DX Comments:
When ever I see the latest published list of the most wanted countries note that North Korea (P5) is at the top of the list. I for one have worked the real estate, but prior to May of 95 when the Northern part of the country was declared to be a separate entity after May of 95. Prior to this date Korea used the HL prefix for the southern half and the HM prefix for the Northern half of the country. I have several HM contacts but all before May of 95.Shucks!.
Since that time there have been only two ops ever permitted to operate from P5, one was OH2BH for a short time and I do mean short time, it was hours and not days. The other a Russian ham living in the country for a short time, once his visa ran out he was ordered to leave. The operation was modest 100 watts to an indoor dipole, barely audible to the West Coast U.S. and not a peep ever heard on 15 meters where this op stayed on SSB. If anyone ever has the chance to operate from P5 it will be total bedlam and chaos with everyone calling worldwide. It would have to be controlled, a 24/7 two to four week operation, even then it would barely put a dent in the demand.
If one looks at other good spots to put on the air, how about FS7, this little island nation is activated now and then by U.S. ops using their call / FS. Rarely do you hear someone with a FS7 Call. Apparently, they are not issued to foreign ops this entity is not that far away, yet little interest is shown in an expedition.
Bermuda sits out in the Atlantic, but rarely do you hear anyone with a VP9 call, mostly any operation is from U.S. ops using /VP9. A prolonged operation from VP9 on various bands I am sure would bring a lot of interest.
Let’s take a good look at some of the U.S. Possessions; KG4 it would seem with all the military on the base interest would be high in ham radio. Not so, KG4 stations are rare indeed these days, but I imagine operation is restricted and the Navy may not want civilians with radios on the base. KH1 and KH3 right up there for needed countries last time any contacts were made were way back in the 60’s on 15 meters. Nothing much from that time, KH8 has been activated only once in the last few years and KH5 is begging for another full blown expedition.
H40 one major expedition a few years ago, also about once a year and that is around December, or January a German group ventures to these islands for a good will tour. Little operating is done, but last year was the most I have seen them spotted, or operating, mostly it was 40 meters and some 20-meter cw. I was lucky enough to catch them on 40 meters in the early hours of the morning.
Another possibility I hope for is T31, I have one lone contact in 71 under the old VR1 prefix and this group was called the British Phoenix Islands. A couple of years ago someone was signing a T31 call, but only working JA stations. No one seems to ever go to T31, may be transportation problems, or unsafe access. In addition to this one T30 has only surfaced a few scant times, while T32 seems overworked by a few back-to-back expeditions. To list my final few, KH8 is not that plentiful, the recent effort using W8A I am sure was overlooked by a lot of ops thinking it was a state side special event station and not American Samoa. I question the use of the more common prefixes when operating from U.S, possessions when you could not only give out a new country, but a rare prefix as well. I am sure some have reasons for the short single letter more common prefixes.
Kure Island KH7 has not seen much action in the last few years, a U.S, possession out in the Pacific and begging for more action. With that I bring my list to a close, granted it may not agree with the latest want list, but I am sure you could stir up some big piles of callers if you were on the receiving end of any of the locations mentioned.
Ones to drop, quite frankly BS7 and JD1 Minami Torishima are nothing more then rock piles jutting out the ocean. I had to marvel at the ingenuity of one Japanese operator building a platform over a rock and operating from it. In all practicality this is not a country and calling it one is just plain ludicrous. Same thing with BS7 last operation a small boat ferried ops from one rock to another and we got credit for new entity. I will take it if ARRL wants to count it, but that still does change my opinion.
Just some of my thoughts, some great places to activate.
