As part of the mix of events marking the League’s 100th anniversary, the ARRL Centennial QSO Party gets underway at 0001 UTC on January 1. This is a year-long operating event, in which participants can accumulate points and win awards, as well as work new stations and make new friends. During 2014 W1AW will be on the air at least twice from every US state and from most US territories, and it will be easy to work all states solely by contacting W1AW portable operations. This will be the first ARRL-sponsored operating event for which every member is worth at least one point. The event is open to all, although only ARRL members and appointees, elected officials, HQ staff and W1AW are worth points. Working ARRL’s president, for example, earns 300 points!

To qualify for points all contacts must be two-way (no cross-band or cross-mode contacts), using CW, phone (FM, SSB, AM, digital voice), digital (any digital mode, such as PSK31, RTTY) on 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, 6, 2 and 1.25 meters, plus 70 centimeters and satellite. Stations exchange signal report and ARRL abbreviation. Contacts do not have to be contest-style, and providing ARRL organizational information is not required. A centennial database will assign point values to all logs submitted electronically. Those not submitting electronically, however, will need to obtain the QSO information during the contact. Since this is not a contest, participants may make contacts in any fashion they prefer.

The Centennial QSO Party is scored by totaling the values of all eligible contacts. There are no multipliers or bonus points. Logs submitted via Logbook of the World (LoTW) will be scored automatically.

Awards

Worked all States with W1AW: Work W1AW operating portable from all 50 states. Working W1AW or W100AW in Connecticut does not count for Connecticut, however. Participants can earn W1AW Connecticut credit only for working W1AW/1 in Connecticut. A W1AW WAS certificate and plaque will be available for a fee. For an extra challenge, work all 100 W1AW portable operations — essentially a double WAS with W1AW!

Endorse the W1AW WAS Certificate with the Territorial Stickers for working W1AW/KH2, W1AW/KP4, W1AW/KP2, and any others that may be active, and also endorse with W1AW/3 from the District of Columbia (stickers are $1 each).

Centennial Points Challenge

To compete in the Centennial Points Challenge, submit logs via Logbook of the World (LoTW). The system will automatically look for points-qualifying contacts from submitted logs and apply them to each participant’s Centennial QSO Points table. QSOs do not have to be matched in LoTW for points to be achieved — this is an honor-based event. No paper forms or information will be accepted for the Centennial Points Challenge, however. Some points worth noting:

• ARRL-affiliated club call signs count for points.
• Repeater contacts are not valid for credit.
• Mobile and portable operations are okay but do not count for points in addition to home operation unless the operation takes place from another DXCC entity — ie, a contact with K0GW counts for K0GW, whether it is made with K0GW/4, or K0GW/m. A contact with PJ4/K0GW, however, counts for points separately, as this operation would be from the DXCC entity of Bonaire.
• Stations outside of the US may also count for points. More than 10,000 ARRL members live outside the US, and some of these are also volunteer examiners or DXCC card checkers.

ARRL appointees, staffers, and officers should choose for their contact exchange the appointment or office held that offers the highest point value (this is how the database will work also). For example, KI9XX is an ARRL Life Member (a LM is worth 2 points), a Volunteer Examiner (VE is worth 5 points) and a State Government Liaison (SGL is worth 30 points), so KI9XX should use “SGL,” since that offers the highest point value. In any event, the database will give credit for the proper point value.

The top-scoring operator from each ARRL Section, Canadian Province and DXCC entity will receive a First Place certificate. The Top Five overall point scorers will receive awards. There is a charge for award certificates.

For full information, visit the ARRL Centennial QSO Party webpage. Contact us if you have questions.