The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) HF World Championship over the July 9-10 weekend highlights the mid-2016 contest calendar for radio amateurs around the globe. W1AW/9 in Illinois and NU1AW/6 in California will represent the ARRL and the IARU Secretariat, respectively, as headquarters (HQ) stations. W1AW/9 will operate from the stations of Craig Thompson, K9CT, on CW, and from the station of Valerie Hotzfeld, NV9L, and Jerry Rosalius, WB9Z, on phone. NU1AW/6 will be on the air both from the station of Ken Keeler, N6RO, and from the Stanford University Radio Club’s W6YX. An unofficial list of IARU headquarters stations, available for download, has been compiled by Joe Roemming, OZ0J, and Bob Wilson, N6TV.

Headquarters stations count as multipliers, and some new HQ stations are expected to be active for the 2016 IARU event. These include J77HQ (DARCI) in Dominica, operated by K5KG, WI9WI, and W4IX; the very similar J87HQ (SVGRS) in St Vincent, operated by KE1B and W6NN, and Z60A in Kosovo, representing SHRAK — the newest IARU member society, operated by OH2BH, OZ1IKY, and others.

In addition to HQ stations, members of the IARU Administrative Council (AC) and the three IARU regional executive committees will send AC, R1, R2, and R3, as appropriate, in the exchange. Contacts with IARU member society HQ stations and officials do not count for zone multipliers.

The IARU gets under way on July 9 at 1200 UTC on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters and concludes 24 hours later. Participants may operate on CW, on phone, or both. Non-HQ stations will send a signal report and ITU zone. (The IARU HF Championship web page includes ITU Zone Borders for the US and Canada.)

To celebrate the bicentennial in Argentina, a special call sign will be on the air for the IARU HF World Championship. Members of the Radio Club Argentino (RCA) will identify as LS4AA from multiple locations, with an appended suffix letter to indicate the province.