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 Previous: Electronic Parts in Dayton and Environs | ![Next (later) Story](/images/sty-up.gif ""Angel of the Seas": Post-Tsunami News Coverage Raises Ham Radio's Global Visibility"){kind=small} Next: "Angel of the Seas": Post-Tsunami News Coverage Raises Ham Radio's Global Visibility |
By H. Ward Silver, N0AX
Contributing Editor
January 4, 2005
A contest team finds there's more to W1AW than meets the eye...
 The brick building housing W1AW is quintessential New England and looks just like every W1CJD cartoon says it's supposed to. The VHF antennas occupy one of four towers carrying the W1AW antennas. (N0AX photo) |
 Joe Carcia, NJ1Q (left), is the W1AW Station Manager and Dan Henderson, N1ND, is the ARRL's Contest Manager. (N0AX photo) |
When Ray Novak, N9JA, ICOM's Amateur Division Manager, asked if I'd like to join a team going to W1AW to operate in the November Sweepstakes contests with the latest and greatest ICOM HF equipment, it took about one 30 WPM di-dah-dit for me to say yes. I've always wanted to visit the ARRL Headquarters, and operating W1AW during my favorite contest of all, CW Sweepstakes, would be a dream come true. I would be operating with Mike Mraz, N6MZ, and Dick Dievendorff, K6KR, under the watchful eye of Dan Henderson, N1ND...and one additional operator, as it turned out.
If you've never made the trip to HQ, put it on your lifetime "to-do" list. Ham radio came of age in the rolling, wooded hills of New England and the W1AW experience is a great way to go right back to the beginnings of the hobby. Driving to the station, you pass through the streets of Hartford and Newington, with no indication that you are headed to Ham Radio Mecca when, suddenly, a monobander rises high above the oaks and maples! Nestled in among the trees and houses is the 7 acre ARRL campus sporting a Fine Business array of towers and antennas. There's no mistaking what goes on here!
With the attic-to-basement remodeling completed in 1989, the station is a comfortable, modern installation. There are three fully enclosed studios, plus the new AM station courtesy of Joe Walsh, WB6ACU, and Bob Heil, K9EID. Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, keeps everything shipshape and on time. To send the daily bulletins and code practice, Joe can quickly "punch up" material on floppy disk or computer to go out through the commercial quality Harris transmitters to the big stack of monobanders.
The Radios are Ready
The ICOM team would be using Studio 1 (the main console is set up for fixed-frequency bulletins, not contest or other guest operating). Each studio is about 8 x 12--perfect for a two-operator multi-single setup. NJ1Q installed the brand-new IC-7800 and IC-756PROIII transceivers along with PW-1 amplifier for us while we were touring the main building, where the ARRL staff does its good work. When we returned, the radios were ready and rarin' to go!
The Sweepstakes starts at 4 PM in Connecticut, so we had all morning and afternoon to get on the air, develop our operating plan, test the bands and generally feel like Kings of the Hill. Conditions sounded better than expected, with both 10 and 15 meters wide open to the rest of the US and Canada. We were on pins and needles about predicted ionospheric disturbances, but all bands were in fine shape as we began the contest at 2100Z.
We decided to operate the entire contest, giving out
W1AW/90 to the maximum number of operators. We'd let the log checkers snip off
any extra time after the 24 hour limit, hoping to have a sweep of all 80
sections by then. Operating from New England is quite different than from our
usual WWA section. For example, when we got down to a handful of sections
remaining, one was LAX (Los Angeles)--something we usually have in the first
hour or two at home! Another (welcome) surprise was that VE1-2-9/VY2/VO1-2
stations call in on 80 meters. Gee, where are those guys when we call CQ from
home?
 Does this look like a station that might have a certain ethereal resident? (N0AX photo) |
"You Bet He's Here!"
I mentioned that we had some unexpected help at W1AW. Friday I had jokingly asked NJ1Q if he ever saw the ghost of Hiram Percy Maxim, the cofounder of the ARRL. Joe replied, "Hiram's here--you bet!" and rattled off a few stories. Saturday night, as Dick and Mike pounded it out on 40 meters, I wandered around the station and visited the second floor. In the dark, it's hard to tell that you're not back in the late 1930s with the glowing equipment, sounds of Morse drifting by, and the fall winds whipping around the building. I took a nap upstairs on the floor with the key clattering and fans whispering.
Sunday morning, Mike said, "We had a visit from Hiram!"
Several cables near the main patch panel decided to "move around," as Mike
described it. N1ND can corroborate the story. Hiram must have decided our cable
dress needed some attention, although he was quiet for the remainder of the CW
weekend.
