AB1OC WAE Top Plaque

I’ve been continuing to work on several operating awards and have recently completed a couple of interesting ones. The first is a Worked All Europe (WAE) Top Plaque. This award is from the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC). It required me to work and confirm 70 of the 72 entities in Europe and 300+ band-entities in Europe. This award comes as a nice metal plague and we made a small stand to display it on. The only entities in Europe that I have not yet confirmed are Mt. Athos (SV/A) and the U.N. in Vienna (4U1V).

AB1OC Worked All VK Call Areas Award

I’ve also recently completed a Worked all VK Call Areas Award. This award is administered by the Wireless Institute of Australia and requires a station outside Australia to work and confirm a minimum of 22 contacts to VK stations as follows:

• VK0, VK1, VK8, VK9: 1 contact from each call area. (4 total)
• VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6 and VK7: 3 contacts from each call area. (18 total)
• An AREA for VK0 & VK9 is defined as a DXCC entity, i.e. VK0-Antarctica, VK0-Macquarie Island, VK9-Norfolk Island, VK9-Willis Island, etc…

For me, the contacts to VK6 (Western Australia) and VK0 (near the South Pole) were the most difficult. My first VK6 contact was with Martin, VK6RC.

Craig, VK0JJJ’s QSL Card

My final and most difficult contact for this award was with Craig, VK0JJJ at the Mawson Station in Antarctica. I made this contact on 20m, long path over the North Pole.

The Worked All VK Call Areas Award is one of the nicest looking awards that we have earned to date. It is a large, colorful certificate which shows all of the VK call areas needed for the award.

– Fred (AB1OC)