Ship Island
is located off the coast of Mississippi
south of Biloxi.
Due to hurricanes Camille and Katrina,
Ship Island
was actually divided into “West Ship” and “East Ship” Islands.
Both are counted as being part of the “Mississippi Group” under the
official RSGB IOTA Program
with the numerical designation of “NA-082.” However, prior to October
2008, only
West Ship Island
had ever been activated via amateur radio…and even then for only a
total of 12
hours (4 hours in 1992; 3 hours in 1993; and 6 hours in 2001). This all changed when the
callsign “K5S” hit
the airwaves and East Ship Island
was officially activated on an international scale during the period 16
– 19
October as the newest addition to the NA-082 Mississippi Group. In addition, the US
Islands Program also
recognized East and West Ship as separate islands and thus led to a
brand new
designator of MS009S being assigned to East Ship.
This allowed the MDXA to also officially
qualify the island within the national islands program. Four (4) HF
stations
operated 80 -10M on SSB/CW/RTTY/PSK modes logging over 4,750 QSOs. Added to that was the
callsign “K5Z” which hit
the airwaves for a brief period on 18 Oct as entry in the US Islands
W/VE QSO Party where yet another 125 QSOs were
logged…bringing the grand
total in right at 4,900 +/- a few.
The
15 participants would like to thank our commercial sponsors, individual
supporters, and all operators who made contact with K5S / K5Z!