Achievements

An achievement is something you can earn by playing, and a patch is what you get when you earn one. Patches are drawn like the embroidered patches a club gives out, each with its own painting, and they collect on your achievements page at aprsota.org/{callsign}/achievements. Click any patch to see it on its backer card.

When you earn a patch, OTA sends you a message about it, separate from the reply to whatever earned it:

You earned First RF QSO! aprsota.org/K0TFU

The link goes to your callsign page, where your latest patches are at the top of the Achievements section. Leaderboard honors are the one exception, and are added without a message when a month or a year closes.

Patches are never taken away, and nothing is awarded for things done before an achievement existed. Everyone starts from the same place.

The firsts

There is a first for every part of the game, earned the first time you do it. Each first can be earned once. Your achievements page shows every first you have not earned yet in chalk, with what it takes written under it.

The firsts that involve a message ask you to actually write one. A HOST needs a description after it, a DONE needs a few words, and a chase or a QSL needs a message. Any words count, even one. The messages are what make an op or a contact more than a log entry.

First	Earned by	How
First PING	Anyone	Send PING to OTA
First CQ	Anyone	Send CQ to find an op
First hosted op	Host	HOST with a description
First sign-off	Host	End an op with DONE and a few words
First plan kept	Host	PLAN an op, then host it
First APRS-IS QSO	Chaser	CHASE with a message, over the internet
First RF QSO	Chaser	CHASE with a message, on the radio
First QSO as host	Host	QSL a chaser with a message
First STAY	Host	Send STAY during an op
First BLAST	Anyone	BLAST a message to your op
First INFO	Anyone	Send INFO to look up an op

A few details:

First hosted op is earned when your op goes on the air, which is the confirming beacon after your HOST, not the HOST alone.
First sign-off needs an op that actually went on the air.
First APRS-IS QSO and First RF QSO split every confirmed chase by path. If both your chase and your position report went out on RF, it is an RF QSO. Otherwise it is an APRS-IS QSO.
First BLAST counts even when nobody else is on the op to hear it.
First INFO needs a lookup of a station that has an op on the air, like INFO K7ABC.

Envoy

Envoy counts the countries you complete a QSO with in a year, counted the same way as the Diplomat leaderboard. You are credited with the other station’s country, whether you hosted or chased. Each tier is a patch of its own, so reaching 10 countries earns Bronze, Silver and Gold along the way.

The count starts again at zero every January. 2026 is a beta season, counted from 11 Oct 2026, so the tiers get a few months of shakedown before the first full year.

Tier	Countries
Bronze	3
Silver	5
Gold	10
Emerald	15
Sapphire	20
Ruby	25

The ladder for each year is fixed before that year starts, so everyone in a year chases the same numbers.

Air and Space

Four achievements for contacts made through space, two through the ISS and two through any other satellite. Each kind of contact gets a pair. One patch is for your first contact ever, and the other comes every year you do it again.

Achievement	Earned	Counts	How
ISS	Once	Major Tom	CHASE and beacon through the ISS
CAPCOM	Every year, six tiers	Major Tom	Work more contacts through the ISS each year
Satellite	Once	Bird	CHASE and beacon through a satellite
SATCOM	Every year, six tiers	Bird	Work more contacts through satellites each year

They count the Major Tom and Bird stamps, so they ask exactly what the stamps ask. Your chase and your position report both have to go through the satellite, and only the chaser earns them. The stamps page has the details and which satellites count. The two pairs count separately. A contact that earns Bird counts toward Satellite and SATCOM, even if one of its frames went through the ISS.

The first patch of each pair announces itself in its own words:

You earned the ISS patch! aprsota.org/K0TFU

CAPCOM and SATCOM count your contacts in a year, starting again at zero every January. Bronze takes two, so your first ever contact through the ISS earns the ISS patch and your second in the same year earns Bronze CAPCOM. One contact never earns two patches from this set.

Tier	CAPCOM QSOs	SATCOM QSOs
Bronze	2	2
Silver	3	3
Gold	4	4
Emerald	6	6
Sapphire	8	8
Ruby	10	10

Leaderboard honors

Finish a month or a year on any leaderboard and you earn its crest, with your final rank on the plaque at the top and the board’s name on the scroll. A month’s honor is stitched in Silver and a year’s in Gold. Your achievements page keeps your best monthly and best annual placing on each board side by side, with the whole list beneath them.