Sandton ARC to sponsor a new fun award

ZS WAGS - Worked all South African Grid Squares – “Chasing Maidens”

Sandton ARC is proud to announce that we will be sponsoring a new award as from 1^st August 2008.

Readers of the SARL online forum will be aware of the thread about a proposed new award, under the heading “Chasing Maidens.”  Now, before you get the wrong impression, the “Maidens” referred to are Maidenhead grid locators!

If you draw the major lines of latitude and longitude over the map of South Africa, you will see that there are a total of 83 “grid squares” which cover the whole of the country.  Some of these grid squares contain a very small piece of land indeed: Examples include grid JF87 in the Western Cape, which is mostly ocean, and grid KG65 is mostly in Mozambique, but does cover a small sliver of the Kruger Park.

The aim of this award is to make contact with a station located in each of the 83 grid squares.  This is not easy, as some squares are very small, and very remote, and quite a few have no resident amateurs. 

Two awards are offered. 

The Hunter’s Award may be claimed from 25 grid squares upwards, eg: you can apply for ZS WAGS 25, ZS WAGS 50, ZS WAGS 60, and so on up to the magic number of 83.  Additional endorsements may be claimed for a specific band, specific mode or even QRP (Max 5 watts)

In addition, to encourage amateurs to travel to the more remote or inaccessible grids, the Activator’s Award can be claimed by an amateur who makes a minimum of 10 contacts from one of the less-amateur-populated grids.

The system is based on honesty and trust, and proof of contacts is not required.  In addition, there is no cut-off starting date, so you may go back through your existing logbook to find all contacts, which qualify.  Of course, you may feel that everyone should start off on the same footing, and are welcome to start your log for this award as from 1^st August 2008.

We have created a web site specifically for this award, at http://www.zs6stn.org.za/zswags/   Here you will find everything you need to participate in working towards this fun award – The full set of rules; log sheets and application forms; various maps of the country showing the grid square boundaries; and some useful tools and links.  In future, we will publish all awards granted, as well as rankings on progress you may want to submit.

You can participate by chasing the Hunter’s Award, and by making other hams aware of the award.  You could also participate by travelling to the more remote grids and making yourself available for contacts; or even work to obtain the Activator’s Award for one of the more rare or difficult grids.

For further information, please visit the web site http://www.zs6stn.org.za/zswags/ or contact any one of the following:

Peter ZS6PHD – zs6phd_Xmweb.co.za or Cell 083 445 4634

John ZR6HLT – john_Xtoad.co.za or Cell 082 823 5083

Greg ZS6GDM - gdmiller_Xaxxess.co.za or Cell 082 424 3441

The @ has been replaced by _X to prevent spamming