07/11/2025

Amateur radio operators in Puerto Rico will represent the United States in a worldwide amateur radio contest during the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) HF World Championship on July 12 - 13, 2025. The operators will use the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Headquarters station call sign, W1AW/KP4. The identifier of /KP4 is added to indicate the signal is being transmitted from Puerto Rico.

"We are very happy and honored that ARRL has given us the opportunity to use its call sign for this important contest," said Angel Santana, WP3GW, Public Information Coordinator for the ARRL Puerto Rico Section, and the amateur radio operator in charge of organizing the 2025 event in Puerto Rico.ÿ

"Although W1AW/KP4 has been used in recent years in special events, the particularity this year is that, in addition to representing the United States, it takes place in the context of the founding of the IARU 100 years ago, which makes it more attractive while we are on the air as W1AW/KP4," Santana added.ÿ

The call sign 1AW was originally issued to Hiram Percy Maxim, co-founder of ARRL and the first president of the IARU in 1925. W1AW became the official call sign of the ARRL Headquarters station and is today one of the most recognized amateur radio stations in the world, with its transmissions of bulletins, contests, and messages during emergencies.ÿ

ARRL is the International Secretariat of the IARU, and a team of operators is planning to activate the International Secretariat call sign, NU1AW, from the W1AW facility.ÿ

The objective of his year's IARU HF World Championship is to support amateur radio self-training in radio communications, including improving amateur operating skills, conducting technical investigations, and inter-communication with other amateurs around the world, especially IARU member society headquarters stations, using the 160-, 80-, 40-, 20-, 15-, and 10-meter bands.

The contest begins at 1200 UTC Saturday July 12 and runs through 1159 UTC Sunday July 13. Both single and multi-operator stations may operate the entire 24-hour period.

For all IARU contest rules, visit [IARU HF World Champtionship Rules v1.21[1]]


[1] https://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0zMzgxODA0JnA9MSZ1PTUyNTgxODI4NCZsaT0zODgwNjY1OA/index.html

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