WWA – CQ WWA – What is it?

Have you heard all these callsigns ending with WWA throughout the whole of January and the first week of July? Endless 5NN TU activities, on all bands, including WARC?

As if we need more 5NN TU activities, and especially what amounts to a month-long contest without any requirements for sleeping times, since it is money and profits.

The “World Wide Award” is a clever idea of “Ham Innovations” a group of capitalists who came up with a way to make money and pollute the bands with more 5NN TU.

It is all wrong at several levels.

One: it is introducing business, yet again, into amateur radio. Free awards that can be downloaded, ensure wide spread participation of “hunters” and WWA “activators”.

Participants go to the website to check their positions and download their awards, and visit the shop where the awards can be sent in physical form at a handsome price.

Not only, but also medals, badges, T-shirts, and the usual anti-amateur commercial sponsors iCom etc.

The same iCom that pollutes and devalues DX countries by sponsoring DXpedos.

The same iCom that in several countries has a monopoly, in cahoots with corrupt administrations, to only allow the IC7300 as sole importable licensable rig.

This includes now some substantial countries such as HS Thailand, XW Cambodia.

Thought that the WARC bands of 30m, 17m, 12m were “contest free”?

Think again. Not only are 5NN TU “special event” stations and “split DX operations” as well as FT8 modes polluting the CW bands, but now also endless WWA 5NN TU.

So, that’s all the rage against the WWA, but who is really to blame?

Is it a few clever capitalists who are trying to survive the crumbling western economy and get a bit richer off of amateur radio as a business?

Is it the commercial radio manufacturers who don’t make enough money off radios in the commercial sector nor amateur radio any more to satisfy their investors?

Is it the defunct IARU for failing to deal with threats to amateur radio interests?

Or is it all of those, for participating in giving a 5NN TU to such stations?

Is it us who are not active enough with Standard QSO and other non-5NN activities, giving honest RSN signal reports, or having “rag chews” on the WARC bands?

Is it us who stick to 40m for all our rag chews and ignore the opportunities of 12m?

Is it FT8 which is killing amateur radio as we knew it?

Is it the mobile phones and the Internet, and bringing them into amateur radio?

Share your comments and thoughts below!