FO8M – Maria Theresa Reef (Phantom Island)

Here is a QSL card image for a DXCC entity that was literally “Too Good to be True”:

It was added to the DXCC Entity list in July, 1966 and Dropped from the list in September, 1972.

In response to last weeks “Special Edition – Visual History of the ARRL DXCC Program”, Alex, VE3NEA was kind enough to let me in on something I have never heard of – which is a class of entities that the ARRL “annulled” – or “Dropped” rather than Deleted.

The most famous (infamous?) is FO8M, or Maria Theresa Reef. The reason? It was a “mistake” – maybe an island or outcropping in the South Pacific that W9WNV, Don Miller thought existed, but ultimately was judged as being a “Phantom Island or Reef”:

And here is the Wikipedia write up regarding Maria Theresa Reef:

One of these FO8M QSL cards sold on eBay for $400!

One site that has a great write up of Don Miller is the WA6AUD (Hugh Cassidy – known in DX circles as “Cass”) archive:

There are many websites that give mention to W9WNV, and the stories are fascinating for sure. This is a great example of why the DXCC program has endured as it has, and why it does have some kind of “voodoo magic”.

The Cass Archives are so good – you really should check out all of these wonderful articles (and I want to thank Paul, VE1DX for keeping these stories alive):

Most of the other “Dropped” or “Annulled” entities were just oversights – the Windward and Leeward islands in the Caribbean are two examples – what should have been multiple entities were lumped as one callsign in a group. What these did is spark the ARRL DXCC Desk and participating DX-ers to really research their geography.

There were two others that also seemed “To Good to be True”:

Cormoran Reef

Ebon Atoll

But Maria Theresa Reef is the best example. To be fair – there must be all kinds of crazy specs in the ocean – submerged volcanoes that might stick out of the water a couple of inches at high tide on a good day.

Wayne Mills, N7NG once told me that there was a saying “back in the day” when someone proposed such a reef:

“Good Grief, Another Reef?”

I love that phrase and really wish I could have been in those meetings. Er – maybe I don’t, on second thought!

Its a program rich with interesting and colorful stories replete with controversy.