In 55 years on the air it's inevitable that I'd garner a few awards.  I'm not a big award chaser and for most of my years on-the-air didn't even collect QSLs.  About 10 years ago I decided to go after some of the basic awards and sure was sorry I didn't go after those earlier QSL cards.  Especially for some of the great DX I worked and still need!

 My favorite is my ARRL Triple Play award number 226.  Working all states on three modes (CW, RTTY, and SSB) in less than two months was a real challenge and an awful lot of fun.

 I have the 5 Band DXCC award #5181 with 30, 17, and 12 meter endorsements, RTTY DXCC, and CQ's Worked All Zone award #8094.

And now, a shameless plug for the American Radio Relay League's (ARRL) Logbook of the World (LoTW).  It's a great  way to confirm QSOs.  And much cheaper than traditional QSLs (even though I really like the cards).  If you're reading this you have a computer with internet capability - so get registered and upload your log.  And if you're one of the DX entities or VUCC grids I still need - DO IT NOW!

Bill Axelrod 1 June 2011