[VHFcontesting] new vhf+ award from ther northwest

[frank bechdoldt]

The Pacific Northwest VHF Society would like to announce the creation of the Lewis and Clark awards program. Its goal is to promote VHF+ activity throughout the Pacific Northwest.A few years ago outgoing Club president Lynn Burlingame (N7CFO) challenged the club to create something bigger in the form of an activity that would encourage VHF+ activity as well as spur growth of the club as a whole. It was in the spirit of Lynn’s idea that this award was created.The awards and certificates of this program are specific to the culture and pioneering spirit of NorthWesterners. That being said, with e-skip, EME, and WSJT modes, award certificates should be obtainable for stations outside of our region.The program offers two individual certificate programs that progress towards plaques and endorsements. One program is for home stations and the other is for mobile, portable and rover stations activating only Pacific Northwest grids. We encourage people to participate in both to enhance activity.
Our hopes is that this encourages more people to go to remote grid squares as mobile, portables or roving regardless of contest events. Awards will also be numbered to encourage a bit of competition.Details of the contest can be found on a link on the PNWVHF Society webpage. (http://www.pnwvhfs.org).In the near future we will be sponsoring a certificate and plaque design contest for members of the society as well their family members. The design will be the water mark for each certificate and engraving pattern for plaques.The Awards program will kick off at 00:00 UTC January 1st, 2009. All contacts will have to be made after this point. Specific questions can be forwarded to K3uhf at hotmail.com. Or any PNWVHFS BOD member
 
Below is the rules/ guidelines
forms can be downloaded on the pnwvhfs web page.
 
 
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 CertificatesThe 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. 181.3 GHz PNWVHF Homestead Plaque No. 47Pioneer Plaque 2 meter band endorsement No. 12Idaho 2 meter Outpost certificate No. 7British 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 or E-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.
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