The Straight Key Century Club Rag Chew Award seeks to encourage members to engage in conversational CW contacts using straight keys, sideswipers or bugs. Contacts between SKCC members on any band, at any time, meeting the rules set out below will earn credit toward this award.
For the purposes of the SKCC Rag Chew Award, a rag chew is defined as an on-the-air CW conversation with another SKCC member lasting 30 minutes or longer, during which both operators use SKCC approved keying devices. To qualify for this award, the contact should include the exchange of each participant's RST, name, location and SKCC number. Rag chews are not limited as to topic. Amateur radio and non-radio topics are permitted. If more than two stations participate in the rag chew, the contact must last 40 minutes or longer.
To earn the SKCC Rag Chew Award, keep a log of rag-chew QSOs with other SKCC members, including each QSO's duration in minutes. Keep a running total of rag-chew minutes. Remember, any SKCC-member QSO lasting 30 minutes or longer counts toward this award!
For example, you have a rag-chew QSO with N1DN for 30 minutes, and then another rag-chew QSO with AC2C for 36 minutes. You've just accumulated 66 minutes toward your basic Rag Chew Award.
The Rag Chew Award is earned when your rag-chew log shows 300 minutes of conversational CW. Endorsements can be earned for every additional 300 minutes of rag-chew activity: Rag Chew 600 Award, Rag Chew 900 Award, and so on. Single-band endorsements for 300 minutes of rag-chew QSO activity also are available. Endorsements beyond x10 will be awarded in increasing increments of 5. RCx15, for example, will require 15 X 300 = 4500 QSO minutes, RCx20 will require 20 X 300 = 6000 QSO minutes, and so on. The same principle applies to individual band endorsements.
1. Only QSOs made after 0000 UTC, July 1, 2013, qualify for this award.
2. All participants in the QSO must be SKCC members at the time of the QSO.
3. Contacts must be made using a straight key, bug, or sideswiper. For details, see the club's policy on approved keying devices here.
4. Contacts may be made on any amateur band at any time, including WARC bands.
5. Multiple QSOs with the same SKCC member over time may be counted toward this award. However, back-to-back QSOs with the same SKCC member are not allowed. A rag-chew contact with a different SKCC member must appear in your rag-chew log before a previously logged rag-chew call sign may be entered again for award purposes.
Applications for the Rag Chew Award may be submitted in electronic or paper format. All QSOs must be logged on or after the award start date of July 1, 2013. Use the SKCC Rag Chew Award application form, available as a document file here or as a spreadhseet here. QSO entries must include the date, call sign, SKCC number, QSO duration in minutes, and S/P/C (State/Province/Country) of each station you worked.
A note on endorsements: The award's manager does not keep an archive of previous logs. Add your endorsement QSOs to your initial log. You must submit your log in its entirety when applying for endorsements.
Award applications, as well as questions related to this award, may be submitted to:
Mike Morrow, W3QT
rc-manager@skccgroup.com