Chasing after operating awards is one of my main activities in Amateur Radio. In this category on my site you’ll find descriptions of many awards that I’ve received and how you can go about receiving your own.
There is no shortage of acronyms in Amateur Radio. That applies to the sub-hobby of Amateur Radio Awards Hunting. Here is an incomplete list of acronyms you might come across when hunting for wallpaper. AJD – All Japan Districts DXCC – DX Century Club GCR – General Certification Rules JCC – Japanese Century-Cities JCG – […]
I just got my second award from Grupo DX Cuba, this time the Diploma America. This award is earned by confirming Amateur Radio contacts with Hams in countries throughout North and South America. There are several classes of awards, making it easy to get started on this one as you work your way up. Diploma […]
The Japan Amateur Radio League sponsors the All Japan Districts (AJD) award. This was one of my earlier Amateur Radio awards and I think a pretty sharp looking one as well. Given the issue date I almost certainly made all of the required contacts from the University of Texas ARC station (W5EHM at the time, […]
I think the Rag Chewers Club (RCC) was the first Amateur Radio award I qualified for. To qualify, one need only provide evidence of having made a single QSO that lasted more than 30 minutes. The implication being that such a contact involves interacting with another Ham to cover more than the abbreviated signal report […]
The well known Worked All Continents (WAC) is a popular award that represents an easy entry into the pastime of Amateur Radio awards hunting. But the International Amateur Radio Union’s (IARU) version is not the only game in town. Like the popular Worked All Continents award, the Czech Radio Club’s S6S synonym award does not require […]
CQ Magazine’s Worked All Zones (WAZ) is one of the oldest, most prestigious and highly sought after awards in Amateur Radio. Their 40 zone dicing of the world is not the only way to carve up the Earth’s landmass. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) does the same thing with the planet using their ITU zones. […]
This is not an operating award in the most traditional sense. No contacts need be made to achieve it. But it does require radio reception and a certain skill called CW copying. For some time now the ability to accurately copy Morse Code has been removed as a requirement to obtain an Amateur Radio license […]
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) sponsors the Worked All Continents award and it’s an easy early step into DX award chasing for many Hams. Making things a bit easier is the fact that the continent of Antarctica is ignored for this award. Note the southernmost continent’s glaring absence from the world map on the […]
I just received a new operating award, Grupo DX Cuba’s the Diploma Caribe. To earn the award contacts must be made with a number of Amateur Radio stations around the Caribbean Sea. There are several classes of award, each requiring contacts with a number of unique countries. The different classes provide an easier and quicker […]
CQ Magazine issues the WPX award for Amateur Radio operators who confirm contacts with a given number of unique callsign prefixes (KA5, GM0, 6Y5, etc.). The basic award is available for those who can confirm contacts with stations featuring 300 unique prefixes (400 for the Mixed certificate). Endorsements are available for each additional 50 new […]