G4FPH's Amateur Radio Pages

Radio station G4CBQ/M scoops WACS award. Congratulations to Phil, now GJ4CBQ, who wins a free colestorol check-up and a spring clean to remove traces of chip fat from his always fine business, home brew mobile radio.

Conceived in 1977 to stem the boredom of listening to band noise, the Worked All Chip Shops (WACS) award quickly established itself as the definitive trophy. Copycat awards, organised by pseudo-official national and specialist interest bodies, could not compete and served only to attract those incapable of being 5 and 9 even in their own back gardens. Here, for the very first time, is the blow-by-blow tabulation of who went where, together with the fully audited results to end-1979.

These were conceived in a pub and continuously modified over a period of several pints. The complex scoring system served only to defeat attempts to keep track of who was ahead at any one time. 10 points were awarded for a confirmed QSO, with multipliers depending on how many were in the party and how many in the party were sober. Special bonuses were incorporated into the multiplier conditional on the presence of particular foodstuffs such as burgers (at the time considered a relative delicacy when pints >=6) and curry sauce (>=Madras hot). Penalties could be awarded by the judges for degraded audio quality due to eating while transmitting and for aerials being grossly off resonance.

Presented below are two tables, showing QSOs in detail and rankings. Congratulations to our illustrious winner, G4CBQ/M, plus those stations who fought a brave fight.

QSO in detail
Date	Callsign	Venue	Location	Points	Multiplier	QSO Total	Notes
19/4/1977	G4CBQ/M	King Do	Derby	10	1	10
26/4/1977	G4CBQ/M	Stenson Fish Bar	Derby	10	4	40
6/5/1977	G4AEH/M	Biffins	Nuneaton	10	2	20
10/5/1977	G4CBQ/M	Tasty Fry Fish Shop	Derby	10	1	10
28/8/1977	G4CBQ/M	Stenson Fish Bar	Derby	10	4	40
4/9/1977	G4DLB/M	The Right Plaice	Banbury	10	2	20
9/9/1977	G3YTW/M	Bills	Nuneaton	10	1	10
28/9/1977	G4CBQ/M	Spondon Chip Shop	Derby	10	1	10
11/2/1978	G3YTW/M	Bar-B-Q Glen	Banbury	10	2	20
17/4/1979	G4GFN/M	Fleur de Lys	Hall Green	10	1	10
tbc	G4CBQ/M	The Chippy	Derby	10	6	60	Chips & curry sauce
tbc	G4CBQ/M	The Manor	Stapleford	10	1	10	Chips only
26/7/1978	G4CBQ/M	Take 'N' Eat	Beeston	10	1	10	Chips only
26/7/1978	G3YXM/M	The Ocean Fayre	Selly Oak	10	8	80	Beefburger (bonus) & curry sauce


Individual rankings at 31/12/1979
Ranking	Callsign	Cumulative Total
1	G4CBQ/M	190
2	G3YXM/M	80
3	G3YTW/M	30
4=	G4AEH/M	20
4=	G4DLB/M	20
5	G4GFN/M	10