Segment: Awards for Satellite Operators
This week I thought I would talk about the different awards that are available for those working satellites. Since there are many new hams trying satellites this information will be very helpfull. For the old timers, you may not be aware of the W4AMI award. I will be giving several addresses and phone numbers so have a pencil ready.
The first award is the Satellite Communicators' Club.
This award is given to any operator for having made their first contact.
To apply for this award you need to send a report of your contact to
AMSAT SCC Manager, PO Box 27, Washington, D.C. 20044. You also need to
send 2 units of postage and $1 for members and $2 for non-members.
The next award takes a little bit more work. It is the Oscar Satellite
Communications Achievement Award. This is for working 20 contacts on
any satellite. A contact is defined as one with a station in another
state, DXCC country or Canadian call area. Once you have a contact with
a station in that area, you must hunt for another. So, if you work
6 canadian stations that are all VE3's, then you can only submit one
of them towards this award. To submit for this award, you need to
send copies of the front and backs of your confirmed QSL cards to WA5TWT
Mike Scarcella, AMSAT Awards Manager, 310 Lombardy, Sugar Land, TX 77478.
The cost is $3.50 for members and $5 for non-members. Also send two
units of postage for your return certificate.
The next award is the Oscar Sexagesimal Award. This is the same as the
Oscar Satellite Communications Achievement Award but is given for 60
contacts. All the qualifications and costs are the same.
I just received certificate #97 so there have not been many of these
given out.
Next there is the Oscar Century Award. This is the same as the other two awards but is for 100 contacts. Qualifications and costs are the same.
Please note that the previous 3 awards are aggregated. Once you have
worked your 20, that applies towards your 60 so you only need 40 more
contacts. The same is true for the 100, once you get your 60, you
only need 40 more for your 100.
South Africa has a nice award it is called the South Africa AMSAT Satellite Communication Achievement Award. It is for 25 contacts on phase 2 satellites. These satellites are Fuji-Oscar 20, AO-21, AO-27 and RS satellites. These contacts may all be in the same state or Canadian call area. You only need 25. AO-10 and AO-13 contacts do not count. The costs are the same as previous awards and are also sent to Mike Scarcella.
The K2ZRO Memorial Station Engineering Award is an award for station
excellence in receiving. Periodically during the year, WA5ZIB, Andy
MacAllister will conduct this test. He transmits a series of 5 digits
at becon strength in CW on AO-13. He will then reduce his power by 50%
or 3db. He transmits another series of 5 digits. He will continue
to reduce power by 50% until he is transmitting at 30db below beacon
strength or level A. You attempt to copy the 5 digits to the level you
can hear and send your report to Andy MacAlister, 14714 Knightsway Dr.,
Houston, TX 77083 along with 2 units of postage and the usual $3.50 for
members and $5 for non-members. The first time you submit, you will
receive a certificate. After that, you will receive endorsement stickers
to place on the certificate. There is no fee for the endorsement stickers
other than 1 unit of postage.
Our newest satellite award is the W4AMI Satellite Operator
Achievement Award. It is awarded for the submission of 1,000
satellite contacts on OSCAR-6 or later satellites. There is an
endorsement for each additional 1,000 and a special certificate at
5,000. To receive the award, send $3.50 for AMSAT members or $5.00 for
non members and 2 units of postage to Mark Rosenberg, AD4KS, 331 South
Yates, Memphis, TN 38120. To date, W4AMI has certificate #1, I have
number 2 and Andy, WA5ZIB, has number 3. So if you have 1,000 or more
contacts on satellite, send in for this nice award and get one of the
low numbers. Remember to keep your log of every contact. Every time
you say hello to your friend on a satellite, log it. In no time at
all, you will have enough for the award.
There is an award from the VHF/UHF Society called VHF/UHF Century Club
or VUCC and it is for working 100 different grid squares and you can
receive it with satellite contacts. Endorsements are for each
additional 25 grids worked. You can get information and an
application from ARRL by calling the ARRL at 203-666-1541. I have been
working on this one for about one year now and need 4 more qsl cards
to hit 200. Remember the segment 2 weeks ago on how to find the grid
squares of stations that you have worked that should get you going
on this award.
Another award from the ARRL is the Worked All States or WAS. For this
you must contact a station in each of the 50 states. Here again, you
can request an application from ARRL headquarters. There is no 5-Band
WAS for Satellite.
If you are looking for someone to check your QSL cards and can't
find someone at your local club, I am an ARRL Awards Manager and
can verify your cards and application. You can send your cards and
application to me at my call book address. Please include sufficient
postage for return of your cards, sending your application to the
ARRL and getting your certificate from the ARRL. I can verify WAS,
5-band WAS and VUCC awards.
One that is not very difficult is the WAC or Worked All Continents. This requires contacting a station on each of the 8 continents. This award is also administered by the ARRL. Cards and application must be sent to the ARRL, there is no other way to receive this award.
I have all of the above awards and keep growing on the VUCC. The one
I don't have and the one that is the most difficult to attain on
satellite is the DXCC award. This requires contacting 100 different
DXCC countries on satellite and getting QSL cards out of them.
Applications are available for the ARRL.
There you have it some of the awards that are available to you for all your hard work on the satellites. Some of you may not have even known about some of them and may have enough QSL cards to qualify now.
Again, the address for the AMSAT awards is WA5TWT, Mike Scarcella 310 Lombardy, Sugar Land, TX 77478. The phone number for the ARRL to request your other applications is 203-666-1541. The ARRL awards require you to send the actual QSL cards to a Certified QSL manager and that name and address will be provided to you when you request the forms.