The CW and QRP communities run their own award programs, and they are unusually welcoming: most are built to reward participation and improvement rather than a big station.
CW clubs and their programs
- SKCC — the Straight Key Century Club, for contacts using a mechanical key (straight key, bug or
- CWops — a club focused on conversational CW at speed. It runs the weekly CWT mini-contests,
- FISTS — "accuracy transcends speed"; a long-running club with awards for contacts with members,
- Long Island CW Club (LICW) — live online classes at every level, from first characters to high
- QRS and slow-speed nets exist specifically to give beginners patient contacts. Nobody in these
cootie, no electronic keyer). Membership is free, members exchange numbers, and the award ladder (Centurion, Tribune, Senator) is a genuinely good structure for a new CW operator. Their sked page and slow-speed activity make a first CW contact easy to arrange.
the CW Academy (free, structured, taught by volunteers, and the single best way to learn the mode), and the ACA/CMA award ladders.
and a culture of slowing down to match whoever is calling.
speed, plus its own activities and awards.
groups minds a slow fist; they mind not being called.
QRP programs
- QRP ARCI — awards, contests and a quarterly journal; G-QRP Club in the UK; the **Flying
- 1000 Miles per Watt — a contact whose distance divided by your transmitter power exceeds 1,000
- QRP endorsements on the mainstream awards — DXCC, WAS and others can be earned QRP, and the
- WSPR and the Reverse Beacon Network are not awards, but they measure a low-power station's reach
Pigs and Four State QRP Group** in the US.
miles per watt. Easier than it sounds on 6 m sporadic-E or with milliwatt WSPR.
certificate says so.
objectively, which is more useful than most certificates. See QRP.
Speed and proficiency recognition
Copying code at speed has been recognized for a century: the ARRL runs W1AW code practice and issues code proficiency certificates for copying a qualifying run, and several clubs certify speeds for their own ladders. If you are pushing your speed, the technique is always the same — listen to code faster than you can comfortably copy, in short daily sessions, and let the plateau break itself.
NARA's Alfred Vail 20-20
NARA recognizes operators under 20 who can send and receive at 20 words per minute or better with the Alfred Vail 20-20 Young Keyers Award. A license is welcome but not required, and the proficiency test is a live session — three minutes sending and three minutes receiving — with an approved examiner. See NARA awards and the award page.
For learning the mode itself, start at CW and Morse code.