It’s getting down to crunch time: The ARRL Centennial QSO Party ends in just about 6 weeks! If you’ve been procrastinating about building your point totals to the certificate level, two more major opportunities to put some serious points into your log lie just ahead. Red Badge Days will take place Saturday, November 22, and on Wednesday, December 31.

The final point levels for Centennial QSO Party awards have been established. Participants will need 1000 points to qualify for a first-level certificate, 3000 points for a second-level certificate, 7500 points for a third-level certificate, and 15,000 points for a top-level award certificate.

As of November 13, 13,000 participants had attained 1000 points in the QSO points Challenge, and 7000 ops had reached the 3000-point level. Two DXpeditions hold first and third places, respectively, in the Challenge.

The next ARRL “Red Badges on the Air” activity gets underway at 0000 UTC on Saturday, November 22 (starting on the evening of Friday, November 21, in US time zones). ARRL officers, elected officials such as Director or Section Manager, as well as Headquarters staffers and volunteers, and other members of the ARRL family will be out in force on both occasions. Contacts with red badge wearers are worth as much as 300 points per contact for working ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN. Many stations will try to keep their contacts short; the minimum exchange is a signal report, and any ARRL office, appointment, or member abbreviation is optional.

These events are considered activity days, not contests, and operation is permitted on all bands. Participants can call “CQ ARRL Centennial QSO Party” on phone or “CQ CENT” on CW or digital modes. While the focus is to encourage ARRL red badge holders to hand out Centennial QSO Party points, all activity is welcome, regardless of point value.

ARRL members are worth at least one point in the Centennial QSO Party. Participants get credit for each band/mode contact, regardless of point value. ARRL Centennial QSO Party participants can use the leader board to determine how many points they have accumulated.

Other high-value contacts include: President Emeritus (PE) or Past President (PP), 275 points; Honorary Vice President (HVP) or ARRL Vice President (VP), 250 points; Director (DIR), Director Emeritus (DE), or Past Vice President (PVP), 225 points; Vice Director (VD), 200 points; Section Manager (SM), 175 points; ARRL officer (OFF) or Past Director (PD), 150 points, and Past Vice Director (PV), 125 points. W100AW, Charter Life Member (CLM), or Past Section Manager (PSM) contacts are worth 100 points.

ARRL Headquarters department managers (DM), 75 points; ARRL Headquarters staffers/volunteers, (HQ), 50 points; Assistant Director (AD), 40 points, and NCJ Editor and QST columnists, 30 points.