Maidenhead Grid Squares are an Amateur Radio invention designed to spur activity on the VHF bands. By creating a uniform grid of possible multipliers around the world the insurmountable advantages some stations had due to political boundaries could be mitigated. Particularly with the advent of FT8, which uses the grid as its main QSO exchange, the use of grids on all bands has exploded.
The the European Ros Club issues the Worked Grid Award (WGA) to Amateur Radio stations who make contact with at least 100 grid squares anywhere in the world. Using modern digital modes such as FT8, even the most humble of stations should easily be able to achieve this. But that first certificate is just the beginning.
ERC issues additional awards for ever higher numbers of grids. Certificates are available for 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 750, 1000, 1,500 and 2,000 grids. You can see a 1,000 grid example certificate above. How high can you go in the program? That’s up to you.
The standard award is not your only option. You can accumulate grids on all bands (referred to as mixed bands in this program) but you can count up unique grids on individual bands from 160M up to 6M as well.
All contacts must be made from the same country or DXCC entity.
To apply for the Worked Grid 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.