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Although known the world over for its on-the-air Morse code practice sessions and news bulletins, most ARRL members think of W1AW as the first place to visit at ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. What can you expect to see on your visit? Here's a look inside.
 A sign commemorating the dedication of the station hangs on the wall in the conference room. [All photos by ARRL] |
Last time, we surveyed the impressive W1AW antenna farm--the first hint visitors have that they're approaching ARRL Headquarters. Now we'll take a look at what goes on inside the small brick building. But first a little history.
On February 17, 1936, Hiram Percy Maxim, "The Old Man," cofounder of the League and its president from the start 22 years earlier, died suddenly at age 66. Later that year, a devastating flood struck New England, and the headquarters station, W1MK, located at Hartford's Brainard Field, near the Connecticut River, was destroyed. No trace of its antenna structure was found after the waters receded. During the flood, the lesser-known League headquarters club station, W1INF, located in nearby West Hartford, handled a great quantity of flood relief traffic.
The Board of Directors decided that a new station be built on a more suitable site in memory of President Maxim. In December 1936, the FCC--in the first action of its kind--assigned the call W1AW to ARRL in memoriam. A 7-acre site was purchased in the sleepy town of Newington, about 5 miles southwest of Brainard Field. The Maxim Memorial Station, W1AW, was dedicated on September 2, 1938. The dedication ceremony was broadcast nationally by radio. The new building sat alone while the town grew up around it. Then, in 1963, the new ARRL Headquarters building was added to the site. W1AW underwent a major interior renovation in 1988-89, and the roof was replaced in 1996. Exterior brick and concrete were repaired in 2000. Thanks to careful attention to the building's historical significance, the exterior looks much as it did at its 1938 dedication.
Let's Go Inside
 Old Betsy, a rotary spark-gap transmitter (left), and the post World War II 1 kW transmitter built for W1AW. |
 An HRO-5, a tape perforator and a motor-generator are among items on display in the W1AW foyer. |
Although most photos of W1AW show the front (east-facing) side of the building, no one can remember when that door was last used. Visitors and staff enter from the west side, the door facing the ARRL Headquarters building. The entry foyer contains artifacts of early W1AW history. On the right is an early post-World War II 80-meter 1 kW transmitter and "Old Betsy," a rotary spark gap transmitter that once belonged to "The Old Man" himself, and was installed at President Maxim's Hartford residence.
To the left is a display case housing many early radio components, including a section of a telephone pole that once supported the huge rhombic that filled the space behind W1AW--the space now occupied by the ARRL Headquarters building.
Attached to the wall on either side of the entry are the W1AW Kilowatt Club plaque, and the Hiram Percy Maxim plaque, listing the names and call signs of those who contributed toward the station's 1988-89 renovation.
The Transmitters
 View of the monitors and the console that controls all the bulletin transmitters. |
An operating console in the center of the main room coordinates transmissions--CW and SSB--to all of the W1AW bulletin exciters and amplifiers. These transmit W1AW bulletins and Morse code practice on all HF bands simultaneously.
Voice bulletins are recorded onto a four-track cassette recorder. A Peavey equalizer is used to control the quality of the audio output, and an AMR 64 audio mixer sends the signals to the transmitters. The console also houses an ARRL-Lab-designed AFSK generator, line-voltage and phase-angle monitor and a switchboard that allows the station operator to manually control keying functions and transmitter power output. Two ICOM receivers--an IC-7000 and an R71A--monitor actual on-the-air transmissions.
 The equipment rack layout. Left to right: patch panels connecting all transmitters to the towers; switches to phase stacked beams when required; partial view of bulletin-station exciters and kilowatt transmitters. The cabinet air-conditioning is independent of the building's system. |
Facing the console, housed in its own 8-foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling cabinet is the five-bay equipment rack housing a patch panel and all the bulletin transmitters. Tall sliding glass panels allow access to the equipment but also isolate the equipment from the main room.
Six Harris 1-kW solid-state amplifiers and matching commercial transceiver-exciters are mounted in these racks. In addition a Ten-Tec Omni VI Plus transmitter and a custom-design three-tube Command Technology amplifier is set up to operate on 20 meters. Another Ten-Tec Omni VI-Plus and its Command Technology amplifier is scheduled to be set up for 40 meters. A Kendecom MT-4 repeater transmitter serves as an exciter for a 150-W military surplus 2-meter transmitter located in the basement of the building.
W1AW transmits for approximately eight hours a day, five days a week, alternating between code practice and code and teleprinter bulletin transmissions. In addition, voice bulletins are transmitted daily at 0145 UTC on SSB. This heavy-duty service generates a lot of heat. Therefore the entire equipment rack is forced-air-cooled to protect the transmitters.
The Studios
Upon entering the "main room," visitors will see the three operating suites or studios to the left. Thanks to the generosity of the many manufacturers who have donated equipment over the years, each provides three well-equipped operating positions. The studios are enclosed by sound-deadening walls and a thick glass door that allows other visitors to look in but not disturb the hams at their stations.
