The Mighty Big Array of Finn Jensen LA8YB

This antenna array is used for EME. For those not familiar with that acronym, it means using the moon as a radio reflector to send signals back to earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%E2%80%93Moon%E2%80%93Ear...

I love reading about the exploits of radio amateurs. This is some seriously impressive engineering too. It's surprising what one can do with off the shelf components assembled on a human scale (instead of microwave frequencies which need much smaller circuits).

Also, there's a certain beauty in staying close to the physical layer and working the airwaves yourself.

The caption for the WAS aware clearly mention 52 US states.

Is that a typo or some quirk of radio amateur?

I believe that's a mistake. The page of the award mentions only 50 states: https://www.arrl.org/was

It seems to be a typo, unless the criteria for the award have changed: https://www.arrl.org/was

Or perhaps incredibly prescient!

Just 10W of RF to hear your own voice relayed by the moon is insane