They measure 2.5 minutes latitude by 5 minutes longitude, roughly corresponding to 3 × 4 miles in the continental US.

Please Note: The following links will take you away from the DARC website. These more precise locators are used as part of the exchange in the 10-GHz contest. Grid Square Map For a downloadable and printable copy, click the map.

A grid square is indicated by two letters (the field) and two numbers (the square), as in FN31, the grid square within which W1AW, ARRL's Maxim Memorial Station, resides.Įach subsquare is designated by the addition of two letters after the grid square, as FN44ig. View full dynamic Maidenhead locator grid in Google Maps. Grid squares are a shorthand means of describing your general location anywhere on the Earth in a manner that is easy to communicate over the air.Īn instrument of the Maidenhead Locator System (named after the town outside London where it was first conceived by a meeting of European VHF managers in 1980), a grid square measures 1° latitude by 2° longitude and measures approximately 70 × 100 miles in the continental US. A grid square is indicated by two letters (the field) and two numbers (the square), as in FN31, the grid square within which W1AW, ARRLs Maxim Memorial Station, resides. Amateur Radio Maidenhead Grid Square Locator and Distance Calculator. For more read the QST announcement and the ARRL’s online FFMA information. One of the first things you will notice when you tune the low end of any VHF band is that most QSOs include an exchange of 'grid squares.' What are grid squares? Well, they're more like rectangles and are just a way of dividing up the surface of the Earth. The Fred Fish Memorial Award was established by the ARRL in 2008 to honor Fred Fish, W5FF, who worked and confirmed all 488 grid squares in the 48 contiguous United States on 6 meters.

Ham radio grid squares map