New Islands on the Air website

[g4tut]

New Islands on the Air website

The RSGB's premier DX award scheme, Islands on the Air, launched its new website on the evening of Thursday, 21st June 2007.

The new site includes many innovative improvements, and contains also many new features including the ability to view one's own record of island groups confirmed. Soon it will be possible for participants to claim additional credits on-line and even to claim credit for IOTA Contest QSOs without the need for QSL card verification.

The site, at http://www.rsgbiota.org has proved already to be a great success. Within the first week, 34,308 pages have been viewed (an average of about 4,900 per day) by users in 64 different countries, with the homepage, search page and island group information pages the most popular.

383 users have registered to use the QSO credits part of the site, of whom 163 are new to the IOTA programme, proving the value of moving to an on-line management system.

The site was developed primarily by Dominic Smith, M0BLF, with Martin Atherton, G3ZAY, acting as the liaison between the project team and the IOTA Committee.

Enquires about the website can be emailed to IOTA.online@rsgb.org.uk






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[g4yjx]

You inadvertently hyperlinked the comma in the link above.

This one should work:

http://www.rsgbiota.org (http://www.rsgbiota.org/)

John G4YJX

[g4tut]

Thanks for pointing that out John.
I have now corrected it.

I really must start taking more water with my whisky (hi)

Regards
Richard - g4tut





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[w8znx]

any so called islands on the air
that will not include
islands like Manitoulin
(size over 1,000 square miles
population of 12,600 )

just because the water around it
is fresh

needs to be overhauled

[W9IND]

Quote[/b] (w8znx @ July 03 2007,00:58)]any so called islands on the air
that will not include
islands like Manitoulin
(size over 1,000 square miles
population of 12,600 )

just because the water around it
is fresh

needs to be overhauled
Yeah, I had the same head-scratching reaction when I discovered that Washington Island, Wisconsin -- a 30-square-mile slab of real estate with a permanent population of 700 residents -- didn't qualify for IOTA.

I mean, I've spent a night there ... you have to ride 30 minutes on a car ferry just to reach the island. So we're not talking about some sandbar in your local creek.

Come to think of it, I suppose the same exclusionary rule would prevent Michigan's Mackinac Island from attaining IOTA status. Which is also bizarre, since the place has a grand hotel, a thriving downtown and other memorable qualities.

Anyway, I think IOTA is a fantastically creative idea, and my compliments to the person who dreamed it up. But the notion that inland/lake islands aren't true islands simply doesn't work for me. It's kind of like saying that to be a true DXCC country, you have to have at least one border on an ocean.

I guess that's why I've never really been able to get into the IOTA program ... the rules are just too illogical. Why not limit qualifying islands to a particular size instead of eliminating every lake and inland island on the globe?

73,
Brian, W9IND