5 Band WAS
In the last installment of the WAS program I want to mention is five band WAS for the ultimate challenge of this award. I gained mine in 1978 with a number of 408. That means 407 others in the world had completed the requirement, I am sure the number is well over a 1000 by now, or maybe even more then that figure.
So, how does one accomplish this feat? First, the selection of any five bands you wish, in my case I chose 80,40,20,15, 10 as my bands to concentrate on for this achievement . You may choose any five bands, but keep a few things in mind. Like me if you chose six meters, let it be your sixth band, for years I have been waiting for a contact from KH6. It just has not happened, let’s face it why would any one work six from Hawaii? The only ones they could talk to will not be that far away, or on the same island. Unless really good conditions exist and they have not for some time your chances of a contact to Hawaii on six meters is slim to none and slim left town.
Those in Hawaii may hear the West coast now and then, more often then not these days little copy will happen. I would place six meters at the bottom of the list, or as mentioned the sixth band.
Eighty meters you have a good chance to make WAS, keep in mind that 75/80 becomes very noisy in the summer months, best times for 80 meters is during the winter. I do believe the 3.905 state net is still in operation, this was a gathering place for county and state hunters as well. Also, as mentioned the Geritol net on the bottom of the Extra class phone band has many states represented.
Yes, it is possible to work KL7 and KH6 on 75, they are rare ones, but then again it makes it all fun for the challenge.
Those states close to you are the hardest ones on 20,15,10 in this case make use of the short skip during the summer, it happens and be ready. The challenge on 10 was indeed a bit of ingenuity, I was down to one state Michigan. I used my ears and one day I heard a station in Michigan in contact with a station in Argentina. I waited until the qso was nearly done and made a break in the contact, this was on 10 meter SSB. I asked the station in Argentina to ask the Michigan station to listen for me. He obliged and I got my last state for five band.
To advise any one on this subject would be to choose the bands that are most productive. Ten meters today is pretty bad, but it will come back either in the fall, or in the coming years. Of course you can choose 30,17,12, or even 160 if you have the antennas for these bands.
Keep in mind, you will have a total of 250 contacts with 50 states being represented on five different bands. As to mode, naturally I was to assume that some would try this on CW, others phone, but you now have the growing interest in the digital world. It matters not what mode you select, you can do one band on cw, another on SSB and a third band on RTTY, a fourth on packet and a fifth on JT 65. It depends on you and your capability for these modes, or bands.
Regardless of the modes selected your confirmations must list the band used, now how to confirm all these contacts. As mentioned you can do it the old way of paper cards, or Use LOTW for the ARRL award. Others, such as EQSL and QRZ may be used, but do not count as credit to the ARRL award. It depends on you, what award do you want to achieve?
A good way to work lots of states on five bands with the exception of the WARC bands is North American qso party and the Sweepstakes in November. Both CW and SSB. if you work digital stay informed of contests and jump right in and work as many as you can.
Keep in mind, there will always be those who will put a monkey wrench in the progress by not confirming contacts by any means. Be prepared to work several stations in the rarer states, some will not respond at all, others will without hesitation. Do not give up the pursuit, stay with it and succeed. The ARRL offers a plaque with an engraved plate, yes there is a charge for this award as is now a processing fee and plaque fee. Mine was not that much in 1978 and you will just have to check out things for your self about costs.
You may prefer to attack this on EQSL once you complete each band you can print out your own certificate, or purchase the plaque they offer. That route can be rather expensive at $85.00 per plaque for each band, multiply that by five and you get the picture. The ARRL offering is much less expensive, the savings you got on postage could be eaten up with plaques with EQSL if you choose that route.
Not everyone uses LOTW and you might work a needed state only to find out the op you worked does not use this service. They might offer a confirmation via paper, or EQSL, or QRZ. Keep in mind also that QRZ offers WAS CW, SSB, digital, or mixed, no five band endorsements yet.
I would purchase some paper qsl cards, say a thousand at a time, you may use them as the award progress continues. It again depends on you what direction you will go to confirm the contacts. It is not impossible, but it is a challenge.
One more item to mention there is a WAS for six meters, same requirements as all the others, but Hawaii is the real hold up on my successful completion of this band. Only once have I heard the super station KH7X on this band. He was so mobbed by callers, and the signal was not that strong on six at my location, I could not tell who he came back to what station. He was covered most of the time with stations in the Midwest. Maybe in later years we will have a chance again, maybe not? Six with its up and down propagation, I would not choose it as one of the five bands. If you are into moon bounce on two meters, that is another story indeed, but again a major challenge. I would stick with the HF bands where you stand a good chance to make this award.
This ends the series on WAS, next will be WAC worked all Continents the various ways this can happen and a few tips to boot.
