(Image/WRTC)
One of Amateur Radio’s premier contesting events, the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) is set to take place in historic Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany from July 12-16. Two-person teams from around the globe will gather for this quadrennial competition, which will test the skills of elite contesters who will be operating in the field using identical antenna setups on 100 watts.
While the two-person teams furiously work to log SSB and CW QSOs and score as many points as possible in 24 hours, operators can participate from their homes by contacting the special stations in Germany, creating huge pileups for the contesters to work.
DX Engineering of Tallmadge, Ohio, is a proud gold sponsor of the event.
Tim Duffy, K3LR, DX Engineering Chief Operating Officer and member of the CQ Contest Hall of Fame, and longtime contester and German native Alexandra “Sandy” Raeker, DL1QQ, will comprise one of the 63 teams vying for the top spot. K3LR has represented the U.S. in four World Radiosport Championships (San Francisco 1996, Finland 2002, Brazil 2006 and Russia 2010). This will be DL1QQ’s second WRTC. She and teammate DL8DYL finished 21st out of 59 teams in Boston four years ago.
“I call it the Olympics of contesting because it’s every four years,” says DL1QQ. “We want to find out who is the best contester in the world. This year we’ve set up 63 stations, and the competitors will all operate in the same conditions, and that’s how you find out who’s really the best operator.”
The competition runs 24 hours, from Saturday, July 14 at 1200 UTC to Sunday, July 15 at 1200 UTC. Check out WRTC 2018’s website here.
Follow the WRTC 2018 Action Live
Just prior to going on the air, each two-person team will be given a unique callsign to be used throughout the contest. In the spirit of fair play, operators who might recognize a competitor (a possibility in SSB mode) are strongly encouraged not to share the identity of the callsign holder so complete anonymity can be maintained. A live competitors’ scoreboard (featuring competitors’ home callsigns) will be streaming online so anyone can follow who is on top of the leaderboard in real time. Participants can also watch the closing ceremony streamed live on Monday, July 16 at approximately 1700 UTC.
Be a WRTC 2018 Participation Champion
WRTC offers unique awards and prizes to operators who get on the air, contact the WRTC stations on CW and SSB (80 through 10 meters), and submit their log within six hours of the contest end (by 1800 UTC Sunday). The awards are:
- