WDM China Award

WDM China 80 contact award

China has a growing economy and a growing number of Amateur Radio operators. It’s a very different landscape than in the mid 1980’s when I was first licensed, when finding a Chinese station was a rare event. The YB6 DXC Digital Modes Club (YB6DXC) issues the WDM China award for working a minimum of just […]

Worked Different Amateur Radio – USA

As an American Ham Radio operator, there’s nothing easier than working other American stations. So there may be no easier award to chase after than one which only requires making contacts with stateside stations. The Worked Different Amateur Radio – USA award, from the European Ros Club (ERC), does just that. The first certificate in […]

Hidden Labels Control in HRD

I’m a big fan of HamRadioDeluxe (HRD). All of my logged QSOs go into it. QSL chores are much easier by having all of your contacts in an easily searchable database. As a software engineer, I delayed jettisoning paper logs for far too long. There’s no going back now for me. Despite buying to HRD, […]

The Importance of Accurate Time

For the FT4 and FT8 digital modes, like in comedy, timing is everything. If your computer clock is even one second off from other stations you are intending to work your signal strength will suffer. A difference of a couple of seconds may mean you are not decoding any signals at all. The importance of […]

Japan Century Cities Award

Despite being the size of the state of Montana, Japan packs 125 million people into hundreds of cities. With a large Amateur Radio population the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) came up with the Japan Century Cities Award (JCC). To qualify for the entry level award you need to confirm contacts with Japanese hams in […]

2024 VOMARC Picnic

The Valley of the Moon Amateur Radio Club (VOMARC) held its annual picnic in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park for the second time on September 22, 2024. Darrel (WD6BOR) expertly manned the grill and produced a non-stop output of hamburgers and hotdogs for all interested. As if that wasn’t enough, the food table contained a wide […]

Japanese Call Area Award

Like the United States, Japan divides up their nation into ten geographical areas and assigns each a digit used to create their Amateur Radio callsigns. The FT4 Digital Mode Club‘s (FT4DMC) rewards Hams who make contact with at least one station in each of those call areas using FT4. The JCA is an award synonym […]

Worked English Stations Award

England is the most populous entity within the United Kingdom. For Amateur Radio purposes, like in Soccer/Football, it’s treated as a separate country. The FT8 Digital Mode Club (FT8DMC) offers the Worked English Stations Award (WESA) for making contact with a given number of different English stations. The entry point for the first award is […]

2M Yagi Build Event

During their August 2024 meeting, the Valley of the Moon Amateur Radio Club (W6AJF) held a 2M Yagi antenna build event. The club’s President, Ed (W1EJ), ensured all of the needed parts were provided. Several members brought soldering irons and other tools that were needed to complete the work. In the end, everyone interested was […]

August 2024 QSL Card Inbox

Here are some of the more interesting QSL Cards I’ve received over the last couple of months leading into August 2024. I also received a nice card for 7P8EI in Lesotho from CW and SSB contacts 17M and 15M respectively. Strangely though, my scanner would not scan the card without a weird anomaly showing up […]