W1AW
| W1AW | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station |
| Location | ARRL headquarters, 225 Main Street, Newington, Connecticut |
| Operated by | ARRL |
| Call sign | Maxim's 1AW, assigned to the ARRL in his memory in December 1936 |
| On the air | |
| Dedicated | September 2, 1938 |
| Transmissions | Code practice, bulletins and Qualifying Runs |
| Bands | 160 to 10 meters, plus 6 and 2 meters |
| Bulletin modes | CW, RTTY, PSK31, MFSK16, SSB, AM and FM |
| Visiting | |
| Visitor operating | Weekdays, 10 AM to 3:45 PM Eastern, except holidays |
| QSL | Direct with a SASE, via the bureau for DX, or Logbook of the World |
W1AW is the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, the headquarters station of the ARRL in Newington, Connecticut. It carries the call sign of the league's co-founder, Hiram Percy Maxim, and is known worldwide for its on-air Morse code practice and its bulletins of news for hams, sent on a published schedule. Licensed amateurs who visit during opening hours can operate the station themselves.[1]
History
Maxim's own station in Hartford was 1AW. When he died in February 1936, the league's headquarters station was W1MK, at Hartford's Brainard Field, and that station was destroyed in the New England floods of the same year.[2] In December 1936 the Federal Communications Commission assigned the call W1AW to the league in Maxim's memory, which the ARRL describes as the first action of its kind.[2]
A new station was built on a 7-acre plot in Newington, about 5 miles southwest of the old site, and dedicated on September 2, 1938, Maxim's birthday.[2] The ARRL's headquarters offices joined it on the same grounds in 1963. The brick building has been renovated inside and repaired outside several times, most recently in 2021, but still looks much as it did in 1938. Its entrance hall displays "Old Betsy", a rotary spark-gap transmitter that belonged to Maxim, and his roll-top desk is also in the building.[2]
The antennas are spread over four towers, the tallest 120 feet high, and a 60 kW generator can run the station on its own power for up to a week.[3][2]
Code practice and bulletins
On weekdays W1AW spends about eight hours a day alternating code practice with bulletins.[2] The schedule stays at the same Eastern local time all year, so its UTC times move by an hour when daylight saving time begins and ends.[4]
- Code practice is sent in slow sessions, from 5 to 15 words per minute (wpm), and fast sessions, from 10 to 35 wpm.[4] The text comes from the pages of QST, and the issue and page are announced at the start, so listeners can check their copy afterward.[5] Recordings of recent sessions are also posted online as MP3 files and updated every other week.[6]
- Bulletins carry ARRL news, propagation forecasts and, late in the week, DX news. CW bulletins are sent at 18 wpm.[4] Digital bulletins rotate among RTTY (45.45-baud Baudot), PSK31 and MFSK16, and orbital data for amateur satellites is sent twice a week. Voice bulletins go out in the evening on SSB, on AM on 40 meters and on FM on 2 meters.[2][4]
- In an emergency, the ARRL asks hams to monitor W1AW for special bulletins, sent by voice on the hour, by digital modes at 15 minutes past and by CW on the half hour.[1]
The CW frequencies sit near the low edge of each band from 160 to 10 meters, with 50.350 and 147.555 MHz used for all modes.[4] Frequencies and times change from time to time, so check the current W1AW operating schedule rather than relying on an old copy.
Qualifying Runs
Several times a month W1AW sends a Qualifying Run, a timed transmission at speeds rising or falling between 10 and 35 or 40 wpm, on the same frequencies as code practice.[1][7] Other stations send monthly runs for the West Coast. To earn the ARRL's Code Proficiency Certificate, a listener copies a run, underlines one minute of solid copy at the highest speed copied, certifies that it was done without help, and mails it to the ARRL with a small fee.[7] The copy is checked against the official text. Endorsement stickers are available for higher speeds up to 40 wpm, and the program is open to non-hams as well as licensed amateurs.[8]
Operating events
W1AW is active in many operating events. In the IARU HF World Championship it is the ARRL's headquarters station, sending the society's abbreviation in place of a zone, and so counts as a separate multiplier.[9] Its call also goes on the road. During the ARRL's year-long Volunteers On the Air event in 2023, portable W1AW stations were activated for a week at a time in all 50 states, twice each.[10] In 2026, stations signing W1AW/portable again operate from every state in turn for the ARRL's America250 Worked All States event.[11] See Special event stations and ARRL contests.
Visiting and operating
Visitors are welcome from 10 AM to 3:45 PM Monday through Friday, except on major holidays.[1] Licensed hams may operate W1AW within the privileges of their own license.[12] The ARRL asks visiting operators to bring their license or a copy, although the FCC no longer requires hams to carry one.[12] The schedule sets aside the middle of the day as visiting operator time.[4]
QSL
W1AW confirms contacts by mail when the card comes with a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE); cards sent without one get no reply.[1] Stations outside the US may send one International Reply Coupon or use the QSL bureau. All W1AW contacts are also uploaded to Logbook of the World each week.[1] See QSL cards and logging.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 W1AW, ARRL.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Inside W1AW, ARRL.
- ↑ W1AW Antenna Farm, ARRL.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 W1AW Operating Schedule, ARRL, March 2026.
- ↑ Code Transmissions, ARRL.
- ↑ Code Practice Files, ARRL.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Qualifying Run Schedule, ARRL.
- ↑ Code Proficiency Certificate, ARRL.
- ↑ IARU HF World Championship Rules, ARRL.
- ↑ Volunteers On the Air, ARRL.
- ↑ America250 WAS, ARRL.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Visitor Operating at W1AW, ARRL.
External links
- W1AW, ARRL
- W1AW operating schedule, ARRL
- W1AW code practice files, ARRL