Visitors to the Maxim Memorial Station, W1AW, may operate the station during visitor operating hours, 10 AM to 12 noon, and 1 PM to 3:45 PM, Monday through Friday. Be sure to bring your Amateur Radio license, or a photocopy, with you.
Studio One
 Guest operator and ARRL member Mario Cajar, N1NYJ, of New Britain, Connecticut, enjoys his turn at the key in Studio One. |
Position one, primarily used for SSTV, offers a Ten-Tec Omni VI transceiver and a Ten-Tec Hercules amplifier. Position two has an ICOM IC-756 PRO and a PW-1 amplifier--located beneath the studio in the basement. Position three, which has been configured for contesting, has a Yaesu FT-1000MP MK V and VL-1000 "Quadra" amp. All positions are equipped with foot switches, headsets, CW keys and Heil microphones. Each position can be operated on any HF band.
Studio Two
 Vince and Amy Weal, K4JC, and K4AMY, made a slight diversion to ARRL while enroute from Florida to Beverly, Massachusetts, on a freight hauling job. Vince said that 15 meters was not too active despite the array of equipment at his disposal in Studio Two. |
Studio Two has an ICOM IC-756 that offers 6-meter capability when it's connected to a M2-9KHW, 9-element beam on the North Tower. There's also 2-meter and 440 MHz FM operation using an Alinco DR-605 plus an ICOM IC-271 all mode 2-meter rig. A third position is set up for satellite and packet operation using a Kenwood TS-790 transceiver and the Nova-for-Windows satellite-tracking program. A Kansas City Tracker card controls a YAESU G5400B AZ-EL rotator. A Peet Bros automated weather station on the roof of the building sends data to the APRS program.
Studio Three
 Studio Three awaits an operator who wants to try PSK31, MFSK, Feld-Hell or RTTY from one of its three operating positions. |
The Kenwood TS-950S and TL-922 amp; the Yaesu FT-1000 and FL-7000 amp, and the ICOM IC-765 and IC-2KL amp comprise the three operating positions in Studio Three. Any position can be set up to operate on any HF band. The IC-765 transmitting position can also operate PSK31, Stream, Feld-Hell and RTTY mode plus receive-only on SSTV.
The Rest of the Story
 Things do fail, just as in any other Amateur Radio station, but a well equipped repair shop is right at hand. Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, makes repairs to a piece of station equipment. |
 View of the east side of the main room, showing the beautiful entrance door that is no longer used and the QRP station under construction. |
The remainder of the first floor is dedicated to an office for the station manager, a workshop where minor repairs are made, a kitchenette and a restroom for staff and visitors. A small area on the east side of the room has been set aside for a low-power (QRP) station. It awaits equipment and is not yet operational.
The second floor of the building--once the attic--is set up as a conference room. The Board of Directors, Board committees, local clubs and ARRL staff make use of it from time to time.
 No space is wasted--the second floor conference room makes good use of what was once an attic. |
The building is protected against fire, intruders and electromagnetic interference. W1AW is not totally immune to EMI problems, however. Although those who install alarm systems typically know about EMI, they seldom confront the type of challenge that W1AW presents--a simultaneous concentration of high power and wide-band transmissions. W1AW station manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, has had to devise his own cures when the professional installers were stumped. Now all is well and the Newington Police and Fire departments can relax.
W1AW can operate on its own auxiliary power for up to a week, continuously. The entire building load is an impressive 20 kW, but a 60-kW Kohler generator can take it in stride. The generator is exercised weekly to ensure that it will be ready if needed.
A Retrospective
Today, bulletins transmitted by W1AW are received with ease throughout the country. The information transmitted covers a broad range of topics such as propagation, Keplerian elements for satellite tracking, news of interest to all hams, and DX information. On Friday UTC, a DX bulletin replaces the regular bulletins. This news is of such great interest to hams in Europe that the 20 and 40 meter rotatable beams are connected in phase with the fixed beams to assure a strong signal to Europe as well as to the continental US. The bulletins are eagerly received and rebroadcast by other clubs and users.
In his book 200 Meters & Down Clinton B. DeSoto relates the story of Hiram Percy Maxim's desire to purchase an Audion tube. Unable to send a message to Springfield, Massachusetts, from Hartford, Connecticut--a distance of 30 miles--despite his 1 kW output, Maxim resorted to relaying the request via a ham in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, about halfway between.
That experience prompted Maxim to conclude that a national Amateur Radio organization could coordinate the relaying of messages, and thus greatly improve the distances hams could cover. The name for the new organization reflected this purpose--the American Radio Relay League.
In December 1915, each member of the newly formed League received in his mail a 16-page magazine called QST--the "December Radio Relay Bulletin." Its stated object was "to maintain the organization of the American Radio Relay League and to keep the amateur wireless operators of the country in constant touch with each other."
Today, W1AW continues to provide the service that was the basis for the ARRL's founding nearly 90 years ago.
