2013 W1AW Trip

2013 Trip to ARRL Headquarters

On Wednesday, January 30, 2013 , a small group of NPARC members drove up to Newington, Connecticut to visit and learn about operations at the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) Headquarters. The group included first-time visitors John KC2MTN and NPARC Vice-President David KC2WUF, as well as veteran visitor Barry K2JV, Dave K2YG, and NPARC President David K2MUN. David KC2WUF did the heavy-lifting in organizing the trip. Visiting the ARRL is always an exciting and highly recommended event, even for those who have been there before. Here's their report:

Arriving at about 10:30 a.m., we were immediately introduced to an ARRL volunteer who guided the group through all the business aspects of the ARRL, including the QSL Bureau, the Laboratory, the Library, the DXCC Center, and the QST production facilities.

Sometime after noon, we went off for lunch to a local restaurant accompanied by ARRL COO Harold Kramer (WJ1B who visited NPARC in 2011 to discuss his amazing key collection). Lunch was very enjoyable but we returned at about 1330 in order to get on the air from W1AW, the ARRL Headquarters radio station. Unfortunately, Station Manager Joe Garcia NJ1Q was not available to help us and we were not the only visitors to W1AW. However, there are a number of operating positions and, with the able help of an ARRL volunteer, we were able to get on the air.

Operating conditions were less than ideal on some of the available bands but W1AW is a big draw and all of us were able to have at least some QSO's. Although the W1AW antenna farm was seriously damaged by Hurricane Sandy, the previous Fall, much of the capabilities had been restored by the time of our trip. The photos below testify to the extensive antenna systems available as well give some sense of the operating positions at the station. Amazing!

Photos - click on any thumbnail image to see the full size image