2026 is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but you already knew that didn’t you? However, you may not have realized that 2026 is also the 100th anniversary of the creation of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) of which many, if not most, of us are members. The OARC has been an affiliated club of the ARRL since 1953.
To recognize its creation milestone as well as the Semiquincentennial of the birth of our nation, the ARRL has declared 2026 as the Year of the Club as well as sponsoring a year-long special event called the America 250-WAS which will include all of the affiliated clubs across the nation that wish to participate. The ARRL will be giving out awards in the form of certificates for those amateurs that are able to work the activators in all fifty states. We will participate with five other affiliated clubs in our state from March 18 to March 24. Each club is assigned a 4-hour operating period each day during that time frame (except Sunday), so we will have six 4-hour operating periods. Below is the worksheet we will use to schedule operators during our assigned operating periods:
OARC members are asked to contact President Jim Mason to reserve their preferred operating dates for this special event.