ARRL DXCC – QRP

I have been working on a number of operating awards as a means to confirm the performance of our recently completed station and as goals to expand and improve my operating skills. I have gotten to a point where my completed and confirmed QSOs have allowed me to earn several awards. The first award to mention is a recently completed ARRL DXCC using QRP (5 watt) power levels. This award required me to work and confirm 100 DXCC entities (basically 100 countries) using no more than 5 watts for transmitter output power. Completing this award is a good confirmation of our station’s antenna performance. In many cases, the QSO’s needed for this award received 59 or better signal reports confirming the performance of our antenna system.

Worked All States Award – QRP

I very much enjoy working stations using QRP (5 watt) power levels. To this end, I also have completed an ARRL Worked All States Award using SSB Phone and QRP power levels (5 watts). This award was a lot of fun to get and its pretty cool when you work another station in the USA and you get a 59+20 db or 59+10 db signal report and you let the other operator know that you are using QRP 5 watts!

ARRL DXCC – CW Mode

Finally, I have been working diligently on my CW skills and I am very proud to have completed an ARRL DXCC Award (basically 100 countries) using the CW mode. I am really beginning to enjoy CW and it certainly opens the door to a great many DX stations that are difficult to find using any other mode.

I am working on some other awards that are more difficult. A few of these could be considered “lifetime achievement” awards. These include:

• A 5 Band DXCC Award (100 confirmed DXCC entities on the 5 major bands 80m – 10m; I am also working on endorsements for the 5 WARC bands)
• The DXCC Challenge Award (1,000 confirmed band countries on 160m – 6m)
• The CQ WPX Award of Excellence (many confirmed prefixes using all modes, on all bands, and on all continents)

I am getting close on all of these. There are other awards which cater to almost any interest. Some other interesting ones include:

• CQ Worked All Zones (WAZ) Awards (for confirming contacts in all 40 CQ Zones)
• RSGB Islands On The Air (IOTA) Awards (for confirming 100 or more IOTA islands)
• ARRL VUCC Awards (for working 100 or more grid squares on VHF/UHF bands – 6m and higher)

I hope that you will consider working towards one of the many operating awards – it’s a great deal of fun!

– Fred (AB1OC)