ALL AFRICA AWARD
The All Africa Award is sponsored by the South African Radio League. The aim is to encourage more QSO’s with African countries.
Applicants must prove having made contact with the following 31 areas:
- One contact with a station in each of the six call areas of South Africa (ZS1 to ZS6).
- One contact in each of 25 African countries outside South Africa.
Only contacts with stations on the African continent are valid. African islands and ship-based stations do not count. "Country" means a country according to the DXCC list maintained by the ARRL. Deleted countries also count, provided that contacts were made while the country existed.
Application must be made in writing. A list of QSL cards must be included.
The list must be certified by an official of a local radio club or two licenced radio amateurs, who have seen the QSL cards. The list must contain at least the following information:
- UTC date and time of the contact
- Callsign of the station
- Transmission mode
- Frequency band
- Name of the country
Endorsements for single modes or bands can be requested.
Include US$ 10.00 or 10 IRC's to cover postage and handling charges. The award is free to members of the South African Radio League.
A suitable application form can be found here.
Applications should be addressed to:
The Awards Manager
SA Radio League
P.O. Box 1721
Strubensvallei
1735
South Africa
Email enquiries can be directed to zs6p@iafrica.com
Note: ZS3 before 21 March 1990 counts for V5
ZS3 note:
During 1996 changes were made to the AAA to accommodate various political changes on the African continent. The rules now require a contact with each of the six ZS call areas and 25 African countries outside South Africa.
ZS3 callsigns were issued in South West Africa during its administration by South Africa. On the 21st of March 1990, South West Africa became the new independent country Namibia (V5). ZS3 is now issued in the North Western part of the Republic of South Africa.
Click here for a map of Call sign Zones
WORKED ALL ZS AWARD
Revised 2010-03-09
The Worked all ZS series of awards is available to all Radio Amateurs and Short Wave Listeners.
Applicants must prove two way contacts (or SWL reports) with at least 100 South African callsigns. The callsigns must represent the different call areas as follows:
ZS1 16 contacts
ZS2 8 contacts
ZS3 1 contact
ZS4 6 contacts
ZS5 13 contacts
ZS6 56 contacts
In addition to the basic award (WAZS), awards for higher multiples of 100 callsigns are also available. An applicant for a higher award (WAZS-200, WAZS-300 etc.) must meet the minimum call area requirements at the time of application, or must cite the number of his/her previously issued WAZS award. Specific mode or band endorsements can be requested.
When an applicant applies with a total of more than 200 callsigns, the applicant will be issued with all awards below the actual level. An application with 380 callsigns, for example, will receive the basic WAZS, WAZS-200 and WAZS-300 if they have not already been issued before. Each award at every level will be sequentially numbered. An Honour Roll with the latest scores of all stations above 200 will be published on the SARL Web site, in descending order. Members of this list can apply each time they reach a new award level, or can submit an update once per calendar year, even if a new endorsement level has not been attained.
South African applicants should send QSL cards, a list of contact details and a handling and postage charge of R 20,00. This award is free to members of the South African Radio League.
Foreign applicants should submit a list of QSL cards, certified by an official of a local radio club or two licenced radio amateurs that have seen the cards. A handling and postage charge of US$ 10,00 or 10 IRCs must also be included.
Send applications to:
The Awards Manager
South African Radio League
PO Box 1721
Strubensvallei 1735
South Africa
Email enquiries can be directed to zs6p@iafrica.com
What is a callsign?
Only callsigns from the South African mainland count. ZS3 callsigns from South West Africa (now Namibia V5), old ZS callsigns from neighbouring countries (Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana) and offshore stations (Walvis Bay, Penguin Islands, Marion, Antarctic etc.) do not count. However, special callsigns (ZS99ARA, ZT6Z, ZS25TUK etc.) from the South African mainland do count. If such special callsigns are included, remember to ascertain the correct call area. Callsigns with double digits are often misleading.
Note that different callsigns are required. Successive holders of the same callsign do not count separately, but stations with several callsigns can be claimed under all those callsigns. ZS6XY, ZS6XY/6 and ZS6XY/P are the same callsign, but ZS6XY/4 denotes a different geographical callsign area and is considered a different callsign.
Worked All ZS trophies awarded
Four trophies have recently been awarded to the top achievers in the SARL's Worked All ZS awards programme.
The Worked All ZS programme encourages contacts with South African stations. The basic award requires contacts with 100 South African stations, with a geographic distribution that represents the actual distribution of South African amateurs. Only a single ZS3 contact is required, for example, while 56 of the more numerous ZS6 callsigns are required.
The the first certificate was awarded to Gwen Smith ZS1NQ in 1959. Since then, over 300 certificates have followed. The majority of these certificates have gone to South Africans, but certificates have gone to all continents except Asia.
There have been many single-band endorsements, with the 3,5, 7, 14 and 50 MHz bands being represented. Awards have been endorsed for mixed modes, Phone, CW and SSB.
The award has waxed and waned, with more than 100 being awarded in the Sixties. The Seventies, Eighties and Nineties produced less than two dozen applications each.
