Inland Water Islands (IWI)
May 9, 2009 by Darren
The term IWI is a much used acronym in the World Eleven Metres Community which refers to the geographic phenomena that are inland water islands. As the name suggests, an inland water island is defined as:
- A body of land completely surrounded by rivers; and/or
- A body of land which is found in the middle of a lake.
The IWI idiom is commonly used as a Freeband callsign suffix – one which follows the operator’s respective DXCC division number and his radio group initials – to indicate an inland water islands DX activity. The IWI ellipsis also precedes an IWI reference number which is attributed to an inland water island by:
- The DXpedition operator; or
- The DXpedition operator’s DX Group; or
- Past IWI operations from that same island; or
- Representatives of the Islands Base Online Team
For example, a member of the DX Adventure Radio Club (DA-RC) based in Indonesia (91 Division) activating the Samosir Island (pictured below), would use the reference number… 91 DA / IWI ***** where the ***** indicates the inland water island’s reference number.
IWI on Eleven Metres
As a form of DXing, the IWI concept has steadily grown in popularity over the past five years to become one of the most exciting and hotly sought after activities on the eleven metre band. So much so, in fact, that many DX groups have added the concept to their DX agenda!
Essentially, the origins of IWI are believed to have come from the Maidenhead grid squares concept – a popular offshoot of standardised DXing on the ham bands which represents a position on the earth based on points of latitude and longitude. IWI enthusiasts would argue, however, that the eleven metre community’s IWI concept is not only more challenging for those radio communications hobbyists concerned with hunting grid squares on ham bands, but it also correlates well with the Radio Society of Great Britain’s Islands On The Air (IOTA) program.
One of the first challenges a prospective IWI DXpeditioner faces is actually locating an inland water island. This exercise is commonly achieved through the use of an online satellite system such as Google Earth or map, by tracing the tributaries of river systems or studying the geographical composition of lakes and rivers, trying to pin point land masses surrounded by water.
To facilitate the IWI DXpedition concept, the Islands Online database contains details of 14679 inland water islands, a number set to grow as the concept develops even further.
While some IWI are in fact officially recognised as islands and carry a formal title incorporating the island tag, many if not most IWI exist in anonymity, nestled within the land locks of cities, towns, municipalities and suburbs, waiting to be stumbled upon and brought to life by Freeband field operations.
Some Famous IWI
As you would expect, the size of an inland water island can vary greatly. Some like the Island of Bananal, the world’s largest inland island, covers an area of about 7000 sq miles for instance; while others such as Australia’s Jabiru Island cover an area of only a couple of hundred metres sq.
Some of the world’s most famous inland water islands, and those which feature prominently on the hit list of many IWI enthusiasts, include:
- René-Levasseur Island, Canada
- Soisalo, Finland
- Sääminginsalo, Finland
- Olkhon, Russia
- Samosir, Indonesia
- Isle Royale, United States
- Ukerewe Island, Tanzania
- St. Joseph Island, Canada
- Drummond Island, United States
- Idjwi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Ometepe Island, Nicaragua
- Marajo, Brazil
- Teresa Island, Canada
- Beaver Island, USA
- Monteisola Island, Italy
- Majuli Island, India
- Bananal Island, Brazil
- Monte Isola (or Montisola or Monteisola), Italy
- Monte Isola, Italy
- Gudfjellöya, Norway
- Woodford Island, Australia
IWI & D
A-RC
The Dx Adventure Radio Club (DA-RC) is fortunate to have some of the best known and most successful IWI DXpeditioners in its midst. Members such as 14DA028 Phil, for example, are considered experts in the IWI domain with extensive experience working in the field from European inland water islands; efforts which have helped define the DX activity in the contemporary Freeband world.
On May 1, for instance, 14DA028 Phil, 14DA012 Herve and 14DA024 Fabrice will commence an extensive IWI tour taking in eleven islands spread across two European DXCC entities. Most of these islands have never been activated before. (Please see http://www.delta-alfa.com/da-rc-activities/franco-belgium-iwi-tour-2009/ )
DA-RC’s Achievement Program offers a number of awards recognising the feats of IWI DX enthusiasts, such as the French IWI Team’s. These include IWI DXpeditioner Awards for 5, 10 and 15 inland water island operations, as well as IWI Hunter Awards for 25, 50, 75 and 100 inland water islands worked and confirmed.
Additionally, DA-RC caters for members and IWI enthusiasts in general by hosting an annual IWI event titled IWI-kend (Details of which will be announced soon in the DA-RC Activities section). Similar to the World Wide Radio organisation’s Islands Festival, IWI-kend will involve DA-RC members from all around the world activating as many inland water islands as possible over 1 weekend. Project Manager for this event is 14DA028 Phil.
If you would like more information on the IWI concept or any of the IWI initiatives listed above, please contact the DA-RC HQ Team.
73 de Darren 43DA010 World HQ TeamComments
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