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Author Topic: 5B-WAZ achieved!  (Read 1050 times)

W2IRT

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #15 on: February 11, 2023, 08:58:58 AM »

Congratulations. 

I am sitting at 196 myself.  All 4 zones needed on 80M 26, 27, 28 and 18.  Have been there for 5 years.  I could get 18 easily enough but what's the motivation given the SE Asia hurdle.

From VT, the 3 zones needed are a serious stretch on 80M.  With the introduction of FT8 in the last 5 years, I haven't even heard Zones 23 or 24 on CW let alone the ones I still need.
Zone 23 was the weirdest one. There was an opening one afternoon last year about this time with several BYs. I only got one to reply, but it was in Zone 23, not zone 24! Zone 26 (yesterday) was by sked so it wasn't purely organic, but it was definitely a good radio-to-radio contact. I worked my 80m Z18 contacts in ARRL-CW in 2019. 18, 23, 24, and 26 were my big hurdles. FT8 will be your friend here for sure, although since we're approaching a solar peak lowbands may be harder for a while. I think the window for 24 and 26 is only going to be open for another week or two, then it will close until early December.
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Night gathers and now my watch begins. It shall not end until I reach Top of the Honor Roll

Great times are at hand, and soon there will be DX for all—although more for some than for others.

WA0RVK

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #16 on: February 11, 2023, 09:19:29 AM »

Congratulations. 

I am sitting at 196 myself.  All 4 zones needed on 80M 26, 27, 28 and 18.  Have been there for 5 years.  I could get 18 easily enough but what's the motivation given the SE Asia hurdle.

From VT, the 3 zones needed are a serious stretch on 80M.  With the introduction of FT8 in the last 5 years, I haven't even heard Zones 23 or 24 on CW let alone the ones I still need.

Good on you for finding them.

Ed  N1UR

Better grab that Zone 18 while you can!  You never know what political trauma might make it very hard to get in the future.  "Work first, worry later" is my mantra.  Or maybe "get while the gettin' is good" would be more appropriate?  I'm sitting at 182 here in the middle of the US.  Of those last 18, most are on 80-meters.  A few on 40, with 20-15-10 being worked out.  If I were to dig way back through my paper QSL's I might pick up 4 or 5 of those, but it's too much trouble.  If I get to where those 4 or 5 are all I need to hit the jackpot, I'll dig them out.  I'm just glad P5 isn't in a zone by itself. ;-)
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VE3YF

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #17 on: February 11, 2023, 09:29:29 AM »

Peter congratulations. That definitely is not an easy award to achieve.
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N1UR

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #18 on: February 11, 2023, 11:04:54 AM »

No offense, but I would rather not have the award than to fill in the rest with FT8 and then think it was the same as doing it all on CW.  Its kind of like having 98 countries QRP and then running 100W for the last 2 but still calling it QRP DXCC.  To do 196 on CW and the last 4 on FT8, just doesn't pass the smell test for me, personally.

Just speaking for myself.

Congrats again.

Ed  N1UR
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W2IRT

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #19 on: February 11, 2023, 12:22:18 PM »

So, Pete, break out that cigar and scotch and bask in your accomplishment!

The cigar: a 2009 Cohiba Siglo IV. The Whisky: the last of my Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist.
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Night gathers and now my watch begins. It shall not end until I reach Top of the Honor Roll

Great times are at hand, and soon there will be DX for all—although more for some than for others.

W2IRT

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #20 on: February 11, 2023, 12:25:55 PM »

No offense, but I would rather not have the award than to fill in the rest with FT8 and then think it was the same as doing it all on CW.  Its kind of like having 98 countries QRP and then running 100W for the last 2 but still calling it QRP DXCC.  To do 196 on CW and the last 4 on FT8, just doesn't pass the smell test for me, personally.
If I was submitting a QRP DXCC I would not submit anything made with more than 5 Watts on CW or 10W on phone. That would be cheating. But this isn't that. All modes are equal in regular DXCC and WAZ. Some zones were SSB, some were CW, some were RTTY, and a few in FT8 toward the end. I am mode-agnostic. DX IS!
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Night gathers and now my watch begins. It shall not end until I reach Top of the Honor Roll

Great times are at hand, and soon there will be DX for all—although more for some than for others.

WO7R

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #21 on: February 11, 2023, 12:32:16 PM »

Quote
No offense, but I would rather not have the award than to fill in the rest with FT8 and then think it was the same as doing it all on CW.

There has never been a "mode" restriction on 5BWAZ. It's not even offered.

So I don't know what you are getting at. Take it from someone who earned it -- it is damn hard enough without people adding all these other "you gotta restrict your activity to X" types.

Hey, if you can get it all CW, more power to you.  I couldn't and I frankly didn't want to.  I don't know anyone who actually holds the award that did.  Someone probably did, but I don't know them.

The number of people stuck on 199 for five or ten years is a constant since I was part of it.  Some people never do get that last one or five zones they need.

I guarantee you, after five years of just missing, a lot of people are looking for any legal mode.  I used JT65 to work India, barely, for 80 zone 22 and am damn proud of it.  Required several skeds, too.  And, it wasn't even my last zone for the award.  I worked AP on 80m on FT8 later on and I'm just as proud of that.  I even celebrate a near miss I had on 4S on 80m using JT65 that I had along the way.  It's just plain hard.  I'll take CW if I ever get the chance, just like I did with JT1CO for 23.

It's hard enough, friend.  So take your non-existent faux virtue and stuff it.
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N1UR

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #22 on: February 11, 2023, 01:28:19 PM »

Actually, all the tough ones were done with CW up through about 2017.  And there were MANY 200 zone awards issued.  So yes, its very doable.  But not when they guys that used to tough it out on 80 in zone 26 or 27 are clicking on callsigns on FT8.

