[nrv-hams] IARU contest this weekend

[Kay Craigie]

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) HF World Championship contest
is this coming weekend. It goes from 1200 UTC, July 11, to 1200 UTC, July
12.

It's an unusual contest in that it allows operation on both phone and CW. If
we work a station on a certain band on phone, we can work it again on CW. 

The exchange for most people is 59 or 599 and the ITU (International
Telecommunication Union) zone. For NRVARC members, the zone number is 8. 

IARU officials send the signal report and the abbreviation for their office:
AC, R1, R2, or R3. That's Administrative Council, Region 1, Region 2, Region
3.

Many IARU member societies will have their HQ callsigns on the air. They
will send the signal report and the abbreviation for their society -- ARRL,
in our case. The ARRL's HQ callsign will be W1AW/5, operated from New
Mexico. Also on the air will be the IARU's own callsign, operated from
Washington state as NU1AW/7.

The contest does not run on 12, 17, and 30 meters or on digital modes, so if
the contest isn't your cup of tea, there are other places to be and things
to do on HF.

The IARU, founded 90 years ago by Hiram Percy Maxim and others, is composed
of the world's national amateur radio societies and is led by an elected
administrative council. IARU is divided into 3 geographical regions, each of
which has its own constitution and officers. The western hemisphere is
Region 2, whose current president is Reinaldo Leandro YV5AM. 

The IARU is extremely important to every radio amateur. Its volunteer
officials carry out essential advocacy work on behalf of amateur radio at
meetings of the world's regional telecommunication bodies and at the World
Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC) meetings held every three years.
Without the IARU, amateur radio would have no international advocate to
protect our spectrum privileges and urge a rational regulatory environment
for us. For more information about the IARU, go to http://www.iaru.org/.

Have fun! 73, Kay N3KN