This can be done in either hard copy (QSL cards) or via ARRL's "Logbook of The World". However the amateur chooses to seek the confirmations required, persistence is the key in achieving this award.

As one travels down the road leading to the coveted 5-Band Worked All States Award, one sees many footprints in the sand. Yet, as the trails lengthens the number of footprints seem to diminish somewhat; the evidence of frustration and failure of some of those in the quest. The prints are of all sizes and shapes giving evidence to the fact that this award is sought after by men, women, and children of all ages and ethnic backgrounds.

As wave propagation diminished on the higher bands in the HF spectrum, many put aside the quest for 5BWAS and took on other projects. Wave propagation, though not really all that technical in its nature, is far beyond the scope of this work. The A.R.R.L. ANTENNA BOOK gives a lot more insight into wave propagation. Suffice it to say, that without wave propagation there is no communications. Ham radio operators rely on the "Sunspot Cycle" as it is called for long distance communications such as would be from the author's location in central Georgia to, say, Shanghai, China. As the sunspot cycle deteriorates, so does the distance over which a signal will travel before it weakens to an unintelligble level. We are currently at an ebb in the sunspot cycle. Many days pass without a signal being heard on the upper end of the HF spectrum. So there are only a few persistent footprints treding the pathway to 5BWAS.

Below, is a table showing progress being made toward achieving 5BWAS here at my location. When the quest is over, every space in the table will have a callsign in it along with callsigns for three different modes of operation; phone, morse code, and radio teletype.