Pacific NorthWest VHF Society
Grid Exploration Award Program

Purpose:

To encourage VHF+ activity in the greater Pacific Northwest and to honor the
achievements of operators within its boundaries as well as the stations who
work them.

Goal:

To work or activate all the grids with land mass in the Pacific Northwest.
Acknowledgment of this will be given in the form of certificates for incremental
steps and Plaques for achieving the ultimate goal.

Certificates:

Award Certificates will be issued for confirmed contacts from 50 Mhz to
light.

Certificates will be numbered in the order stations are qualified and confirmed.

A list of certificate holders and plaque holders, along with there sequence
numbers will be kept on the PNWVHFS website. Upon completion of all
four certificates, the Awards Chair will document and number the instance
and order a numbered plaque to be presented by the PNWVHFS club
president at the next society business meeting


Home Station Based State/ Province Certificates:

The Apple Certificate will be given to any station who works all the grids within
the state of Washington with any combination of bands.


The Chinook Certificate will be given to any station who works all the grids
within the state of Oregon with any combination of bands.

The Mountain Bluebird Certificate will be given to any station who works all
the grids within the state of Idaho with any combination of bands.

The Spirit Bear Certificate will be given to any station who works a minimum
of 15 grids within the province of British Columbia with any combination of
bands.

One numbered Outpost Certificate per band/ state combination will be given
to any station who works all of any state's grids per band or 15 BC grids on any
single band. A second or third certificate will be awarded when additional
States/ BC are completed per band.

One Homestead Plaque will be issued to any station who completes the
Apple, Chinook, Mountain Bluebird and Sprit Bear certificates. Plaques will be
numbered in the order stations are qualified and confirmed.

Numbered Band Endorsements will be added to the homestead plaque for
each band where all the state grids and 15 BC grids have been worked on that
band.


Portable / Mobile / Rover Based Certificates

The Captain Lewis Certificate will be given to any station who activates all the
grids within the State of Washington with any combination of bands.

The Captain Clark Certificate will be given to any station who activates all the
grids within the State of Oregon with any combination of bands.

The Sacagawea Certificate will be given to any station who activates all the
grids within the State of Idaho with any combination of bands.

The Fraser Certificate will be given to any station who activates 15 grids
within British Columbia with any combination of bands.

One Explorer Certificate per band will be given to any station who activates all
the grids in one state or 15 grids within the boundaries of British Columbia on
any single band.

One Pioneer Plaque per band will be issued to any station who completes the
Captain Lewis, Captain Clark, Sacagawea and Fraser certificates. Plaques will
be numbered in the order stations are qualified and confirmed.

Numbered Band Endorsements will be added to the plaque for each band where all the state grids and 15 BC grids have been activated on that band.


Certificate / Plaque Numbering Examples

2 Meter PNWVHF Apple Certificate No. 1
6 Meter PNWVHF Mountain Bluebird Certificate No. 18
1.3 GHz PNWVHF Homestead Plaque No. 47
Pioneer Plaque 2 meter band endorsement No. 12
Idaho 2 meter Outpost certificate No. 7
British Columbia Explorer certificate No. 14


Contact Qualifications

Contacts made via man made satellites or repeaters are not eligible.

Contacts for the Mountain Bluebird, Apple, Spirit Bear, Chinook and Outpost
Certificates must be made from within 200km of your current home station and
all contacts must be within 200km of each other.

Contacts where there is evidence of rover to rover grid circling will be
disqualified after review by the Board of Directors.

Confirmation of contacts can be traditional QSL cards or electronic QSL cards
(eQSL or LOTW).

Contacts made in grids that are on a state border may be counted in either
state. British Columbia contacts only count for British Columbia if that station
was in British Columbia. British Columbia contacts can not be used for Idaho,
Oregon or Washington state certificates.


Roving / Portable stations must have the other station clearly state what grid
you were in during the contact on the QSL.

Maritime Mobile contacts count for the grid they are in if the grid includes
land for the state/ province claimed.

Contacts with Aeronautical and Orbital stations do not apply.

All qualifying contacts must be made after 00:00 UTC January 1, 2009.


Application Procedure

There is a one time application fee of 10 dollars that includes lifetime
membership in the society. Applications are free to existing members.

Certificate application will be made to a representative of the PNWVHFS
Board of Directors. Applicants are encouraged to apply with the Board of
Director member representing the state/province of the award they are applying
for, but may use any board member for convenience. Board members must have their own application checked by another board member. A current list of board members is available on the PNWVHFS website.

Upon completion of the four required certificates, the Board of Directors will
forward a plaque application to the PNWVHFS club president for final approval.

A complete submission for an award will include all required QSL cards orE-QSLs and a properly filled out grid check off sheet. The official grid check off sheet is attached at the end of this document. A self addressed stamped envelope must be provided along with the QSL cards if they are to be returned.

A board member will review the certificate submission, forwarding it on to the
Awards chair if approved or returning it if the submission is rejected.

Additional opportunities for award checking will be posted on the PNWVHFS
e-mail reflector. (Common examples will be major ham fests or during the
PNWVHFS annual conference.

Certificates will be sent out as soon as practical at no additional cost.

The first five plaques issued will be free of charge. The plaques and
endorcements will be charged at cost (plaque creation plus shipping &
handling) after that.

Please use Grid Worksheet in Excel or PDF

 

All materials on this site are copyrighted by their authors and/or the Pacific Northwest VHF Society. Unauthorized use is prohibited except as specifically stated. For permission to reproduce anything on this site please contact the society at secretary@pnwvhfs.org.