
Celebrating 100 years of organised amateur radio in South Africa
In 2025 the South African Radio League (SARL) celebrates its 100th anniversary.
In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the SARL, the SARL Centenary Marathon QSO Party is set to kick off for a year-long operating event starting from 1 January 2025 00:00 UTC to 31 December 2025 23:59 UTC.
Participating amateur radio operators worldwide (including Short Wave Listeners) can accumulate points and win awards, by working South African amateur radio stations.
During 2025 the SARL, with the aid of its members and associated clubs, will be on the air with a special event callsign ZS100SARL, as well as the permanent callsigns ZS6SRL and ZS9HQ and possibly other special event callsigns.
To qualify for points all contacts must be two-way, using any legally allowed mode such as CW, Phone (FM, SSB, AM, digital voice), Digital (any digital mode, such as FT8, FT4, PSK31, RTTY) on 160, 80, 60, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 meters, 70, 23 centimetres and satellite or repeater.
Points are awarded for every unique South African amateur radio station (callsign) contacted, irrespective of band or mode, as follows:
- ZS100SARL, ZS9HQ and ZS6SRL = 5 points.
- ZS/ZR/ZT prefix (Class A) = 1 point.
- Special event callsigns other than ZS100SARL = 2 points.
- ZU prefix (Class B) = 3 points (note that ZU stations are limited to 80m, 40m, 10m (partial), 2m and 70cm only).
(Please note that portable/mobile calls such as ZS9HQ/6, ZS6SRL/3 are considered as unique callsigns).
As this is not a contest, contacts (QSOs) can be in any style or fashion preferred by participants. It isn’t necessary exchange anything other a signal report.
The SARL Centenary Marathon QSO Party is scored by totalling the values of all eligible contacts (QSOs).
As this is an honour-based event, to be eligible for any of these awards, applications must be made using the MS-EXCEL format check sheet to record and track progress. This check sheet will serve as the final claim form and is available in the Contest Resources section of this website, to be submitted by email as an attachment to sarlcentenary@gmail.com by not later than 31 January 2026.
A valid logged QSO must at least indicate the following:
- Date of QSO
- Time of QSO (UTC)
- Callsign of operator
- Callsign of South African station contacted
- Band used (Frequency is not required. Satellite QSO: SAT-name of satellite eg SAT-QO100)
- Mode used
- Signal report received
The Awards are available for SWLs—where the rules stipulate contacts please read as reception reports for SWL claims.
Please note that the SARL Awards Committee reserves the right to verify claims by reference to operating logs or any other resource and may request further details from an applicant to confirm or validate claimed QSOs.
Awards available:
SARL Centenary Award | Issuance Criteria |
SARL100 Bronze Award (SARL100) | Radio amateurs who accumulate 100 points over the yearlong marathon. |
SARL100 Silver Award (SARL100-200) | Radio amateurs who accumulate 200 points over the yearlong marathon. |
SARL100 Gold Award (SARL100-300) | Radio amateurs who accumulate 300 points over the yearlong marathon. |
SARL100 Platinum Award (SARL100-400) | Radio amateurs who accumulate 400 points over the yearlong marathon. |
SARL100 Diamond Award (SARL100-500) | Radio amateurs who accumulate 500 points over the yearlong marathon. |
Award certificates will only be available in electronic (PDF) format sent to the applicant via email.
No endorsements for single modes or bands are available.

ZS100SARL, ZS9HQ and ZS6SRL – Scheduled on air times
To apply for approval to operate one of ZS100SARL, ZS9HQ and ZS6SRL download this form and submit it to sarlcentenary@gmail.com more than 72 hours before you wish to operate using one of the above three callsigns.