Holyland Award-ISRAEL

The Holyland Award is a special plaque issued by the Israel Amateur Radio Club (IARC) to both, licensed radio amateurs and SWL’s. The plaque is made of gold anodized aluminum sheet dim. 44 X32 cm (17 X12.4 inch.), Silk epoxy printed in two colors. The print, in antique atmosphere, is showing an old panorama of Jerusalem as seen from the Mount of Olives. The plaque is awarded for achieving the basic requirements from contacts done after the first of January 1992. Stickers, representing different sites, will be attached to the basic award after improving the achievements. 10 Stickers are available. QSL cards are not required, only log entries.

BASIS OF THE AWARD

The idea of national classic basis for an award scheme, was introduced by the late John Morris G3ABG in 1969 and was adopted by the WAB group for the UK national awards program. The IARC finds this idea suits it’s requirements and decided to use it for the ‘Holyland Award’ program. The award scheme is based on the geographical and administrative division of the Holy Land.

The ‘Square’; The country is divided geographically, by the Survey of Israel department, into a grid system resulting in squares of 10 X 10 kilometers. A letter and two numbers which are the relevant horizontal and vertical coordinates define these squares. i.e. E-14, H-08, etc.

The ‘Region’; The country is divided for administrative purposes into 23 Regions. The boundaries of these regions are drawn arbitrarily.

The ‘Area’; An ‘Area’ is made up from the combination of the Square and the Region. For example; E-14-TA (Tel Aviv), G-18-JS (Jerusalem), etc. The ‘Area’ is the basis for the Holyland Award scheme.

THE SCHEME REQUIREMENTS

Awards and Stickers: The award is given for working or hearing stations in the Holy- Land ‘areas’. There are three categories:

1. Amateurs operating within the Holy Land. (Category A).
2. Amateurs operating from IARU Region I. (Category B).
3. Amateurs operating from IARU Regions II & III. (Category C).

Requirements: Radio operators / Swl needs to work / hear:

1. In the (B) category; 100/150 ‘areas’ from 13 regions are required for the basic award. Additional 12 ‘areas’ plus 1 extra region are required per sticker.
2. In the (C) category; 50/100 ‘areas’ from 13 regions are required for the basic award.
3. Additional 6 ‘areas’ plus 1 extra region, are required per sticker.

Expedition & Mobile Awards: The Holyland Award for activating areas and it’s stickers, is issued for operating HF from areas in the Holy Land.

A special engraved trophy will be awarded for activating 300 and 400 different ‘Areas’ – available to all radio amateurs working HF while operating mobile or portable in the Holy Land.

Operating frequencies: To concentrate the efforts, specific net frequencies are recommended for the ‘Holyland Award’ scheme. Mobile and portable stations will use the following frequencies ± QRM : 28.655, 21.320, 14.265, 7.060 Mhz. ( Mostly on weekend afternoon – Holy Land time ).

Holyland Contest: A contest is held annually in the third weekend of April. More details are given in the radio amateur press and on request from the contest manager, IARC, P.O.Box 17600, Tel Aviv 61176, Israel. (SASE required).

Also you may request some operation from any Holyland sqrs what you need, using simple form on 4X6HP.net page.

Source: Israeli Amateur Radio Club

 Useful links:

http://www.qrz.co.il/4xradio.php?pid=97 Award info and map of Israel. You will need it for award.