amateur radio operations occur from diego garcia, using the british callsign prefix vq9. an amateur club station, vq9x, was sponsored by the us navy for use by operators both licensed in their home country and possessing a vq9 callsign issued by the local british indian ocean territory representative. however, the us navy closed the station in early 2013, hence any future licensed amateurs wishing to operate from the island will have to provide their own antenna and radio equipment.