What are Maidenhead Grid Squares?
The Maidenhead Locator System is a geographic coordinate system used by amateur, and now eleven metre radio operators, which compresses latitude and longitude into a short string of characters. Maidenhead locators are also commonly referred to as grid locators or grid squares, despite having a non-square shape on any non-equirectangular cartographic projection. Essentially, these locators represent a position on Earth based on latitude and longitude. How Does the System Work? In accordance with the Maidenhead Locator System, the Earth is divided into 324 large areas. These areas cover 10 degrees of latitude by 20 degrees of longitude and are called ‘fields’. Each field is divided into 100 squares. This is where the name ‘grid squares’ comes from. In addition, each of these 100 squares represents 1 degree by 2 degrees. This gives us our own unique grid square which is what most DXers will exchange during a QSO and also what is used for awards such as the DA-RC Century Club award (See ht
