Germany has a rich Amateur Radio history and plays host to one of the largest Amateur Radio conventions every year, Ham Radio in Friedrichshafen. The FT8 Digital Mode Club (FT8DMC) issues the German Stations Award (GSA) for making digital contacts with at least 10 different Amateur Radio stations in Germany. With thousands of licensed Hams […]
I had another good run of QSL cards coming in through May and June. Several All Time New Ones (ATNO) and plenty of cards that filled in needed modes or bands. I had worked Saint Helena before but this QSL card from ZD7Z filled in a band and mode gap for me. I work Elvira […]
On Saturday, April 27th the Valley of the Moon Amateur Radio Club (VOMARC) hosted their annual Sonoma Hamfest. The popular swap meet also includes an FCC license exam session (headed up by Elizabeth, N6LY), station demonstration and full breakfasts. Prior to the event the club got some good publicity in the form of a Sonoma […]
Things have really picked up, QSL-wise in April. On April 19th I received a shipment of 94 QSL Cards from the Incoming QSL Bureau! I had inadvertently allowed my envelope count to drop to zero and the cards started to pile up. Sorting through those and updating my logbook kept me busy for some time […]
You are likely aware of the most popular Amateur Radio operating awards. DXCC, VUCC, WAZ, WAS, WPX are some of the bigger ones. What’s not as well known is that there are a number of other awards that sometimes closely mirror, if not exactly match, the requirements of the better known awards. Why bother with […]
Chasing countries on the air is one of Amateur Radio’s most popular activities. The Activity Group Belarus offers Hams who work at least 50 countries using digital modes with the AGB-Digital Countries award. This award synonym not as widely known or chased after as the venerable DX Century Club (DXCC) from the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). […]
I had a pretty good run over the last couple of months on the QSL Card front. Plus, I have a large number of cards at the Incoming Bureau waiting to be sent so even more to come in the near future. I had worked Yemen in 1990 and received a card for it. But […]
The European Ros Club issues the Worked Grid Award to Amateur Radio operators who work at least 100 unique Maidenhead Gridsquares. It is an award synonym to the American Radio Relay League‘s (ARRL) popular VHF/UHF Century Club (VUCC) award, at least for the six meter band. Like VUCC, the entry point for WGA is contact […]
The Diploma 5 Continentes Modo Digital (DCM) from the European Ros Club (ERC) rewards the Radio Amateur who makes digital mode contacts with other stations on each of the five populated continents of the World. Wait, did you say five continents? Continental awards, such as Worked All Continents (WAC) generally exclude Antarctica from the landmasses […]
Historically, prefix award tracking could be a royal pain. But modern technology has come to the rescue allowing for chasing after Worked All Prefixes (WPX) with relative ease on Logbook of the World. The Activity Group Belarus offers their own WPX synonym called AGB-Digital Prefixes. Unlike WPX, it won’t cost you a dime to obtain […]