Welcome to the Ham Radio Workbenches On The Air Information Center! Here you’ll find all the information you need related to HRWBOTA. If there’s something missing, please email mark-hrwbota@halibut.com.
2026 – Third occasional HRWBOTA Day-Of-Event Details:
- Host Tracker Page: https://tracker.hrwbota.com/
- See where every Host is calling CQ: Frequency and Mode.
- When: 2026 November 21, 1800 to 2200 UTC
- 11am to 3pm Pacific
- 2pm to 6pm Eastern
- Exchange:
- Host to Listener: Serial Number, or standard POTA exchange if applicable
- Listener to Host: Number of, and brand of, your favourite soldering iron; and your state.
- Video Live Stream: it’s (TBD)
What the heck is HRWBOTA?
Ham Radio Workbenches On The Air, or HRWBOTA (pronounced: her-wuh-bow-tuh), or just “Workbenches On The Air,” is an event where the Hosts of the Ham Radio Workbench Podcast get on the air to talk to Listeners. Listeners get points for each HRWB Host they contact. While we also encourage Listener to Listener contacts, we aren’t offering any points for that this year. Prizes will be handed out on our 200th Episode.
Links to the Audio Only and Video (with still image) versions of these ad-spots.
Important Details
When:
Saturday, November 21 2026, from 1800UTC to 2200UTC, 11am to 3pm Pacific, 2pm to 6pm Eastern.
Exchange:
Hosts will call “CQ HRWBOTA” or “CQ Workbenches On The Air.” Listeners will respond to the CQ.
Hosts will provide a serial number to the Listener. Listeners will provide:
- The number they own of, and brand of their preferred soldering iron.
- Their state or province, or country if not in either US or Canada.
For example: (Ignoring that all examples given are actually Hosts.)
- Mark N6MTS owns a MetCal and lives in California, so his exchange would be “1 MetCal, California.”
- George KJ6VU owns 3 Wellers in Oregon, so his exchange would be “3 Weller, Oregon.”
- Thomas K4SWL covets Mark’s MetCal but doesn’t own one himself, so his exchange would be “0 MetCal, Tennessee.”
Note: The exchange is intentionally goofy. We’ll actually take anything.
Points:
Points are awarded on how hard it is to work a given Host:
| Host Power Level: | QRO = 1pt, ~100W = 2pts, QRP = 3pts |
| Mode: | Voice/FT8 = 1pt, CW = 2pts, Other = 3pts |
| Portable: | +2pts |
| Wildcard: | 6.52pts |
Logs:
Listeners do not need to submit logs; all scoring will be done based on HRWB Hosts’ logs. Hosts are logging on Ham radio Instant Scoring Service or HISS (TBD) and listeners can use it if they wish.
Prizes:
The following certificates will be awarded:
- Certificates of Participation, to all Listeners who work at least two Hosts.
- 1st Place, 2nd place, and 3rd Place to the Listeners with the most points.
- Clean Sweep Certificates, to all Listeners who work all Hosts at least once.
We’ll announce prizes on the podcast, on an upcoming episode with the exact date TBD.
Where Are The Hosts:
Finding Hosts on the bands is not supposed to be part of this challenge. During the event, there will be a live tracker showing what frequency and mode each Host is operating.
Live Host Tracker Link: https://tracker.hrwbota.com/
The Hosts will be operating both HF, and DMR/AllStar (where possible) to allow Listeners without HF capability to participate. Each Host who can will take a one hour shift on DMR/AllStar, and will be operating HF the rest of the time. DMR/AllStar contacts are considered “Voice at 100W,” so are worth 3pts each.
Actual operation will be reported on the day of the event with the live tracker, but you can expect the HRWB Hosts to be on the following HF bands and modes: (THIS SECTION TO BE UPDATED)
| Host: | Band: | Mode: | Power: | Condition: | Points: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark N6MTS | 40, 20, 15, 10 | SSB, Digital | 100W | Working at home | 1pt |
| *George KJ6VU |
40, 20 |
SSB, PSK31, CW | 50W | Long wire antenna | Varies |
| Thomas K4SWL | HF | CW, SSB, Digital | QRP | 3pt | |
| *Mike VA3MW |
40, 20, 15, 10 |
CW, SSB | 19kW | Remote |
Varies |
| Paul WD9GCO | 40, 20, 15, 10 | SSB | 100W | via his club’s remote | 1pt |
| *Rod VA3ON |
40, 20, 15, 10 |
CW, SSB | 100W | Working at home |
Varies |
| Vince VE6LK |
40, 20, 15, 10 |
CW, SSB | 5W, 10W | Decaffeinated. Stationary Mobile. POTA 2fer. |
Varies |
| Wildcard Guest |
TBD |
TBD | TBD | TBD |
6.52pt |
In addition to the above, the DMR/AllStar schedule is as follows: (THIS SECTION TO BE UPDATED)
| Time: | DMR TG: 31075 | AllStar Node: 55915 |
|---|---|---|
| 1800 UTC | ||
| 1900 UTC | ||
| 2000 UTC | ||
| 2100 UTC |