1000 DXCC Band Points!

Last year, I set myself the goal of achieving the ARRL DXCC Challenge award. The ARRL describes the award as follows: "The DXCC Challenge Award is earned by working and confirming at least 1,000 DXCC band-points on any Amateur bands, 160 through 6 meters (except 60 meters)".

What exactly does that involve? In amateur radio, you can work (have a conversation with) any country or entity in one or more of the frequency bands assigned to amateur radio. If I communicate with a station in Australia on 20m, for example, and that station confirms this contact via the Logbook of the World (LoTW), I receive a band point. If I work the same or another station in Australia on 17m, I have achieved another band point. The goal of the DXCC Challenge Award is to earn a total of 1000 such band points and to prove the successful connections. It took a long time, but now I have achieved this goal!

My LoTW DXCC award account currently looks like this:

Now what?

Theoretically, I could now apply for the award from the ARRL. I would then receive a plaque that I could hang on my wall to show off. I would love to do that, but the price/performance ratio is not right. The ARRL charges $0.15 for each of the 1,000 QSOs - although I would need to pay for "only" 829 because I already paid 171 points in the past (I picked 830 while calculating it because I already collected 1001 points):

On top of that, there are general fees and an additional $114 for the plaque and shipping:

In the end, the award would cost me over $250. Even then, I would be the only one interested in it, so I might as well save myself the expense and effort.

Now I have to think of a new goal to work toward. I will most likely try to achieve the DXCC Satellite award.