RI0FS. Radio Amateurs members of Russian Robinson Club will be active from Shikotan Island, IOTA AS-062, Kuril Islands 9 - 17 August 2023 as RI0FS.
Team - R6MG, R7MR, RN3BL, RU3FS, RX3F, UA0FAM.
They will operate on 80-10m Bands.
QSL via RN3RQ.
Shikotan - the island of the rising sun
Shikotan is the northernmost island of the Kuril archipelago. Shikotan is a small piece of land lost in the Pacific Ocean. The area of the island is 225 square kilometers. Shikotan can be safely called a place where the sun wakes up. Its inhabitants are the first to greet the dawn among the population of our homeland. The entire Shikotan can be easily overcome by hiking. However, you can reach the island itself only with transfers. First, you have to fly to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and then transfer to the ship, which takes 36 hours to the island of Shikotan.
A disputed site of two states
Since the end of the first millennium, the island has been home to the Ainu, a people from the Asian continent. This ethnic group was mainly engaged in hunting and fishing. In the eighteenth century, during the Second Kamchatka Expedition, Russian navigators Rigord and Golovnin discovered the Pacific island. Under the Japanese-Russian agreement on trade and boundaries, Shikotan was ceded to Japan. During the reign of the Japanese Empire, the Ainu were Japaneseized, and the permanent population of the island was 1,038. After its defeat in World War II, Japan was forced to cede the island to the Soviet Union. The island's native population was deported to Hokkaido, Japan. New residents came to Shikotan island as a result of migration exchange with the continent. Now the population of the island is about 3 thousand people. Most of them are Russians and Ukrainians. The belonging of the island is constantly contested by Japan, which includes it in its administrative structure and calls it in its own manner, Sikotan.
Rugged Far Eastern Nature
Shikotan has a cool and humid climate, which is formed under the influence of the sea monsoon. Summers on the island are cool and humid. In the warmest month of the year - August, the temperature rarely rises above +16 ° C. It is partly compensated by mild winters with snowfalls and thaws and frosts below -5 °C. The island is in a seismic danger zone, the last earthquake in 1994 severely damaged the local buildings. Currently, there is no seismic activity, but strong tsunamis are possible.
Because of the small area and low relief on the island rather poor flora and fauna. There are rare thickets of bamboo, deciduous forests, as well as coniferous trees. Most of the island is covered with oceanic meadows. It is home to raptor foxes and white-tailed sea eagle. Because of its remoteness from land, Shikotan has preserved endemic animals-the Shikotan vole and the yew tit. The island is the nesting ground of barnacles, pika, and woodpeckers. Due to the diverse population of beetles, Shikotan has attracted the interest of entomologists, who have already discovered more than 72 species of these insects inhabiting the local nature. Thanks to numerous mountain streams and small lakes, pink salmon and chum salmon come to Shikotan for spawning.
Shikotan in modern times
The island's economy is based on fishing. Coastal sea waters are rich in flounder, cod, mint, squid, and crabs. A fish cannery and a port have been built on Shikotan for exporting fishing products. Gastarbeiters are mostly engaged in extraction and processing of sea inhabitants, while local population is engaged in subsistence farming, raising rabbits and chickens.
Shikotan occupies a border position with the sea border of Japan, in addition, it is the object of territorial claims of this country. In this regard, Russian border patrol ships are based on the island. They protect the integrity of the border, as well as prevent illegal harvesting of marine resources by Japanese fishermen.
What is interesting about Shikotan island?
Shikotan will appeal to the hardy and curious traveler. There are several hotels on the island, but it's more interesting to bring a tent and sleeping bags and spend the night under the open sky, soaking up the atmosphere of a far eastern island and meeting the sunrise at the edge of the world. The island itself is dominated by flat terrain, making it convenient for hiking. Picturesque shallow lakes, streams running over mossy rocks and forming waterfalls in some places, trees adapted to the harsh local climate - the modest landscape of the remote Pacific island is sure to stay in the heart of travelers who nevertheless venture here for a long time.
Shikotan's shores are framed by rocks that form an interesting coastline of small picturesque bays and rocky ledges in the sea. The most famous place on the island is the Cape of the World, which falls sharply into the sea at right angles from a height of forty meters. The cape cuts into the water in a narrow strip, which offers breathtaking views of the boundless ocean.