US Islands Awards Program

How to request an island be added

First check the USI Directory HERE to be sure that it’s not there.

Then, if it’s not on the list, and you would like it added. Send us as much information about the island(s) that you can give us, such as the islands name, the name of the body of water that it’s in, the state, the county, and if possible the coordinates.  There’s a form HERE that we’d like you to use.

If the on-line maps don’t show a name, check with the locals and see if they have locally known name. If you can’t find one, we have some places to check that just may have a name for them. If we can’t find a name, we’ll work on something.

Then, we’ll have a look at it and if it meets the USI requirements:

“The island is totally surrounded by water and is a minimum of 100
feet long in any direction (including height) and a minimum of 50 feet
from the main shoreline at DX-pedition time. These distances are
approximate and shall be at the discretion of the operator. Bridges
and narrow causeways linking the island to the main land or other
islands are acceptable. Please ensure that the island is not a peninsula.”

Then we’ll assign a USi number to it, minus the designator suffix (L = lake, R = river, and S = shore). Then, when the island is Qualified (25 QSOs that contains 2 DXCC entities) we’ll add the designator suffix, and give the operator(s) credit for doing Qualifying it.

As you’ve probably noticed, not all islands are on the USI Directory. We only add islands to the list when someone requests them to be added in preparation to Qualifying them. So, just because an island isn’t on the list doesn’t mean that it can’t be added.

Now, we work on the honor system, all we need from the operator(s) that Qualify an island is a statement that says that they’ve worked the minimum of 25 QSOs and there were at least 2 DXCC entities worked, the island name and USi number, the date of the Qualification, what call was used, and a list of the operators.  And, there’s a form HERE to help you report the Qualification.

One last point, when Qualifying an island we require that only one call be used.


Page Last Updated on Oct 26, 2016 @ 22:23 utc by ADMIN