As an American Ham Radio operator, there’s nothing easier than working other American stations. So there may be no easier award to chase after than one which only requires making contacts with stateside stations. The Worked Different Amateur Radio – USA award, from the European Ros Club (ERC), does just that.
The first certificate in the program requires contact with 100 unique stations within the United States. That may sound like a lot. But, the FT8 digital mode can make short work of such a requirement, even for very modest stations.
After the initial certificate, additional awards are available for different numbers of stations. The current top level certificate seems to be issued for working 10,000 different stations! To get there you’ll have 25 certificates just for the mixed band award.
But ERC also offers WDAR-USA for individual bands as well. With all bands 160M through 6M available, that could account for up to 275 different certificates.
The certificates feature a primary photo of some aspect of American and its culture. An American Indian graces the entry level certificates. A cowboy, the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Lincoln and Washington all seem to be givens. Marilyn Monroe, Laurel and Hardy, Humphrey Bogart, Groucho Marx and Charlie Chaplin are interesting choices. To say nothing of Norman Bates from the movie Psycho!
To apply for the Worked Different Amateur Radio – US Award, and all other ERC awards, you must install the UltimateAAC application on a Windows machine. That application scans your WSJT-X ADIF log file and will inform you when you’ve qualified for the award at various levels. ERC issues the award in digital form only (JPG or PDF) with no printing or shipping costs. In fact, the award is completely free, like all of their other awards.