United States Counties Award

Hover over the states. You will see how many counties in each state you have confirmed. You won't see anything on the map until you've worked ALL COUNTIES in that state.

See below - I have 1392 counties confirmed but have only confirmed ALL counties in just a few states. Those states go green on the map. I captured the mouse hovering over California - you can see that I've only confirmed 44 of the 58 counties. Once I confirm all 58 on QRZ, the state shape will turn green.

Dave
W7UUU

 

"Worked all Counties" is a lifetime thing if ever. If you want instant gratification, try for the QRZ Friendship Award or the 12 Days of QRZ.

MOST hams will never achieve the "Worked all Counties" - many hams won't ever achieve it for their own state much less that the entire united states.

I've been an active ham for 49 years and will not likely ever achieve "Worked all Counties" in the US.

Dave
W7UUU

 

MANY hams have achieved "Worked All US Counties"! There are nets and websites devoted to the challenge.

NO it's not easy for heaven's sake! But not "virtually impossible". There are 3144 counties in the US - it's a lot for sure but it's NOT impossible - and has been achieved by a pretty large number of devoted "county hunter" hams over the years.

Every state has a QSO party and hams travel to the unpopulated counties and "activate" them. That's how you have to do it - work the "expedition and rover class" of hams that activate the rare counties during each event. You MUST work every single state QSO party and try to work all counties in that state (a "clean sweep" it's called).

The QRZ Counties award was designed to track your progress on which states you have achieved a clean sweep (green) and give you the number of counties you've achieved state by state.

If you want an EASY award, go for the "World Friendship Award" - you just need to confirm 25 QRZ users.... I'm at 5521 so far MOST hams that are on the air at all can achieve that award in a week or less if they try.

Now if you want to talk "virtually impossible" that would be more in the realm of "Worked all grids in the world"

Dave
W7UUU

 

61/100 means you have to confirm 39 more counties to earn that award.

Not everything is "instant gratification" in the world of ham radio awards.

Have you tried the "World Radio Friendship" award? You only need to confirm 25 other QRZ users. Maybe that one is more doable for you.

Dave
W7UUU

 

Exactly - Worked All Counties as I mentioned before is a "Lifetime" goal. But hundreds of hams have done it!

It just takes diligence - think about states like Texas - 254 counties!!!! Only a very small number of hams have worked all counties in Texas. But it has been done and can be done - it just takes patience and the will to achieve it. As I've mentioned, there are websites and nets that exist to "work all counties" as well as of course working every single "State QSO Party" where rovers and expedition stations set up camp in the oddball counties. Even here in Washington (39 counties) there are rare ones that can only be worked during the QSO party.

This is NOT an award for beginners - it's an award that if you have any chance at all of achieving it, you MUST spend years of your life trying, and you MUST work more modes than FT8

Dave
W7UUU

 

Those are all good ideas - QRZ is always in an evolution on new operating awards, as you know.

Thanks for the suggestions

Dave
W7UUU