On May 6, 2022, at 8:00 AM, K9QJ via groups.arrl.org <K9QJ=aol.com@...> wrote:

Awards group are listening. They have added an optional 5BDXCC plaque to the order form. It looks wooden but is man made. It is still much much nicer than the other plastic plaques I have received. Matches the Life member Plaque I received back in the early 1980's. I will attach bad lighting photo.

Dwight, K9QJ

<Legacy 5BDXCC Plaque.jpg>

Awards group are listening.  They have added an optional 5BDXCC plaque to the order form. It looks wooden but is man made.  It is still much much nicer than the other plastic plaques I have received.  Matches the Life member Plaque I received back in the early 1980's. I will attach bad lighting photo.

Dwight, K9QJ

On May 6, 2022, at 8:00 AM, K9QJ via groups.arrl.org

Awards group are listening. They have added an optional 5BDXCC plaque to

Dwight, K9QJ

<Legacy 5BDXCC Plaque.jpg>

On May 6, 2022, at 7:54 AM, W9MR Mike <mike.w9mr@...> wrote:



Even if it is faux wood, it looks so much nicer than the acrylic one. And it has a date and number on it.

73,

Mike W9MR

On Fri, May 6, 2022 at 7:38 AM K9QJ via groups.arrl.org <K9QJ=aol.com@...> wrote:

Awards group are listening.  They have added an optional 5BDXCC plaque to the order form. It looks wooden but is man made.  It is still much much nicer than the other plastic plaques I have received.  Matches the Life member Plaque I received back in the early 1980's. I will attach bad lighting photo.

Dwight, K9QJ

Good work Mike…..and I am looking forward to receiving mine in near future.

Awards group are listening.  They have added an optional 5BDXCC plaque to the order form. It looks wooden but is man made.  It is still much much nicer than the other plastic plaques I have received.  Matches the Life member Plaque I received back in the early 1980's. I will attach bad lighting photo.

Dwight, K9QJ

Awards group are listening.  They have added an optional 5BDXCC plaque to the order form. It looks wooden but is man made.  It is still much much nicer than the other plastic plaques I have received.  Matches the Life member Plaque I received back in the early 1980's. I will attach bad lighting photo.

Dwight, K9QJ

. . . a little history:

It's possible that the "optional plaque" added to the order form is actually the original plaque, but I am not sure. I designed the first 5BDXCC plaque in around 2005-2006. It was wood - faux marble appearance - and had a blue/gold metal plate attached to it. I still have my plaque on the wall here.

That might have been just a little bit even more expensive . . .

So, the 5BDXCC plaque was faux marble. (I am sure that material is wood, but it is fashioned to look like marble.) This plaque was inspired by an F.O.C. plaque (from the U.K.). I don't know if their plaque was actually marble or wood, but knowing the F.O.C. (I was once a member.) it might have been real!

Having said all of that, the fact is that the plaque was relatively expensive. I am sure that the original 5BDXCC plaque was somewhere in the vicinity of USD 80. My thinking - of course - was that after all of the effort and expense put into the five band effort, it deserved a nice-looking reward. I still feel that way, though I wouldn't argue against a (very much) less expensive paper certificate. (No one at the time seemed to think that was important, though.)

I am NOT a fan of the acrylic "housed" paper certs that pass for plaques today. If I remember correctly, they (and other things) were the product of the people in graphic design at ARRL. They liked a number of things that I personally would never buy, but they "pushed" their stuff.

The above is my recollection - after fifteen years - of how these things came to pass in my department. My mileage may vary . . .

Wayne, N7NG
Big Timber, MT


On 5/6/2022 6:00 AM, K9QJ via groups.arrl.org wrote:

Awards group are listening. They have added an optional 5BDXCC plaque to the order form. It looks wooden but is man made. It is still much much nicer than the other plastic plaques I have received. Matches the Life member Plaque I received back in the early 1980's. I will attach bad lighting photo.

Dwight, K9QJ

Hi Wayne

That "faux marble" appears to be the Challenge plaque. Mine is exactly
like that. The 5BDXCC plaque I have is faux wood (chip wood with a
wood-grain finish).

I remember being introduced to the new housed certificate "cheese
plate" plaques at my initial tour of HQ in 2019. They definitely do
cost less. I am not a fan and I had made this known. Quite a few
members let me know that they don't relaly like lit

Hopefully once I get 6m and 2m dxcc I won't have to worry about the
legacy plates anymore.

Ria
N2RJ

On Sat, May 7, 2022 at 12:34 PM Wayne <n7ng@...> wrote:

. . . a little history:

It's possible that the "optional plaque" added to the order form is actually the original plaque, but I am not sure. I designed the first 5BDXCC plaque in around 2005-2006. It was wood - faux marble appearance - and had a blue/gold metal plate attached to it. I still have my plaque on the wall here.

That might have been just a little bit even more expensive . . .

So, the 5BDXCC plaque was faux marble. (I am sure that material is wood, but it is fashioned to look like marble.) This plaque was inspired by an F.O.C. plaque (from the U.K.). I don't know if their plaque was actually marble or wood, but knowing the F.O.C. (I was once a member.) it might have been real!

Having said all of that, the fact is that the plaque was relatively expensive. I am sure that the original 5BDXCC plaque was somewhere in the vicinity of USD 80. My thinking - of course - was that after all of the effort and expense put into the five band effort, it deserved a nice-looking reward. I still feel that way, though I wouldn't argue against a (very much) less expensive paper certificate. (No one at the time seemed to think that was important, though.)

I am NOT a fan of the acrylic "housed" paper certs that pass for plaques today. If I remember correctly, they (and other things) were the product of the people in graphic design at ARRL. They liked a number of things that I personally would never buy, but they "pushed" their stuff.

The above is my recollection - after fifteen years - of how these things came to pass in my department. My mileage may vary . . .

Wayne, N7NG
Big Timber, MT


On 5/6/2022 6:00 AM, K9QJ via groups.arrl.org wrote:

Awards group are listening. They have added an optional 5BDXCC plaque to the order form. It looks wooden but is man made. It is still much much nicer than the other plastic plaques I have received. Matches the Life member Plaque I received back in the early 1980's. I will attach bad lighting photo.

Dwight, K9QJ