Operating Station and The WAC Award
The IARU maintains a radio station at its headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. Its callsign is NU1AW. As an amateur radio station licensed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission the "1" stands for its location in the New England area. "NU" were taken from the pre-1928 era when amateurs made up their own prefixes, and informally used these letters to show they were in "North America--USA". The "AW" suffix represents the connection with the American Radio Relay League, whose own station is W1AW. NU1AW is frequently active during amateur radio contests.
For many years the IARU has issued the Worked All Continents certificate to amateurs who contact fellow hams in the six permanently populated continental areas of the world. Special awards and endorsements for various bands and modes are also available.
Read more about this topic: International Amateur Radio Union
Famous quotes containing the words operating, station and/or award:
“I think there are innumerable gods. What we on earth call God is a little tribal God who has made an awful mess. Certainly forces operating through human consciousness control events.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“[T]here is no situation so deplorable ... as that of a gentlewoman in real poverty.... Birth, family, and education become misfortunes when we cannot attain some means of supporting ourselves in the station they throw us into. Our friends and former acquaintances look on it as a disgrace to own us.... If we were to attempt getting our living by any trade, people in that station would think we were endeavoring to take their bread out of their mouths.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)
“The award of a pure gold medal for poetry would flatter the recipient unduly: no poem ever attains such carat purity.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)