Radiosport fans are gearing up for the summer’s biggest HF competition: the IARU HF World Championship. This 24 hour long contest is the highlight of the summer HF contesting season, affording plenty of opportunities to work DX from all around the globe on CW and SSB, as well as make QSOs with many IARU officials and Member-Society club stations. “The IARU HF World Championship is one of Radiosport’s unique events,” explained ARRL Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X. “It’s the only major contest that uses International Telecommunication Union (ITU) zones as part of the exchange, and the only contest that gives special multiplier status for IARU Member-Society stations and IARU officials.”

There are many ways to get in on the fun. You may choose to enter as either a single operator using either SSB only, CW only or a mixture of both modes. Single operator stations can choose from three power levels: High Power (greater than 150 W), Low Power (between 5 and 150 W) or QRP (5 W or less). Or why not get some friends together at one station and participate as a Multioperator station with a single transceiver?

“One of the fun things to do is see how many of the IARU special stations you can work during the event,” Kutzko said. While most stations give their ITU zone as part of the contest exchange, IARU Member-Society stations give the abbreviation for their IARU society name, such ‘ARRL’ for W1AW. In addition, IARU officials can give one of four unique exchanges: AC if they are on the IARU Administrative Council, or R1, R2 or R3 for the ITU Region that official serves. In this case, IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH, would hand out ‘AC’ as part of his exchange. I really like seeing so many nations represented on the air by their national organization. It reinforces the global nature of Amateur Radio and the common bonds all amateurs have.”

The IARU HF World Championship begins at 1200 UTC on Saturday, July 9 and goes until 1200 UTC on Sunday, July 10. Find the complete rules here. Please submit your logs via e-mail. Paper logs should be mailed to IARU International Secretariat, Box 310905, Newington, CT 06111-0905 USA. All logs must be e-mailed or postmarked no later than 1200 UTC August 9, 2011.