confirmed through the bureau with special full-color cards. Direct QSL requests may also be made via Jose, CU2CE.

Note: You can embed this log search page in other web sites with the following HTML:

<iframe src='http://www.clublog.org/azores.php' width='100%' 
scrolling='no' height='400' frameborder='0'>

Those making a QSO with at least 5 different islands will have a corresponding number of tickets placed into a lottery for a free trip to the Azores. For example, if you have QSOs with 7 islands you will get 7 lottery tickets.

Note that all QSOs made with the stations count (not just those in the 1200 UTC – 1200 UTC window). The window is the period when all of the nine stations are guaranteed to be active, but all QSOs count.

Additionally, the first 25 operators that make QSOs with all 9 islands will be eligible for a second lottery draw.

Each island counts only once.

The two winning tickets will be drawn on October 15, 2012 and the winners will be announced both on http://azores-islands-hunt.com and http://www.visitazores.com. The free trips are from the closest airport served by SATA; the package includes the flights, accommodation and transfers within the Azores.

Log Search

A special log search tool powered by Club Log will be available during and immediately after the weekend via our web site – you can access the logs of all nine stations here.

Club Log will be featured as a window to all 9 islands logs almost real-time with special software combining all nine islands logs into one overview.

Certificates

The Organizing Committee will send a beautiful certificate to all that manage to contact all 9 islands during the weekend of September 28-30. The certificate will be sent by email to those eligible after the event.

It is often said that DXers only work DX. More recently, we have seen a healthy shift toward assisting the society they visit by helping locals become stronger in Amateur Radio. Something totally new is now happening in the CU-land – the Azores.

Find out who won here…(click)

In recent years, the Azores Islands have balanced their agriculture and livestock sectors through increased awareness of their great location and unique landscape facilitated by the development of the local infrastructure to receive more visitors from industrialized countries. Significant progress has been made in expanding tourist facilities, convention hotels and holiday resorts. The Azores is now capable of accommodating 10,500 visitors per day. Additionally, the Azorean airline (SATA) is set to serve many European destinations in addition to the US and Canada.

Radio amateurs are now stepping forward to help the Azoreans increase the awareness of all of their nine islands, all within reach of SATA airline service. Forming nine country teams with the locals, a total of twenty DXers will fly in from SATA destinations to be on the air from the nine islands as part of the “Azores Nine Islands Hunt” – a unique concept to bring everyone on board globally to share what the Azores can offer. Those participating are:

K2DO, KI1U, KE3Q, N2GA, VE3DZ, VE3FWA, DJ9ZB, DF9TF, G3TXF, G7VJR, OH2BH, OH8NC, OH9MDV LB3HC, ON7LX ON7TK, ON5NT, OZ7AM and OZ1IKY together with locals: CU1AAD, CU2BV, CU2CE, CU2DX, CU3CS, CU4AB, CU5AM, CU6AB, CU7CA,CU8AAE and CU9AC

The Amateur Radio group is also set to streamline emergency communications procedures throughout the archipelago. Together with the local amateur population and administrators, they will be using this activity to test the island-to-island amateur radio network. The ARRL is sending their best resources, lending their expertise in this field.

While these islands count for a single DXCC entity, they offer three IOTA groupings, as follows:

• EU-003 Eastern Azores Group [CU1, CU2]
  36.83N – 38.00N / 24.5W – 26.5W
• EU-089 Western Azores Group [CU8, CU9]
  39.25N – 39.83N / 31W – 31.33W
• EU-175 Central Azores Group [CU3, CU4, CU5, CU6, CU7]
  38.00N – 39.25N / 26.5W – 29W

To read the full rules for the Azores Islands Hunt, please click here.

Find out more at www.visitazores.com!

Each island has its own characteristics and unique blend of Atlantic charm: each is distinct enough to justify a visit in its own right.  We invite you to look at www.visitazores.com and see the spectacular beauty of the Azores for yourself.

Not many people know that the Azores have their own airline (SATA) flying to each island, in addition to many destinations in North America and Europe.

• Associação Radiomadores Marienses – CU1ARM
• Associação Radiamadores dos Açores – CU2ARA
• União Radiamadores dos Açores – CU3URA
• Associação Radiamadores da Graciosa – CU4ARG
• Grupo Radioamadores do Pico – CU6GRP
• Clube Radioamadores do Faial – CU7CRA
• Associação Radioamadores das Flores – CU8ARF

TEAM FINLAND, SANTA MARIA, CU1ARM

• Juha Hulkko, OH8NC
• Kimmo Rautio, OH9MDV
• Sérgio Oliveira, CU1AAD

TEAM NORWAY, SAO MIGUEL, CU2ARA

• Marius Hauki. LB3HC
• Ghis Penny, ON5NT
• Guilherme Frias, CU2IF

TEAM USA (1), TERCEIRA, CU3URA

• George Tranos, N2GA
• Diane Ortiz, K2DO (YL)
• Domingos Cabral, CU3BS

TEAM GERMANY, GRACIOSA, CU4ARG

• Franz Langner, DJ9ZB
• Richard Gottlieb, DF9TF
• Guilherme Bento Frias, CU4AB

TEAM CANADA, ST JORGE, CU5AM

• Yuri Onipko, VE3DZ
• Ed Kulchenko, VE3FWA
• José Silveira, CU5AM

TEAM DENMARK, PICO, CU6GRP

• Alex Hansen,OZ7AM
• Kenneth Hemstedt, OZ1IKY
• Jorge Dutra, CU6AB

TEAM USA (2), FAIAL, CU7CRA

• Michael Corey, KI1U
• Richard Boyd, KE3Q
• Manuel Bettencourt, CU7CA

TEAM BELGIUM, FLORES, CU8AO

• Carine Ramon, ON7LX (YL)
• Claude van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, ON7TK
• Frederic Fournier, CU8AAE

TEAM UNITED KINGDOM, CORVO, CU9AC

• Nigel Cawthorne, G3TXF
• Michael Wells, G7VJR
• João Camara, CU9AC

Azores 9 Islands Hunt Organizing Commitee

• Fernando Tavares, CU2BV, Chairman
• Francisco Gil, CU2DX, ATA Representative
• Jose Melo, CU2CE, Islands coordination
• Martti Laine, CU2KG, Radio operations
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