From Newsgroup: rec.radio.amateur.dx


To celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country beginning January 7th
from 0000 Z to 2359Z the following Tuesday you can operate as a W1AW/0
station. Here are the attached rules. Please respond back to me at my
email address nebraskasm@hotmail.com on what bands, times and modes you
will be operating. I am awaiting a specialized program that all will
have access to so you can see what bands and modes can be operated on.

Please email me back and I know that you will have questions. There are
a lot of stations that want us, here is our opportunity to put Nebraska
on the map. We will do this activation again in June to give those who
missed it the first time an opportunity to make a QSO.

As soon as I get the link I will put it up here on another email and it
will be on the Nebraska ARRL Section News Facebook page.

Operating W1AW/Portable (0-9, KG/KH/KL/KP, etc),

Guidelines for 2026 United States Semiquincentennial

ARRL WAS-250 Worked All States Award

Summary: In a fashion similar to the 2023 Volunteers on The Air (VOTA),
ARRL will be celebrating the Year of The Club, as well as the 100th
Anniversary of the ARRL Field Organization, and we will be holding a
Year-Long Worked All States (WAS-250) operating event to recognize the
250th Anniversary (Semiquincentennial) of the US Constitution. _________________________________________________________________________________________________

To seek the operating event WAS-250 Award, all QSOs must be uploaded to,
and confirmed by both QSO Partners, within Logbook of The World (LoTW).

This Award will be applied for within LoTW, and usual WAS Award
Processing Fees will be applicable. There will also be Endorsements that include working all 50 States: The Endorsements include WAS by Band, by
any or all of the three Modes (CW/Phone/Digital), Satellite, Working all 50-States contacting W1AW/Portable Stations, and Working all 50 States
by Contacting ARRL Affiliated Club Stations (ARRL will look at the call
signs confirmed and compare it against the Club Affiliations Club Call
Sign data base to determine how many of the stations worked represented Affiliated Clubs).

________________________________________________________________________________________________

As an operating event, ARRL will be seeking to identify W1AW/Portable
stations to activate twice during the year from each States (and US Territories). We will also be on-the-air with W1AW (not portable) from Connecticut throughout the year with guest operators, and activation by
staff (especially during the IARU HF Contest {2nd weekend in July}).

In the coming weeks, ARRL HQ will be working with the Section Managers
and their Affiliated Club Coordinators to identify Stations in their Sections/States to activate a period of two (2) 7-day weeks (beginning
midweek on a Wednesday at 0000 UTC and running through the following
Tuesday at 2359 UTC) activating as many bands (excluding 60 Meters) as
possible (on the three modes of CW, Phone and Digital) within their
respective States (coordinating with adjoining SMs/ACCs in States with
multiple sections) to have no more than three (3) W1AW/Portable Stations
(one on each mode) on the air at a given time from the State (one on CW,
one on Phone and one on Digital). [This is to ensure that there is no overlapping multiband/multimode operations, particularly where any
possible interference to non-Amateur Services might be identified by
FCC, but we would not be able to immediately determine where the
interference was emanating if two different stations were on the same
band and mode, both using the same W1AW/Portable# call sign.]

Operating Etiquette: Use of the W1AW call sign (just as you would with
your own call sign) is a privilege, and you want to show best practices
and courtesy when operating. Operators must be polite at all times.
Operators must operate using the privileges granted only by their
personal license class serving as a control operator (or within the
operator privileges of the highest�-�class Control Operator present and observing operations - Eg, a Novice/Technician Class license holder,
however, can operate on General Class or above bands provided a properly licensed Control Operator is present with them at all times.)

Goodwill: While the object of the WAS-250Worked All States event is to
hand out as many contacts with W1AW/Portable States as possible,
operators are encouraged to explain the celebrations of 2026 (Semiquincentennial ARRL WAS-250 Worked All States Award {together with
the Year of The Club and 100th Anniversary of the Field Organization} to
the degree that your operating time may allow. Encourage other operators
to get on the air, make contacts, and have fun. Calling "CQ WAS-250"
is a great way to draw attention.

Operating frequencies must be selected carefully to avoid conflicts.
Even if a frequency sounds clear, the operator should ask at least two
times if it is in use before calling CQ [eg, complaints about being too
close to a net or SSTV frequency (ie: the 14.300 MHz International
Maritime Net, or frequencies that may be needed during weather related emergencies such as the Hurricane Watch Nets on 14.325 MHz or 7.268 MHz,
and SATERN Net on 7.262 MHz) must be resolved by QSYing, not by
arguing.] Operators must avoid operating too close to license class or
band edges as well.

Bands: Activity is encouraged on as many bands (including WARC band)
from 2200 Meters LF through all of HF; all of VHF/UHF/SHF, all of the
Microwave bands and via Light (excluding 60 Meters), on each of the
three modes (CW/Phone/Digital), as may be possible. Please balance CW
and Phone activations against the ease of just making digital contacts.

Goodwill: While the object of the VOTA Operating Event is to hand out as
many contacts with W1AW/xx as possible, operators are encouraged to
briefly detail the event and its purpose should operating time allow.
Encourage other operators to get on the air, make contacts, and have
fun. Calling "CQ VOTA" is a great way to draw attention.

QSLs: There are NO QSL cards available (from ARRL HQ) for any of the W1AW/Portable WAS-250 operating event stations during this event. All W1AW/Portable contacts will be confirmed via LoTW. Stations who contact
W1AW at ARRL HQ can either upload such contacts to LoTW and/or can send
QSL Cards (with SASE) to W1AW, ARRL HQ, 225 Main St, Newington CT 06111
�-��-� for contacts only made directly with the W1AW Hiram Percy Maximum Memorial Station.

As soon as ARRL has LoTW update and announcements made for the WAS-250
Award, applying for the WAS-250 Award can be made via LoTW once a
minimum of 50 State QSO Confirmations appear in LoTW. After the initial
WAS-250 Award and Certificate are issued, Endorsements can be sought
(these will be supplied as WAS-250 Endorsement Stickers to apply onto
your WAS-250 Award Certificate).


Very Important:

Logging: As it is expected that a W1AW/Portable operations will make
hundreds of QSOs over the course of their operating periods, it is
important that logging be done by computer using ADIF format. ELECTRONIC LOGGING MUST BE PERFORMED DURING THE COURSE OF THE OPERATING EVENT! NO
PAPER LOGS WILL BE ACCEPTED!

MAKE PERIODIC BACKUPS OF THE LOGGING FILE THAT YOU HAVE IN USE.

Commonly used logging software such as N1MMLogger+ is recommended, but
any software that will generate an ADIF�-�formatted file is acceptable.

Ensure that each band/mode operating station is prepared to supply ALL
station data in every QSO line (such as county, grid square, CQ/ITU
zones, etc.)

ARRL HQ will perform the ADIF file uploads to LoTW, as only we have the
LoTW call sign certificates to sign and upload W1AW logs.

SUBMITTING LOGS TO ARRL HQ IMMEDIATELY AFTER EACH PORTABLE ACTIVATION

--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARRL Nebraska Section
Section Manager: Mr Matthew N Anderson, KA0BOJ
ka0boj@arrl.org --------------------------------------------------------------------


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