W1AW in Idaho - by John Wilson KØIP  - please pardon my English and grammar,

Some of the newer hams may have never heard of W1AW, which is a pity.   W1AW is  the flagship call of the ARRL in Newington CT,  
W1AW is usually operated from Newington and provides all kinds of ham related services, like Code (CW) Practice as various speeds,
radio teletype bulletins with news about what's going on in the Ham Radio world. 
I'm going to use this story to do a little advertising for the ARRL, I believe all new hams should join the ARRL !  Join for a year, learn
about our (your) hobby, Get a bigger picture !   Read QST articles and editorials, you will find a big hobby with almost unlimited possibilities.
If after a year you don't feel its worth the investment, drop your membership. But give it a try for one year.     Join the ARRL Click here

Anyway
So why was W1AW in Idaho,   this year the call is being activated in  all 50 states to celebrating the ARRL 100th anniversary .
In Idaho a team was assembled to make as many contacts (QSO's) as possible using W1AW during our week in the spotlight. 
Idaho's team leader attempted to recruit stations that participate in contests, and especially the Idaho QSO Party.  During the past several
years  a loosely organized group calling themselves the Idaho Potato Contest Group has racked up very high scores during the IDQP.  The
IPCG  operates from my QTH.  So it was no surprise when I was ask if we could operate on 20 meter SSB, I ask for more 15 and 10 meters.
after some discussions, I was assigned 20 & 15 meters SSB,,  other stations in the state were given RTTY, and CW assignments on those bands.
Two fellows up north, were given 10 Meter SSB  BUT, they were both unavailable during the weekend.  SO our friend KG7E Jim in Mackay
took the 10 M SSB spot for the weekend and decided he would join forces at my QTH for the IDQP..

Lucky for me, I have two towers with BIG antennas,  a 20 meter monoband beam on one, and a tri-band beam
on the other,   BUT to run 3 bands at once we needed another antenna for 10 meters,  the solution was Elborn's tower trailer, and
a 4 element monoband beam for 10 meters.   Several fellows loaned radios for the effort,  I have enough old computers ,  we installed
N1MM contest logging software, networked all the computer,  and we were ready to go!  NO, Almost Ready , I still
needed the most important piece of the system, OPERATORS, and lucky many folks from PARC stepped up and helped, see their pictures
below.  Some made more contacts than others but everyone helped..   it all  worked out,   we made over 8880 contact (QSO's) during
our week. In actual face, it was over 9000 Q's.  One interesting stat,  for one 10 minute period when all three stations
were "scorching the earth"   we worked over 100 stations,  that's in 10 minutes..

I have probably said enough about the operation here in town but not to be left out, PARC member K7CF Mike down in McCammon
was assigned 80 meter SSB & CW for the first week .  He made all his contacts single handedly  ,, by himself, 
and did a heck of a job at it, over 2462 Q's. During the second week we could pick our bands and modes, Mike turned in another 5874 Q's
for a two week total of  8336, he was the state leader..

Here's a group of pictures that tell the story.  

                                                               Living Proof,  Real Hams join clubs
                                 These are PARC members that made the W1AW Idaho operation a success
                                                   you can CLICK any picture below to BLOW it UP ! !
              Total PARC member QSO's , a staggering   20405   QSO's,     WOW !  Holly Cow ! ETC !
                                    the entire state turn out 74202 Q's so parc members made about 28% of the contacts  
                                                         see the green boxes just below for kØip and k7cf for their station totals
                                                                                 These green boxes are for the FIRST WEEK only 


 

 Please see YEAR totals at the bottom of this section of the old news ..  K7CF   was the #1 producer of QSO's in the state, followed by KØIP

Jim was a PARC member several years ago,  but after making several trips to attend our meetings,  he decided 200 miles round trips from Mackay was a bit
too much fun.

Please note:  the 15 meter station was an all tube radio, a Collins S-Line
made in the 1960's.. 100% made in America !!   we used a MLA-2500
amp until I blew it up , and switched to a LK-500ZA using 2x 3-500Z Eimac tubes running at around 1KW to a HyGain TH7DXX beam,
 another bone crushing signal.

PARC members on the air as W1AW/7  at KØIP's shack

PARC members on the air as W1AW/7  at KØIP's shack
This should say 15 meters SSB

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and story.
KØIP author of this Story ,  PARC member since 1979

  My apologies to W7RSK & W7MFC,    I failed to get their pictures



 

KO7P on 15 meters.

Link two aluminum

Link three  this & that