Fred Fish Memorial Award, FFMA — Ultimate Grid Chase

As I’ve done with the Guide to VHF Contesting – References to Further Information and the Guide to 6 Meter DXing – Getting Started on the Magic Band, I felt it might be a good idea to pull together a number of resources for those in pursuit of the Fred Fish Memorial Award or FFMA.

One of our stalwart 6 meter DXers, Rovers, and The FFMA Information Wizard, Francis, KV5W, prompted my writing by posting an absolute treasure trove of resources to the Front Range 6 Meter Groups.io list. So, with his permission and encouragement, I’m repeating much of that here along with a few additional bits of information that may also prove helpful.

What’s the FFMA?

The Fred Fish Memorial Award was established by the ARRL in 2008 to honor Fred Fish, W5FF, who worked and confirmed all 488 grid squares in the 48 contiguous United States on 6 meters. For more read the QST announcement and the ARRL’s online FFMA information. Here’s an important quote from that announcement:

The FFMA is an “all-or-nothing” award. You must submit confirmation of 2-way contact with all 488 grid squares on 50 MHz in order to qualify. There are no endorsements and no recognized tiers of progression. Any mode may be used. The rules for the award will strictly follow the rules of the ARRL VUCC program.

It’s essentially an extension of the ARRL VUCC award program, but one that is exceedingly tough to earn. How tough is it you might ask? Ten years after the award was introduced, 2018, only seven had earned FFMA. The class of 2019 saw two earn the award. The class of 2020 added four to the list. In 2021 there was a bumper crop of 12 that earned the award so far, with one pending confirmations. That means some 13 years after its introduction, only 23 operators have earned the award.

It’s Tough But We’re 6 meter Grid Chasers

OK. So it might be tough. But that shouldn’t deter general all around grid chasers and particularly those like me who are addicted to chasing grids. It forms one more goal along the way of adding stickers to your VUCC certificate. Although, it is a very, very challenging goal.

The good news is that there are several hundred other hams chasing the award and they are all powerfully motivated. That means that they urge or pester, as the case may be, other ham radio operators to get on the air from rare grids. Or, in grids where nearly no one has gone before, they encourage rovers to make it happen for the needy.

That’s where a great deal of excitement can come into play. There are several legendary rovers that activate extremely remote locations, using four-wheel drive and lightweight equipment, or they travel thousands of miles activating multiple rare grids along the way. They usually bring big antennas and major amounts of power. There’s also often photos and even videos of the places and the incredible rover operations.

Sign Me Up

So how do you get started? First, work all the six meter grids you can. All of the grids in the U.S.A. count. So start with all those you hear.

Second, start monitoring DX Maps and other online resources to catch the Sporadic E openings as they occur. If you’re alert and available, you can really add to your list of grids when the band opens up.

Third, become familiar with making meteor scatter contacts using WSJT-X MSK144. This mode can be relied upon at any time of the year and particularly during seasonal meteor showers. It can be very important when trying to work rovers who are within 1,000 to 1,200 miles.

Another mode that is gaining in popularity is WSJT-X Q65. It’s achieving excellent results when no other modes are working at all. So get up to speed so that you’re ready when that mode is needed.

Finally, start a ham shack continuous improvement program. You can do great things on six meters with a vertical or dipole, but probably not achieve FFMA with that setup. So look at your antenna first. How can that be improved? Then look at your receiver. For example, a number of people are using a separate SDR receiver and software to optimize their station. And, finally consider more power, which should be the last thing to consider on a long list of possible improvements.

Oh yeah, you can also read my book Capture the Magic of Six Meters. It’s free and a pretty quick read.

FFMA Resources

Here’s an opening listing of FFMA resources, all of which also apply to chasing six meter VUCC grids. This is the list forwarded by KV5W that prompted this blog post.

General Information

  • DX Maps — This is my personal favorite. You can see the openings and gain some understanding of where to point your antenna.
  • FFMA@Groups.io  — This is a mailing list that highlights upcoming grid activations and general chatter on six meters. It also has archives on FFMA history and more.
  • FrontRange6meter@groups.io — This group does a good job of keeping up with techniques and what’s happening in general for six meters. The also provide monthly online Zoom technical and how-to presentations with top-level speakers.
  • VHF Slack — This is a channel on Slack dedicated to VHF. It covers rover activations, often in real time including “you’re in the log” type of information. It’s extremely valuable. You’ll probably need to request an invitation to join. Francis, KV5W, has prepared some helpful hints on how to monitor slack for your needed grid list. You can find it on the Front Range 6 Meter Group groups.io.
  • PingJockey — This online chat system can be helpful in coordinating meteor scatter contacts. There’s also a growing channel called splat-65 (JT-65 Terrestrial in the pull down menu) that’s used to coordinate Q65 contacts.

Helpful Software

  • GridTracker — This bit of software can help you not only keep up with your own grids but monitor DX spotting systems to find grids that are currently on the air.
  • JTAlert — This software will monitor your decodes from WSJT-X and alert you for any needed grids that it finds.
  • VE7CC — This is a DX cluster with spots on all the ham bands. There are others you can monitor. Usually your logging program will help with this type of monitoring for new grids.
  • DX Lab Suite Spot Collector and DX Lab Suite — Another helpful bit of software to keep on top of grids that are on the air.
  • JTDX — This is an FT4, FT8, JT65, and JT9 decoding and transmitting software. It’s been found to catch many more weak signals that WSJT-X. Your mileage may vary. But it’s worth investigating.

Rover Information

FFMA Leaderboard

This has become the go-to resource for tracking your progress toward the FFMA and for determining the most needed grids within the 488. This is extremely valuable for rovers to determine which grids to visit and also who needs those grids.

The most needed list is developed from the information provided by those who have 400 or more grids confirmed for the FFMA. They are on the downhill side (or is it uphill?) in chasing the last needed grids. So rovers naturally want to help them work those last few grids.

Bill, ND0B, started this effort and generally kept it updated once a year. After he earned FFMA #10, he found Francis, KV5W, to run the system. It’s now updated in real time as soon as anyone updates their grid list. Thank you, Bill, for your pioneering efforts and for finding Francis! Thank you, Francis, for your work enhancing and polishing this fantastically helpful system.

Here are the important links. The first shows the full leaderboard and maps. The second is the request to start your own input to the leaderboard.

Yet another resource provided by Francis is his presentation to the Front Range 6 Meter Group on August 26, 2021. You can find the video recording on YouTube at FFMA Getting Started by Francis KV5W. You’ll also find several more videos of interest to 6 meter ops.

You Can Do This

Well, maybe you can do this. I’m at just over 400 FFMA grids and I have serious doubts about my own ability to make it to 488. Even so, we’re reminded that it’s all about the journey.

This is a fun journey. Join us in getting on the air.

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