IARU HF World Championship is Major Mid-Year Event for Everyone

IARU HF World Championship is Major Mid-Year Event for Everyone

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) HF World Championship over the July 11 – 12 weekend offers an opportunity for operators to put their stations to the test ahead of the fall-winter contest season. Casual contesters are welcome. This everybody-works-everybody event kicks off at 1200 UTC on Saturday, July 11, on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters and continues for the next 24 hours. Despite rather dismal HF conditions recently, the competition is expected to keep the bands hopping on both phone and CW; participants may operate either or both modes. Highlighting the activity will be the IARU headquarters (HQ) stations and officials on the air from around the world, although, as the IARU notes, HQ stations may not be active at typical levels.

Carol Milazzo, KP4MD, competed with her low-power portable setup in the 2019 IARU HF World Championship.

Participating stations send a signal report and ITU zone (or IARU member-society abbreviation). The IARU HF Championship web page includes ITU zone borders for the US and Canada.

"It is essential that the global COVID-19 pandemic be taken into account, including by IARU member-society HQ station teams," the IARU said in announcing this year’s event. The IARU stressed that multioperator and IARU member-society HQ stations "must adhere strictlyto the regulations and social distancing guidelines in effect issued by the responsible health authorities and the World Health Organization, even if observing the guidelines is not legally required in their locations." This requirement also applies to single-operator stations and especially to stations hosting guest operators.

The objective of the IARU HF World Championship is "to support amateur self-training in radiocommunications including improving amateur operating skills, conducting technical investigations, and intercommunicating with other amateurs around the world, especially IARU member-society headquarters stations." Special rules governing IARU member-society HQ stations permit using multiple sites, if national regulations permit.

The Vakarel broadcast transmitter tower and two smaller antennas. HQ station LZ0AA will use this for an 80-meter antenna.

The HQ list includes ARRL. Members of the Tennessee Contest Group (TCG) will operate as ARRL HQ station W1AW/4, while IARU HQ Station NU1AW will be operated remotely by a team of operators using WW2DX facilities on the coast of Maine.

In addition to HQ stations, members of the IARU Administrative Council (AC) and the three IARU regional executive committees will send AC, R1, R2, and R3, as appropriate. IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH, will be active for a limited period, giving out the AC multiplier. IARU HQ/official stations and ITU zones are multipliers, which count per band but not per mode, but contacts count per mode per band. Contacts with IARU member-society HQ stations and officials do not count as zone multipliers.

Listen for this one: In Bulgaria, the Vakarel broadcast transmitter has been off the air since 2015. The antenna, erected in 1937, is 215 meters (705 feet). During the IARU contest, the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA) HQ station will use the antenna on 80 meters as LZ0AA. After the contest, the antenna will be taken down.