Shack wall and social media bling

Many are probably aware of the ARRL's famous and "prestigious" DX Century Club award, and that they have other awards that can be worked towards e.g. WAS (Worked All States). Working the required stations is only one the first stage of getting the awards, QSL confirmation of the QSOs is also required, and then you must pay for them. I can imagine that last aspect especially turns many away from applying for awards as the total cost for one, not including any sending / paying for QSL cards, can amount to the region of £50.

I wonder how many are aware that the RSGB also offer a variety of awards that can be worked towards. Again, all are required to be paid for when certificates are ordered, but, the RSGB fees are a fraction of those charged by the ARRL at about a tenth of the cost.

My wonderings of who is aware of the RSGB awards stems from the RSGB's 2023 Committee Reports which details how many awards applications were made over the past few years. Here's the first few stats, the rest can be found in their report.

Summary Stats	2020	2021	2022	2023
IARU Region 1 Award	34	35	16	13
IARU Region 1 28MHz Award	3	2	0	2

Compared to the 100,000+ amateur radio licences Ofcom state that are currently on issue in the UK, these award application numbers look pretty low to me.

There are obviously many reasons why people do not apply for awards, not just including that some will consider them completely pointless and will have no interest in ever applying for, and amateur radio covers a such vast array of subject matter that the awards currently available only scratch the surface of and do not cover the interests of some people. A personal example is that of their 'Intermediate 100 Award' which for part of the application requires 25 contacts on the 80m band, for me at this present time that is just not of interest.

If anyone was not aware of the RSGB awards prior to reading this and would like to know more, then follow one of the two links below.

HF Awards:
rsgb.org/main/operating/amateur-radio-awards/rsgb-hf-awards/

V/UHF Awards:
rsgb.org/main/operating/amateur-radio-awards/vhfuhf-awards/

I have been aware of the RSGB awards for quite a while and been working towards the Class 2 levels of the two above, specifically the 28MHz one which I was recently awarded.



This 28MHz award is really one I wanted highlight to CT members as over previous years there has been very few applications as you can see, but I know many people here love the band being it having a very close 11m relationship. With where we are in the sun spot cycle and the fact that application for the award can be made using any modes of operation, even if you are only starting out on HF then the Class 3 level should really achievable to anyone who seriously works towards. The Class 1, due to a couple of awkward entities, may take some years though.

I didn't use ClubLog data for my applications, but I see from the links above that the RSGB allow QSL confirmation using it for at least the two IARU Region 1 Awards listed above which should make them more available to those who do not use LotW.

Hopefully I have peaked a few people's interest and that the next RSGB's stats will show an increase in at least one or two award applications.

If you are working towards any, do let us all know of your progress. If you have achieved awards previously and want to wave them, feel free


*I have no direct affiliation with the RSGB and am not trying to sell anything. Only trying to support the awards program of the society who makes it possible for us in the UK to do what we do. The awards are also available to be applied for by those outside the UK btw.

Thanks for the info and well done on the ten metre award.

Not really worried about wallpaper as such but have a couple of eQSL awards on the wall.

Mostly I just use the awards facilities on LOTW, eQSL and QRZ to keep a running total of entities worked.

Well done Neal, Some of my QSO have been done inside the house with the delta loop in the loft
find this more fun and exciting than working on a Moxon and endfed in the garden. Nice work

Following on from this one I looked up to see if there was an IARU Region 2 award, and there was. The below is currently work in progress as I have not heard back from the IARU Region 2 awards manager at the time of writing, but posting as members here might find what I have done so far useful, or might have further insight on applying or speeding up the application.

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As part of the process of submitting an application for the Region 2 award, QSLs (paper and/or LotW confirms) need to be confirmed by an authorised person from the IARU Member Society of your country (for the UK, that would be the awards manager at the RSGB).

In preparation for my QSL checks to be done by the RSGB, I modified the Region 1 excel form, found in the HF awards link in my first post, to include the Region 2 countries, prefixes, and national societies, then used that to fill out the required QSL info from LotW.

I sent that to the RSGB awards manager Lindsay G8PMA along with my filled out application form. He checked my application, signed my form, and sent back to me that same day. Great turn around, I was very impressed.

Sent my certified application to the Region 2 manager on 15th Oct, but have not had a response as yet.

When I submitted the modded excel form to Lindsay, he said I did a nice job tailoring his Region 1 check sheet and would hang on to it to use. He also mentioned that the Region 3 award was much easier to apply for, so I looked that one up that same day.

Region 3 is very much easier to apply for as QSLs do not need to be certified by an authorised person from the IARU Member Society of your country, it is done more on the honour system. I did though mod another version of the excel check sheet for Region 3 and filled it out with only valid QSL confirms on LotW, it just felt more right to me to prove I had really achieved. The Basic Region 3 award for 10m Mixed was granted and sent through to me just a couple of days ago, so there is still hope I will hear from the Region 2 application yet.



Below are links to the Region 2 & 3 application forms with the rules of how to apply and where to apply to, plus links to the excel check forms I created mods for these two other regions.

Region 2 Rules and application form:
www.iaru-r2.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IARU-R2-Award-2021_en.pdf
My modded award template:
f.io/hfGaGWcD
Award template filled out example (note mine filled out with just 10m, but you can use all bands):
f.io/Hw5LjuX4

Region 3 Rules and application form:
www.iaru-r3.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/R3-502-IARU-Region-3-Award-Rules_Rev3.pdf
My modded award template:
f.io/zx-muNiS

Hope someone finds this info and the forms useful. I should note as it's one of the main reasons for posting, that there is absolutely no cost for the Region 2 & 3 awards, and the RSGB did not charge to check and certify the application for R2 either. It's nice to see there are further awards out there that do not have the high cost of the ARRL DXCCs, WASs etc awards.

*my modded excel forms are being hosted on a basic free account at Frame.io (a site a bit like dropbox). You should not have to download any app or software to download from the links. If something changes with the site and it asks you to download something else, then feel free to ping me a message and I can email the excels to you or try and find somewhere else free to host them.

I know some hams are deeply competitive and see chasing awards as personal achievements. That's great.

I do like the odd challenge, and I enjoy hunting POTA activations (might even try activating myself one day)

I tend to look up stations on QRZ.com before calling them. Often their pages are full of awards, and below are photos of massive masts and antenna arrays.

But I'm happy with my long wires, verticals, and 20/100 watts. I'm also happy with any/all contacts, I don't need the bling!

Deb