Higher Levels
In 2001, when the SARL's awards rules were being revised, a series of more advanced awards was introduced in an attempt to revitalise WAZS.
The new awards recognise higher levels of achievement, beyond the initial 100 required contacts. The new awards series is open-ended, being named WAZS-200 for 200 callsigns, WAZS-300 for 300 callsigns and so forth. Applicants have to meet the basic WAZS requirements, with the required number of contacts per call area. An applicant who meets the basic requirements and submits evidence of contacts with 365 callsigns, for example, will be awarded a basic WAZS certificate, followed by WAZS-200 and WAZS-300. Each award is separately numbered.
At the time, Pretoria Contest Club ZS6Z undertook to donate trophies to the first three applicants to achieve WAZS-500. A start date of 31 December 2001 was announced, giving all contenders an equal chance to apply for the first award. Unfortunately, no applications were received by the start date. The first three trophies were therefore awarded chronologically. It took almost nine years for the third applicant to make the grade.
SA-QSL
Shortly after the extended awards programme was announced, an event took place that would resurrect interest in WAZS to an extent that no-one anticipated. Because WAZS requires proof of contacts with all the claimed callsigns, applicants would spend much time, effort and money chasing QSL cards from all those stations. Those who have gone through the process confirm that obtaining WAZS is far harder than obtaining DXCC or indeed most of the major DX awards.
This problem was alleviated considerably by the introduction of SA-QSL, the Web-based electronic QSL system that Richard Seddon ZS2CLI built on the SARL Web site. Suddenly, getting those confirmations was far easier and less expensive. The result has been a resurgence in interest in WAZS and a massive rise in the achievable scores.
The effect has been startling. In the period of 2002 to 2006, there were no WAZS applications. In the four years from 2006, 150 WAZS certificates have been issued! As of 2002, only three people had reached the WAZS-200 level. This number has now passed 50. Even more amazingly, as of 2002 the highest score was 500 and only one person had achieved that level. As of today, three applicants have passed the 500 level and the highest score is over 1000!
It is safe to say that a confirmed total of over 1000 South African callsigns was unimaginable as little as five years ago.
The Winners
The eventual winner of the first WAZS-500 was Chris R. Burger ZS6EZ. Chris reached the 500 mark in December 2002, almost a year after the start date.
At the time, the closest contender was Harald Pfeffer OE6HPD, with a score of more than 400. Unfortunately, Harald has to date not achieved the 500 level. It is nevertheless still amazing that someone so far from South Africa could confirm contacts with more than 400 South African callsigns.
The next application took almost five years to arrive. Jan Botha ZS4JAN applied in November 2007, simultaneously gaining endorsments for SSB and for 7 MHz. Jan has subsequently also achieved WAZS-500 on 3,5 MHz.
Number Three came eighteen months later, when Gerhard Coetzee ZS3TG obtained WAZS-500 in May 2009.
In the mean time, Jan Botha continued his activities, and astounded everyone by achieving the 1000 level in November 2009. Jan is still the only applicant to have exceeded the 600 level. To put his achievement into perspective, Jan has a score of at least double those of any of his peers.
Pretoria Contest Club ZS6Z therefore decided to donate not only the promised trophies for the first three WAZS-500 winners, but also a special trophy for the first WAZS-1000.
The WAZS-500 trophies are handsome plaques, with an enamel design mounted onto a dark wooden base. The WAZS-1000 is similar, but much larger. Its size and design are intended to reflect the magnitude of the achievement.
The plaques have been sponsored by Superb Flight Training, a Pretoria-based flight training school. Their Web site is at pilots.co.za.
SARL TOP BAND CERTIFICATE
The Top Band Certificate is sponsored by the South African Radio League. Its aim is to encourage more 160 m QSOs with southern African countries.
South African stations must submit proof of having contacted at least six different southern African call areas, of which at least five must be in the Republic of South Africa. The sixth contact can be from the remaining South African call area (ZS), or from any of the bordering countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland or Zimbabwe).
DX stations within 1000 km of the borders of South Africa need contact only three call areas in the RSA.
DX stations beyond 1000 km of the borders of the RSA need to contact only two call areas in southern Africa, one of which must be in the RSA.
All contacts after 1 January 1960 are valid for this award.
Contacts must be established in the range of 1800 to 2000 kHz. ZS amateurs can transmit between 1810 and 1850 kHz.
Endorsements for single modes can be requested.
South African applicants should send QSL cards, a list of contact details and a handling and postage charge of R 20,00. This award is free to members of the South African Radio League.
Foreign applicants should submit a list of QSL cards, certified by an official of a local radio club or two licenced radio amateurs that have seen the cards. A handling and postage charge of US$ 10,00 or 10 IRCs must also be included.
A suitable application form can be found here.
Applications should be addressed to:
The Awards Manager
South African Radio League
PO Box 1721
Strubensvallei
1735 South Africa
Email enquiries can be directed to zs6p@iafrica.com.
