English Lighthouse Awards Rules
English Lighthouse Awards are available for free in digital format to participating licensed radio amateurs throughout the world.
We use the ARLHS reference numbering system for all ENG Lighthouses.
Rules: Hunters
Only contacts on or after the 1st of May 2021 with ELA activators are valid for ELA Awards.
You can work the same lighthouse more than once for credit towards your awards.
Rules: Activators
In the interests of fairness and harmony for everyone involved and for activations to be valid ELA activators are expected to establish an activation on their own clear frequency, where all ELA hunters can call freely without restriction or hesitation. This should be done before attempting to collect contacts from elsewhere such as controlled nets or hunt and pounce etc.
Activators need to make a minimum of 25 Qso’s to qualify their log, they also need to be as close to the lighthouse as possible and definitely within 1km. To be clear, line of site is preferred, however not essential. We do understand and expect line of site to not always be possible, in those circumstances, you can be up to a maximum of 1000 meters away and no more. Should the activator be within 1km of more than one lighthouse the references can all be activated at the same time. You can activate the same references more than once on different days for additional points towards your awards.
However in the case of certain “Historic” Lighthouses where structures or remnants of the lighthouse do not exist any more, as specifically marked on the Official ELA Reference Map, the visual 1 km rule does not apply. You must physically be on the site that the “Historic” Lighthouse once stood or be immediately adjacent to it to be able to activate. For historic lighthouses where structures still exist the usual rules apply.
The 1km Rule
This rule is useful for many reasons! It enables multiple reference activations should the activator be within 1km of more than one reference. It is also very helpful if you cannot gain access because of private property etc or maybe the activator has mobility issues and physically cannot get right beside the reference/s. The 1km rule has been put in place to encourage activity whatever the circumstances and allows everyone to be involved.
Other awards programs insist you are within a certain land boundary which can exclude some individuals. We don’t believe this should be the case at all. There are many ways for activators to verify they are within 1km of their chosen reference/s, measuring tools are available on Google Earth, Google Earth Pro and Google maps, also available are online radius measuring tools here at maps.ie or here at calcmaps.com. If you have an android device you can also use the app Distance Radius. There are many ways this verification can be performed not least visually and using your common sense.
All hunted and activated references count more than once towards your ELA Awards.
What does this mean? Every time you activate or work a reference you have activated or worked before, you will get credit towards your activator and hunter awards.
References you activate/hunt do NOT have to be unique references to gain another point.
Hunt/activate the same references as many times as you wish to gain more points towards the next level.
*Of course newly activated references are great and should always be considered by activaters with many references available across England.
Logs must be sent to the log manager Melanie as soon as possible after their activity using the following email address logs@englishlighthouseawards.uk
Here are the instructions for sending ELA logs.
Only awards issued by the ELA Awards Claim Service are valid. The outdated gma network awards are no longer recognised by us and are invalid.
How To Activate
There has always been something special about activating and hunting English lighthouses for many of us. They are often in stunning and accessible locations, many double as tourist attractions and areas for exercise and dog walking etc.
Lighthouses are generally easy to activate and can include a great walk in wonderful locations if you so wish. It is always good for the activator to try and get as close as possible to the lighthouse but of course we realise this is not always possible for many reason including activators with mobility issues or disabilities etc that just cannot hike to be directly beside an ELA reference, maybe even bad weather on the day could potentially prevent you from activating! So we have a 1 km rule in place for circumstances like these to enable everyone to join in.
You can activate a lighthouse anywhere within this 1 km distance from the reference rule and even activate multiple lighthouses from one spot if you are within the 1 km distance, line of site is of course preferred however not essential. Please make sure the 1km rule is being adhered to using online distance measuring tools, there are many available including google earth and maps.
You can operate /p with wire antennas, fibreglass poles or verticals etc or even operate /p from a vehicle using mobile self contained antennas as long as the distance rules are obeyed.
Please be respectful regarding private property, people and pets etc use your common sense and seek permission should you feel it necessary. We take no responsibility for the actions or behaviour of activators whilst participating in the awards scheme.
For ELA activations to be valid it is necessary to start them on a clear frequency that activators have established for themsleves where hunters are able to call freely without restriction or hesitation. Try to find a clear frequency so as not to cause others interference and make sure you do not begin your activity on a net of any kind or hunt and pounce etc. Ask at least three times if the frequency is in use, once a clear frequency has been established the ELA activation can begin.
Call CQ English Lighthouse Awards with your callsign and ARLHS reference number spotting yourself as a /p station on a DX Cluster will help attract hunters to you faster, please respect the individual DX Cluster rules but remember there is nothing wrong with spotting yourself with your home callsign as /p or /m station.
You need 25 unique Qso’s minimum to qualify your log, once qualified please use the instructions on our logs page sending it to us for inclusion in the ELA database. Do not send your log to us until you have reached the required 25 Qso’s, if you need to return to complete on another day, do so. Remember if you return at a later date you cannot work the same hunter, same band, same mode Qso’s as your first attempt as this would be a duplicate Qso “Dupe”.
You can check your awards progress and apply for new awards once you qualify using the ELA Awards Claim Service.
English Lighthouse Awards 