Announcing the 2025 PJ6Y DXpedition to Saba Island
Co-leaders Gregg W6IZT, Dean W2FQ, and Jeff NM1Y, in collaboration with Youth on the Air (YOTA), are thrilled to announce our upcoming DXpedition to Saba!
Recent DX Spots PJ6A
We will arrive on Saba on October 17, 2025, and be on the air through October 29, 2025. Our primary operating site is situated on the north side of the island at an elevation of approximately1,200 feet. The team will consist of 14 on-island operators, including eight young operators under the age of 25. Notably, four of these young ops participated as remote operators in the recent 3D2Y DXpedition to Rotuma. The local team will be complimented by 25-30 remote operators.
We will have 3 stations available for local operators. We extend a special thanks to the Northern California DX Foundation for their generous grant, to construct two NexGenRiBs2 stations based on Elecraft K4Ds for remote operation.
Activity will be on 80–6 meters + satellite and we will also participate in the CQWW SSB contest.
How You Can Support Us
Fundraising is in progress, with the goal of covering all expenses for our young operators.
Donations can be made by PayPal to donatepj6y2025@gmail.com <mailto:donatepj6y2025@gmail.com> or by cheque payable to:
PACIFIC ISLANDS DXPEDITION GROUP
69 Saddleview Lane
Morganton, GA 30560, USA.
Previous activity:
PJ6A Team will be active from Saba Island, IOTA NA - 145, in ARRL DX CW Contest, 16 - 17 February 2019.
Team - K4UEE, K5AC, NM1Y, WC4X.
They will operate in M/S LP Category.
Before and after contest they will operate as PJ6/K4UEE, PJ6/K5AC, PJ6/NM1Y, PJ6/WC4X.
PJ6A via N4NX, OQRS.
Ads for direct PJ6A QSL:
WILLIAM T BARR, 355 WESTERHALL CT, ATLANTA, GA 30328, USA.
Saba Island
The small island of Saba (or Saiba, as the locals call it) is part of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. In addition to its interesting origin and gorgeous landscape on the eastern, windward side, the island is famous for some other extraordinary moments. But let's start with the history.
Columbus is the discoverer again, but there is a “but”
According to historical data, just under 1,500 years ago Saba was inhabited by Arawak tribes. And the first European representative who discovered the island was none other than Christopher Columbus. True, he landed on the island, whether he did not consider it necessary, or whether these thirteen square kilometers of land is not so interested in the traveler, but the main version of such inattention Columbus to Saba is considered an understanding of the navigator that the steep rocky coastline is unlikely to serve as a good place for mooring. Columbus' ship calmly skirted the steep rocky shore of Saba.
And if it were not for the interest of the Dutch, which they showed to the island of Saba about 200 years after its discovery by Columbus, then, perhaps, to this day on Saba would live exclusively descendants of the brave Arawak Indians. But, to the greatest regret, most of the local tribesmen died out along with the appearance of unknown diseases brought to Saba by Europeans, and some simply migrated to Haiti. Now there are only about two thousand people living on the island, who are representatives of more than a hundred nationalities.
Britain also tried to claim its rights to the island of Saba, but without success. From the end of the XIX century until 2010 of this century, the island of Saba belonged to Holland, being the most remote region of the country. Since October 2010, Saba and two other neighboring islands, which are still part of the Netherlands Antilles, gained independence and became simply autonomous territories of Holland. And the Dutch government, according to the treaty, assumed defense and responsibility for the conduct of foreign policy of the new countries, including the island of Saba.
The island's nemesis
The second, unofficial name of Saba Island is “Immaculate Queen of the Caribbean.” Why the island received such a lyrical name, it is difficult to say. Maybe the reason lurks in the fact that until the seventies of the last century the island was an oasis, isolated from the attention of tourists and other visitors. No harbor, no airport. To get to Saba, one had to travel a long way with many different connections.
The “unspoiled” nature of the island is also evidenced by the lush tropical vegetation untouched by civilization, if not the whole of Saba, then at least its eastern part, as well as the austerity of architecture. The exterior of absolutely all houses of the islanders is made in a rather puritanical and absolutely identical style, established by the laws of the island: white bottom, red top. Almost like a dress code for solemn events at school, only the colors are different.
But I would like to say that roofs painted in the color of red ochre, crowning cozy white-washed houses with terraces, do not cause boredom at all, unlike the festive school lines. On the contrary. They are like ripe berries among the emerald greenery in which each of the houses is buried.
Everything is known in comparison
The island of Saba is a marine national park in its entirety, and Saba is also the true summit of the underwater volcano Mount Cineri, which rises about a kilometer above the sea. This makes Saba the highest area of the entire region. So it turns out that living on top of a volcano in the middle of the open sea may be nothing compared to the constant destructive winds that regularly hit the island.
Maybe it's because of the island's high elevation above sea level, or maybe it's for a completely different reason, but no other island in the Caribbean has ever experienced such formidable forces of nature. Over the past century and a half, so many hurricanes have swept through here that the island was included in the top ten most dangerous islands on the planet.
The extreme “sights” of Saba Island, in addition to destructive winds, include the built local airport with a slightly frightening length of the runway. Only 400 meters separate the taking off plane from the water surface of the Caribbean Sea. Adrenaline lovers have a great opportunity to experience its effect on the body at each takeoff and landing of the plane, passing between steep cliffs on a small runway.
Emotions and feelings are added by the gusty wind, constantly changing its direction. By the way, because of such a small length of the runway and because of frequent strong winds, only three types of airplanes can land on Sabo, and at the wheel there are always experienced pilots who have undergone special training, employees of the local airline with the proud name of “Windward Islands Airways” (“Windward Islands Airways”).
This is how two thousand brave people live here, in an eternal struggle against the natural forces that make them even more resilient, even more friendly.
Video Saba Island
