Today’s OnAllBands QSL card post spans the globe to give you the constant variety of DX chasing. The DXpedition season heats up with activations from the Caribbean Sea, the southwestern Pacific Ocean, and south-central Africa. As always, we’re featuring QSL cards from members of the DX Engineering team—active operators with more than 1,000 combined years of amateur radio experience.
Guadeloupe
F5HRY as FG/F5HRY is scheduled to be active from Marie-Galante Island until April 3. You can reach this HF operation on CW and SSB. Also look for HB9JAB as FG/HB9JAB who will be active from Basse-Terre (20-10M SSB/FT8) until March 27.
Guadeloupe, a French overseas archipelago in the Caribbean Sea, consists of two main islands—Basse-Terre and Grande Terre. Sixty-one-square-mile Marie-Galante Island (more commonly known as La Grande Galette, “The Big Biscuit”) is a dependency of Guadeloupe with a population of around 11,500. The “biscuit” nickname derives from its flat, round shape and topography which, when viewed from a distance, suggests an after-school snack that pairs well with a glass of milk.
The island was named by Christopher Columbus after his flagship, the Maria Galanda, or “Gallant Mary.” It is also known as “The Island of 100 Windmills,” a tribute to the windmills built in the 18th and 19th century to process sugar cane.
Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, earned this card from FG/F6AUS, which he reached in October 1991 on 10M SSB.
He also received this picturesque QSL card for reaching FG5DH.
Zambia
The 9J2RO activation of Zambia by DM7XX is scheduled to run until March 30 from Lusaka. This HF operation will be active during the CQ WPX SSB 2026 contest March 28-29.
Lusaka, Zambia’s capital and largest city, has a population of 3.6 million and serves as the administrative and economic center of this landlocked country of around 22 million. Zambia is bordered by eight nations: Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. (Read about amateur radio in Malawi in this OnAllBands article.)
This leads us to the OnAllBands Geography Question of the Day: Of all African countries, Zambia and Tanzania have the second-most number of nations bordering them—eight. Can you name the African country that shares its land borders with nine neighbors? Answer below.
George, K3GP, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, made contact with the July 1999 9J2AM DXpedition on 17M SSB.
Vanuatu
The YJ0CA DXpedition by VK2YUS is scheduled to be QRV until April 2. You can try to contact YJ0CA on 40-10M in SSB. Also check out the 80-6M YJ1JXZ activation of Port Vila, Vanuatu’s capital, by JK1JXZ. This is set to run until April 3.
The Republic of Vanuatu, population of around 342,000, is an island country in the South Pacific about 588 miles southeast of the Solomon Islands, 744 miles west of Fiji, and 1,090 miles east of northern Australia. Vanuatu’s Y-shaped 4,739-square-mile archipelago consists of 83 small islands, 65 of which are inhabited.
More than 100 languages (some estimates place the number as high as 138) are spoken across the islands—the highest language density per capita in the world. Papua New Guinea (population of more than 10 million) is the most linguistically diverse country in the world, with more than 800 languages spoken.
Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, worked YJ0A in February 2023 on 15M FT8.
I’ll Take “Tough African Geography” for $1,000, Ken.
Zambia and Tanzania are bordered by eight nations. Can you name the only African country which shares its borders with nine countries? The answer is . . . Democratic Republic of the Congo. Major bonus points if you can name all nine bordering nations:
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