By Cezar Trifu (VE3LYC)
Solomon Islands and its southernmost province of Temotu are separate DXCC entities, with the latter ranked #37 in Europe at Mixt, #45 in CW, and #25 in SSB, but higher in Western EU: #26, #29, and #24, respectively. Temotu was also ranked in Western EU #13 on 40 m, #15 on 30 m, #30 on 20 m, and #26 on 17m. These two entities include a total of 13 island groups for the Islands on the Air (IOTA) Programme. The rarest group in Solomon Islands is Russell (OC-168), in demand by 94% of the IOTA membership, while the rarest in Temotu is Duff (OC-179), wanted by 97% of island chasers. My operation focused on re-activating these two very rare IOTA references. Duff (OC-179) was #9 on the Most Wanted World-Wide IOTA List.

Fig 1. Approaching the landing dock in Yandina.
Fig 2. Antenna setup.
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