The call for autism awareness will be heard around the world during the week of April 2nd through to April 8th. Hams will be calling "CQ Special Event Autism Awareness Week," encouraging inclusion and awareness of the autism spectrum disorder.
This event is being organized for the third year by James Gallo, KB2FMH, who believes the best impact the activation can have is its engagement of other operators in ragchews or short chats about their experiences with autism. James says that because this is not a contest, the real prize is the experience of meaningful contact and conversation - spreading the word that it's OK to be different.
During last year's event, that message traveled far and wide. According to the QRZ.com page for W2A, operators around the world logged 17,129 QSOs, with signals traveling nearly 83 million miles.
In the US, listen for the callsign W2A. Listen for other stations around the world, including GB2AA, 8A2AAW, S76A, VO1BIG/VE3 and 7A2M.
Visit the QRZ.com page for W2A to see which callsigns are participating and to learn more about the autism spectrum disorder, which is an often-misunderstood diagnosis - or may go altogether undiagnosed.