
Don, G4LOO explained this wasn’t the group’s first visit to Holy Island for the IOTA contest. They had been there in 2009. This island ‘ticked many necessary boxes’ since it had reasonable accommodation costs, it wasn’t too far to travel and the site had twenty-four hour power and water. Don explained that this Holy Island was in Wales and reached by a modern bridge so equipment didn’t have to be packed for a trip by boat.
There appears to be many islands around England and Wales that look to be suitable for radio contesting but as Don went through the list, we found many are uninhabited, except for birds, and some are privately owned and some have routinely been used by other clubs. To make the selection of Holy Island even more acceptable, it is the second most wanted IOTA island in England and Wales.
The group, Don, Bryan, Andy, Terry and Ian planned to spend a week at the location and have the weekend for contesting. The rest of the week was spent playing radio, sightseeing, and a visit to Dublin.
The contest results weren’t bad either, their total QSOs of 1029 with 165 multipliers gave them seventh place in their category in the UK, and an enjoyable week.

Back L to R, Terry, Ian, Don