Puerto Rico is an unincorporated US territory in the northeastern Caribbean with an area of 8,960 km² and a population of around 3.2 million. The capital is San Juan. The island became a US territory after the Spanish-American War in 1898 under the Treaty of Paris. For radio amateurs, Puerto Rico is a separate DXCC entity with the prefix KP3–KP4 in CQ Zone 08 and ITU Zone 11. The island's strategic location between North and South America, with a direct view across the Atlantic towards Europe and Africa, makes it one of the most attractive contest locations in the Caribbean.
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Operator and station
Behind the NP4DX brand stands Alfredo "Al" Vélez Ramos WP3C, a radio amateur since 1995, when he obtained his license at the age of 15. Alfredo founded the Atlantic Contest Club in 2006, which initially operated under the brand name WP4I and later switched to NP4DX. The station is located in Utuado, a mountain town in the interior of Puerto Rico, with Alfredo currently living in Fort Worth, Texas and broadcasting from Puerto Rico as WP3C, from Texas as W5/WP3C. He is a member of ARRL, FOC, CWops and SKCC. In operation, he prefers CW - outside of contests and DX hunting, he likes to work with a classic key. He also inherited amateur radio from his father, who broadcast under the brand NP4CW.
CQ WW DX Contest 2026
NP4DX is a traditional contest brand, and the fall season of 2026 brings two main dates. CQ WW DX SSB runs Oct 24-25, 2026 00:00-23:59 UTC, CQ WW DX CW then Nov 28-29 same time. The contest exchange code from Puerto Rico is RS(T) + zone 08. For European stations in zone 15 (Slovakia), connecting to NP4DX means three points (another continent) plus a potential country and zone multiplier on each of the six contest bands - 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m. Logs are sent in Cabrillo format via cqww.com, SSB deadline is October 27th, CW December 1st.
Advantages of island location for KV contesting
Puerto Rico is located at 18°N, which brings several advantages for HF propagation. The route to Central Europe measures approximately 7,500 km - short enough for reliable F2 connections on 20, 15 and 10m during daylight hours, but long enough for each QSO to yield three contest points. At 10 m the route to Europe is usually open from late morning to afternoon UTC, at 15 m the window is wider and at 20 m practically all day. In the direction of North America, the route is even shorter - most of the continental USA lies within 3,500 km, which allows connections at higher bands even with low solar flux.
QTH in Utuado, inland at an altitude of about 150 m above sea level. m., an interesting compromise between access to the sea reflecting surface and a lower noise environment.
QSL NP4DX
The QSL manager for NP4DX is M0OXO (Charles Wilmott). Before submitting a paper QSL card, we recommend verifying the current QSL path via QRZ.com or the DX feeds where the preferred processing method will be indicated. Stations that connect with NP4DX during CQ WW will receive credit that can be used at DXCC and as a contest result.