Volunteers on the Air (VOTA) is an ARRL-sponsored year-long nation-wide event in 2023. Every state will be participating and Utah is on the air in January and July. All hams are invited to participate and we request that all Utah clubs encourage their members to get involved. You may operate under your own callsign and earn points or you can operate as W1AW Portable 7 (W1AW/7) or both. Complete information about VOTA may be found on the ARRL website here.

Signups are now open here if you wish to operate as a W1AW/7 station during Utah’s assigned week in January. All bands (except WARC) and modes are welcome.

Utah’s 7-day week begins at 5pm Utah time Tuesday, January 17th and we are now scheduling W1AW/7 band/mode slots around the clock during that week. Utah is one of first states scheduled in 2023 to activate W1AW portable. Although preference for band/mode slots will be given to Utah’s big gun stations, stations of all sizes are encouraged and welcome to participate and no ham will be turned away.

To sign up to operate as W1AW/7 and be assigned a band/mode shift, fill out the survey here. If you have questions about VOTA rules, guidelines, and how you can earn points, read this page. If you have questions about Utah’s participation in VOTA, contact coordinator Ted Cowan, NA7C by email at na7c@arrl.net, by phone or text at 385 204-6655 or look for the VOTA page on arrlutah.org.

Hurry! First come, first serve. To operate as W1AW/7 you must submit the survey and receive a band/mode assignment because the rules state that two W1AW/7 stations cannot be on the same band and mode at the same time. All hams are welcome to participate and request a band/mode slot with preference given to big gun stations with experienced operators. If you participated in the ARRL Centennial event in 2014, this event is similar in structure. I operated as W1AW/7 in the Centennial event in 2014 as well as under my own (previous) callsign, and it was a blast. The ARRL awarded me this for my effort: