It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from DXCC Entities QRV in September 2026—from Grenada to Kosovo

September is a busy month on the DXpedition calendar! OnAllBands is highlighting a few of the opportunities to make QSOs with operators around the globe. Some of the DXpeditions are nearing their end, so get on the air before it’s too late. As always, we’ve included QSL cards to highlight our featured DXCC entities.

Every QSL card below has been collected over the years by DX Engineering’s team of active operators who have a combined 1,000-plus years of amateur radio knowhow. It was this level of on-air experience that prompted DX Engineering to adopt the motto “Powered by Active Hams”—your guarantee that when you need assistance, you’ll receive informed help from operators who have built and maintained their own stations, filled stacks of logbooks, and busted through their share of pileups.

Here are a few activations to put on your calendar this month:

Kosovo

Kosovo is scheduled to be on the air until Sept. 11 thanks to the Z68PX DXpedition by IZ2DPX on 60-6M in SSB and FT4/FT8.

In early 2018, hams had a rare opportunity to log ATNOs as part of “Mission Goodwill Kosovo,” Z60A, an event that kicked off the addition of the Republic of Kosovo to the DXCC list. It was the first ARRL-sanctioned activity from Kosovo, which was officially designated as a DXCC entity on January 21, 2018. Before going QRT on March 12, the 30-day Z60A DXpedition recorded 98,530 contacts, with 35,400 individual call signs from 174 DXCC entities.

Making this effort possible were amateur operators who traveled from near and far to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime activation. The event both celebrated Kosovo’s status as the 340^th DXCC entity and commemorated the tenth anniversary of its independence, which was declared in February 2008.

DX Engineering was one of the proud sponsors of this historic operation, providing a 26-foot Butternut HF9V 9-Band Vertical Antenna. DX Engineering has been the manufacturer of Butternut antennas since 2015. The company also provided its branded RG-8X PL-259 Low-Loss 50-ohm Coax Cable Assemblies.

Above is the Butternut HF9V 9-Band Vertical Antenna. Read these OnAllBands articles about the history of Butternut verticals and DX Engineering’s acquisition of the brand, and how one ham climbed to the top of the DXCC Honor Roll using Butternut antennas.

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, earned this QSL card for making contact with Z60A:

Grenada

MM8IJU as J38LD and GM5RDX as J38DX are scheduled to be operating from Grenada (IOTA NA-024) until Sept. 12. You can try to contact them on 80-6M in SSB and FT4/FT8.

Grenada is an island country in the West Indies located in the eastern Caribbean Sea, roughly 100 miles directly north of Venezuela. It has a population of around 117,000 and a total land area of 133 square miles, about the size of Atlanta. Most notably, Grenada is known as “The Island of Spice” because of its massive production of nutmeg and other seasonings (e.g., cloves, mace, ginger, cinnamon). In fact, Grenada produces one-fifth of the world’s nutmeg, making it the second-largest producer of this spice behind Indonesia, which accounts for a whopping 75%.

As the fall season gets into full swing and kitchens and coffeehouses everywhere fill with the smell of pumpkin spice, you’ll want to give a special thanks to the nutmeg farmers of Grenada. Watch this video about Grenada’s nutmeg industry.

Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received this QSL card from J3/PE1IGM in February 2011 (40M SSB).

Ogasawara

You’ll have a great chance to contact Ogasawara in the days ahead thanks to the multi-operator 160-6M JD1 activation from Chichijima, which is scheduled to run from Sept. 24 to Oct. 6. You can attempt to reach JA1UII as JD1BON, JI1LET as JD1BOK, JE1NVD as JE1NVD/JD1, and JI1CRM as JI1CRM/JD1 on SSB and FT4/FT8.

The 30 subtropical and tropical islands comprising Ogasawara Islands, also known as Bonin Islands, lie 620 miles south of Tokyo. There are about 2,000 people living on Chichijima, one of only two inhabited islands in the archipelago. The 9.1-square-mile island is 150 miles north of Iwo Ji…