SB QST @ ARL $ARLB031
ARLB031 ARRL to Celebrate 85th Anniversary on the air

ZCZC AG31
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 31  ARLB031
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  May 11, 1999
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB031
ARLB031 ARRL to Celebrate 85th Anniversary on the air

The ARRL celebrates its 85th anniversary May 18, 1999.  To mark the
event, Maxim Memorial Station W1AW will operate as special event
station W1AW/85 during the week of May 17-23.  Some W1AW/85
operation will include PSK31.  The American Radio Relay League was
founded in 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim, later 1AW, and Clarence Tuska,
later 1AY.

It was Maxim's desire to send an inquiry about a hard-to-get
receiving tube--A DeForest Audion--from Hartford, Connecticut, to
Springfield, Massachusetts, that served as the catalyst for the
League's birth in 1914.  After conditions prevented him from working
Springfield directly, he arranged with a station between the two
cities to relay his message.

Initially working with Tuska through the Radio Club of
Hartford--which had voted to take over development of a national
''relay'' organization--Maxim's vision for the League became reality
in May of that year.  Initial dues were free.  By late summer, more
than 200 ''relay stations'' had been appointed across the US, although
the first edition of QST--16 pages in all--did not appear until
December 1915.

''Our celebration of the League's 85th anniversary would please our
founders in two ways,'' said ARRL Executive Vice President David
Sumner, K1ZZ.  ''First, we are celebrating with on-the-air
activity--the organization, promotion, and protection of which was
why they went to the trouble of creating the League in the first
place.  Second, just as they did in the exciting early years, we are
looking forward by emphasizing new methods of radio communication.''

ARRL President Rod Stafford, W6ROD, encouraged participation from
all segments of the Amateur Radio community.  ''We hope everyone,
member and nonmember alike, will join in celebrating the League's
first 85 years and the beginning of the next 85,'' he said.

Volunteer staff members will handle on-the-air duties at W1AW/85,
which will take place before and after regular daily W1AW
transmissions.  Plans call for W1AW/85 to operate 160-10 meters plus
6 and 2 meters and 70 cm, 25 kHz inside subbands on CW, plus SSB,
RTTY, PSK31, SSTV, satellite, Novice bands, etc.  Additionally,
W1AW/85 will transmit bulletins using PSK31 as a secondary digital
mode (time permitting) for the last digital bulletin of each day
that week.

A special QSL will be available.
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/EX