With the growing popularity of FT8, the use of Gridsquares in awards criteria has exploded well beyond the realm of VHF/UHF. The Activity Group Belarus (AGB) offers up the Locators Award for working Amateur Radio stations in as many gridsquares as possible on HF as well as VHF. The bottom level requirement for a certificate […]
CQ Zone 16 covers the easternmost part of Europe. It’s been the location of a lot of pain and suffering lately, but plenty of Amateur Radio activity continues to reach out to the world despite this. The Activity Group of Belarus (AGB) offers the Zone 16 Award to track your progress of making contacts with stations in the area. […]
Maidenhead Grid Squares cover the world. There are many awards for contacting Hams in all of them. But country specific grid awards allow an applicant to focus on a particular area of interest. The FT8 Digital Mode Club (FT8DMC) offers the Worked ZL Grid Square Award (ZLGS) to Amateur Radio operators who make contacts with […]
The Caribbean has often been described as a paradise due to its warm weather, sandy beaches and laid back attitudes. Even if you cannot get away to some of the locations mentioned in a Beach Boys song you can get a taste of tropical breezes through Amateur Radio. The FT4 Digital Mode Club (FT4DMC) issues the Caribbean Countries […]
It had been a quiet couple of months of incoming QSL cards. But a couple of QSL Bureau envelopes came in with some interesting cards including one for a brand new country. I worked TO4A on the island of Martinique on 10M, 15M and 20M using CW during the ARRL DX Contest. All contacts were […]
For modest North American stations, particularly on the west coast, working African stations can be somewhat of a challenge. After you do log a nice list of stations it’s time to look for an award to celebrate the achievement. The Africa Stations Award (AFSA) from the FT8 Digital Mode Club (FT8DMC) is here to help. […]
The Valley of the Moon ARC (VOMARC) held their annual picnic at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in 2025. The weather cooperated and there were plenty of shady spots to get out of the Sun. In addition to some grilling and chatting, the club did another Parks on the Air (POTA) activation. We made a total […]
Countries come in all shapes and sizes. On maps the large countries dominate. The smaller countries are easy to overlook without the aid of a magnifying glass. The FT8 Digital Mode Club promotes an award that gives these smaller countries (more accurately, DXCC entities) some well deserved attention. They issue the Worked Little Countries Award […]
The Activity Group of Belarus (AGB) offers a large number of Amateur Radio operating awards. Several of their awards are based on the zones of the world created as part of CQ Magazine’s Worked All Zones program. Zone 20 covers countries at the boundary between Europe and Asia. AGB offers up the Zone 20 Award for working Ham Radio […]
The Tropic of Capricorn is an imaginary line of latitude along the surface of the Earth. It lies along the southernmost points where the Sun can appear directly overhead at the time of the December solstice. The FT8 Digital Mode Club (FT8DMC) sponsors the Tropic of Capricorn Award for working Amateur Radio stations in countries through which the line […]