I am glad that people have been able to "finish off the award" and feel good about it.  But its honestly not the same award anymore with FT8.  Its gone from darn near impossible (which is what made it so satisfying to accomplish) to very doable with persistence. 

Some want to get it no matter what it takes (without cheating) even of they know that the first 195 would have been a heck of a lot easier with FT8 in the first place. 

At the end of the day, its the award.  Congrats.  But it is NOT what you and I aspired to 20 years ago now accomplished.  Its a new award that is way easier to do.  Still hard.  But way easier.  You guys know it and we know it.  Just call it what it is and stop pretending its not.

Ed  N1UR
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AA6G

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #23 on: February 11, 2023, 01:42:37 PM »

I'm really confused. What's up with the award numbering? Here's a CQ List of 5BWAZ awards.

https://cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_awards/cq_waz_awards/cq_waz_5_band_award.html

Award #1121 shows UA4SKW. My 5BWAZ award number is 1684. The list and my award number match.

Did CQ print the wrong award number on W2IRT's award? Or am I missing something?

BTW, it took me 30 years to work all 200 zones. Like everyone else, 80m was the problem. I had given up until 5A1A came along with their 4 square and gave a lot of west coast stations zone 34 on 80m. That made me think this could be possible after all. My last zone was 17, a UA9 on 80 CW, the first and last one I've ever heard.

Chuck - AA6G
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N1UR

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #24 on: February 11, 2023, 02:08:11 PM »

I have award number 1174.  They are issued at the 150 zones level.  I have the 195 sticker endorsement.  I have no idea how many have the full 200 zones.  And there are, or were, A LOT of people in the 190 - 198 camp.  How many have pushed it over with FT8, I have no idea.

Congrats to you for achieving it the way the award was originally intended.

I think you would be hard pressed to get 30 zones on 80M in today's DXing world without using FT8.

Ed  N1UR
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WO7R

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #25 on: February 11, 2023, 02:09:40 PM »

As for the numbering, 5BWAZ can be applied for with as few as 150 of the zones worked.  If you do so, that's the number you are assigned and it doesn't change.

So, a number doesn't necessarily speak to when the final zone was achieved.

A lot of people get apoplectic about the fact that you can get the certificate with less than 200, but it's just being triggered by language.  Getting the paper at 150 has been possible since day one.
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K4HB

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #26 on: February 11, 2023, 02:11:14 PM »

No offense, but I would rather not have the award than to fill in the rest with FT8 and then think it was the same as doing it all on CW.

I don't consider it the same as doing it with CW. I've been stuck on 199 zones for 5 years, and they were all worked either SSB or CW, no skeds, and from my station. I will take the last zone (26 on 80M) with FT8, but would much prefer CW. Came close when I copied HS0ZEE on 80M in Sep 2021, and showed up on his monitor according to PSK Reporter.

What I won't do is work skeds or hook up to one of those remote thingies and call from the West Coast or wherever. For an Award program to allow this is a complete joke. DXCC allows it, and WAZ allows it, but for a separate category with numbers that are separate from traditional awards. Strangely, I don't see any remote categories in their listings or any asterisks by any calls. Maybe I'm missing something, or no one is using remote to work WAZ. You reckon?
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W1VT

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #27 on: February 11, 2023, 02:15:02 PM »

As someone who used to subscribe and read CQ magazine, it was apparent that lower standards were always tolerated for 5BWAZ.
Schedules to get that very last zone were very common.  It was obvious to me that this was not accepted operating procedure for other awards.

It it way easier now?  One of the reasons those Asian zones are so hard to work is that nobody can hear anything through the fog of electromagnetic interference.
Even with FT8, 9N7AA simply can't hear on the low bands.  I'm sure as a food relief worker he has exceptional access to the best locations.

I have QRP DXCC.  At both 1 and 5 watts.  G-QRP club Master as KH6CP in 1987.  Ton of QRP awards.
If you are going for difficult non-mainstream awards like 1 watt DXCC I'd advise you to set your own set of rules, and not listen to others about what they would do.
I have impressive QRP CW totals, so I'm inclined not to add to them with digital contacts.  But, if someone gets mixed mode QRP DXCC,
I'm certainly happy for them and won't  tell them they need to do it my way.

Here are my Clublog CW only stats.  About the last decade of my log.  32 zones worked on 80 CW.
Totals   160   80   40   30   20   17   15   12   10   6
Worked   21   32   37   34   40   39   39   38   35   8
Confirmed   0   22   25   26   30   34   33   32   28   5


Zack W1VT
« Last Edit: February 11, 2023, 02:20:12 PM by W1VT »
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WO7R

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #28 on: February 11, 2023, 02:17:53 PM »

Quote
Actually, all the tough ones were done with CW up through about 2017.  And there were MANY 200 zone awards issued.  So yes, its very doable.

Sure, but it was never the case that it was all CW for most of us.

There was some RTTY and SSB in the actual application.  Sometimes, it was because that was all the few ops active in that band slot got around to using.

There is not and never was a "CW only" requirement and very few of us actually made an application where this was actually what we sent in.  I'm sure someone did.  But I don't happen to know any.

So, I don't know what you are prattling on about.  Taking the path of least resistance on mode was always part of this award.
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WO7R

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Re: 5B-WAZ achieved!
« Reply #29 on: February 11, 2023, 02:19:47 PM »

Quote
It was obvious to me that this was not accepted operating procedure for other awards.

You need to get out more.  Skeds to finish awards -- any award -- is old hat.

Ask around.  I think you'll be surprised.

5BWAS, depending on where you live, can actually be very tough as far as finishing 10 meters goes.  You can be too close to work them easily once you get past ground wave.

And, talk to people who have done EME for 2m WAS or 2m anything.  Skeds are common there.
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