 Hiram Percy Maxim, the original W1AW, keeps an eye on things around the station. The display includes Hiram's ARRL pin and the bulletin announcing his passing in 1936. (N0AX photo) |
Just as we were rocketing along on Sunday morning, ol' Sol
decided to cut loose with a big X-ray flare that shut everything down and
muddled the bands "considerable." Luckily, we had clicked off the handful of
remaining sections for the Clean Sweep earlier--SC, PAC, AR, ND and KY turned
out to be the pesky holdouts with UT the very last. We powered through to the
last seconds, concluding with a healthy score that should be the New England
leader.
 Team ICOM at work during CW Sweepstakes 2004--Ward, N0AX (left), and N6MZ putting the IC-7800 and IC-756PROIII to the test, so to speak. (K6KR photo) |
 Team ICOM for SSB Sweepstakes 2004--Sara, K3OOO, rides herd on a pileup while Ray, N9JA, keeps the log. (N9JA photo) |
 A rare photo of the IC-0001 Spark Transmitter? Nope...It's actually Hiram's original "Old Betsy," on display at W1AW. (N0AX photo) |
Weekend 2: Phone SS
Fast-forward to the Phone Sweepstakes weekend, two weeks later. I couldn't make the repeat journey, but Dick and Mike both did and were joined this time by Ray, Julia Whitenight, KD7PJC, Rick Saeger, K3OO, and his daughter Sara, K3OOO. Once again, NJ1Q got the ICOM gear on-line quickly and Studio 1 was busily cranking out the QSOs in the competitive M (Multioperator) category. I'm sure it was a pleasant surprise to hear both Julia and Sara running the pileups under the W1AW call sign.
During this weekend, the sun was a little better behaved, which may have encouraged Hiram, whose visage watches over his namesake station from high on the wall behind the main console, to lend a hand. I'll let Mike tell it:
"Just before 1 AM I awoke from a nap to relieve KD7PJC from 40 meters, switching to 75 meters. I was astounded to notice that with only four sections to go for the sweep, we hadn't worked NNY! Just for the heck of it I said, 'CQ contest, sure would like a Northern New York, W1AW.' Immediately, N2KX came back to me, 'W1AW, 86 A, N2KX, 77 Northern New York.' I couldn't believe it so I asked, 'Come on, you're really not in NNY are you?' His reply, 'Absolutely I am, didn't you need my section?' Too strange.
"Then, with less than 30 minutes to go in our 24 hours of contesting time we had just seen packet network spots on 20 and 15 meters for our last section (NT), but could not hear a whisper out of either one of them. N1ND and I were resigned to missing a second sweep. 'Dan, it looks like we aren't going to work the last section.' I moaned. Almost as soon as he nodded in agreement, a spot appeared for KD6WW/VY0! KD7PJC quickly QSYed to his frequency and after a few tense minutes of calling, Julia logged our phone Clean Sweep with only about 20 minutes to go. Tell me The Old Man doesn't haunt that station! Kindly and benevolently, but he still haunts it. Thanks Hiram!"
We Sweep!
When all is said and done, well over 2000 operators put the coveted W1AW QSO in their logs, all good for the 90th ARRL Anniversary Worked All States award. Both teams put all 80 sections in the log to grab the coveted Clean Sweep--I have a spot on my shelves for this very special Clean Sweep coffee mug. After all, how many have been won under the gaze of The Old Man?
How did the new ICOM gear play? The IC-7800 was more than up to the task of handling the rock-crushing environment of Sweepstakes. The crowded conditions of a major contest quickly expose any weaknesses in a receiver, but we could snuggle in between two burly signals with nary a spurious blip. In fact, there were a couple of times when I thought maybe there was something wrong, due to the quiet audio. As the second rig, the IC-756PROIII was kept busy finding rare sections, such as the VY1 contingent from the Yukon. The band scope feature of both radios showed its worth several times, alerting us to the big pileups elsewhere that meant a rare section was on the air. On the transmit end, the PW-1 did its best to bore a hole in the band and the QSOs just kept rolling in. It was a really nice radio package that made a tough contest into a breeze. Now, if ICOM could just do something about those solar hiccups!
I'd like to thank ICOM America for making my visit "home"
possible--it turned out as good as could be. I sure enjoyed visiting ARRL HQ
where many staffers took a moment away from the stacks of work on their desks
to say hello. Dan, N1ND, deserves a note of thanks from the entire team for
giving up two of his weekends to be our W1AW chaperone. Joe, NJ1Q, sure has the
station in great shape, too--every ARRL member can be proud to have such an
excellent station representing us. Oh, and Hiram--you can visit my shack any
time, OM!
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