Several contests require the CQ zone in the exchange. These large zones divide up the world in to big chunks. Most of the mainland United States is in zone 3 (Western US and Canada such as BC), zone 4 (Central US and Canada) or zone 5 (Just the Atlantic Coast states and far Eastern Canada).
Mexico is zone 6 and most of Central America is zone 7. Alaska and the Yukon are in zone 1. South America has zones 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13.
Hawaii is in CQ Zone 31, a huge rectangular zone that takes in most of the central Pacific Ocean, extending even below the equator and across the international date line.
Australia has two zones, 29 for the Western half and 30 for the Eastern half. New Zealand is in zone 32, which includes everything south of zone 31. All together there are 40 CQ DX Zones. Greenland is Zone 40.
Hawaii is both a state and a "country" at least for DXCC purposes. Certain contests require state for part of the contest exchange, but you have to read the rules carefully. Often you will find that the correct exchange for Hawaii is not "HI"; but "KH6" which is the DXCC country designation for Hawaii.
This causes a lot of confusion on the US mainland where most people have by now figured out that Hawaii is a state in the United States. The recent 160 meter contest is an example. In that contest, Hawaii was a DX country and the exchange was "KH6", causing many mainland stations to keep asking for the "HI" since all other states except Alaska and Hawaii were sending the two letter state ID.
Still other contests require state for the USA or zone for a DX country. Another careful read of the rules is often required to find out which to use for Hawaii, Zone 31 or KH6 or HI, given its dual designation as both a state and a country. In another recent contest it was the South Americans who were confused, unable to believe that we were supposed to be sending our state as the exchange and not the DXCC designation.
To help you sort out all those strange calls with exotic numbers, here is an extract from the DXCC list covering the islands of the Pacific:
ZONE
Prefix Country Cont. ITU CQ
3D2 Fiji OC 56 32
3D2 Conway Reef OC 56 32
3D2 Rotuma I. OC 56 32
3D2 1M Minerva Reef OC 62 32
5W Western Samoa OC 62 32
9M VS4 Sarawak OC 54 28
9M ZC5 British North Borneo OC 54 28
9M6,8 East Malaysia OC 54 28
A3 Tonga OC 62 32
C2 Nauru OC 65 31
YB CR8, CR10 Portuguese Timor OC 54 28
DU-DZ Philippines OC 50 27
FK New Caledonia OC 56 32
FO French Polynesia OC 63 32
FW Wallis & Futuna Is. OC 62 32
H4 Solomon Is. OC 51 28
JD1 Minami Torishima OC 90 27
YB JZ0 Netherlands N. Guinea OC 51 28
KC6 Belau (W. Caroline Is.) OC 64 27
KH0 Mariana Is. OC 64 27
KH1 Baker & Howland Is. OC 61 31
KH2 Guam OC 64 27
KH3 Johnston I. OC 61 31
KH4 Midway I. OC 61 31
KH5 Palmyra & Jarvis Is. OC 61,62 31
KH5K Kingman Reef OC 61 31
KH6 Hawaii OC 61 31
KH7K Kure I. OC 61 31
KH8 American Samoa OC 62 32
KH9 Wake I. OC 65 31
OA-OC Peru SA 12 10
P2 P2,VK9 Papua New Guinea OC 51 28
T2 Tuvalu OC 65 31
T30 W. Kiribati (Gilbert Is.)OC 65 31
(Brit. Phoenix Is.) OC 62 31
T32 E. Kiribati (Line Is.) OC 61,63 31
T33 Banaba I. (Ocean I.) OC 65 31
(E.Caroline Is.) OC 65 27
V7 Marshall Is. OC 65 31
V8 Brunei OC 54 28
VK Australia OC (I) 29,30
VK0 Macquarie I. OC 60 30
VK9C Cocos-Keeling Is. OC 54 29
VK9L Lord Howe I. OC 60 30
VK9M Mellish Reef OC 56 30
VK9N Norfolk I. OC 60 32
VK9W Willis I. OC 55 30
VK9X Christmas I. OC 54 29
VR6 Pitcairn I. OC 63 32
YB-YH Indonesia OC 51,54 28
YB CR8, CR10 Portuguese Timor OC 54 28
YB JZ0 Netherlands N. Guinea OC 51 28
YB PK1-3 Java OC 54 28
YB PK4 Sumatra OC 54 28
YB PK5 Netherlands Borneo OC 54 28
YB PK6 Celebe & Molucca Is. OC 54 28
YJ Vanuatu OC 56 32
ZK1 N. Cook Is. OC 62 32
ZK1 S. Cook Is. OC 62 32
ZK2 Niue OC 62 32
ZK3 Tokelau Is. OC 62 31
ZL-ZM New Zealand OC 60 32
ZL7 Chatham Is. OC 60 32
ZL8 Kermadec Is. OC 60 32
ZL9 Auckland & Campbell Is. OC 60 32
P2 P2, VK9 Papua Territory OC 51 28
P2 P2, VK9 Terr. New Guinea OC 51 28
YB CR8, CR10 Portuguese Timor OC 54 28
YB JZ0 Netherlands N. Guinea OC 51 28
YB PK1-3 Java OC 54 28
YB PK4 Sumatra OC 54 28
YB PK5 Netherlands Borneo OC 54 28
YB PK6 Celebe & Molucca Is. OC 54 28
9M VS4 Sarawak OC 54 28
9M ZC5 British North Borneo OC 54 28
Prefix Country Cont. ITU CQ
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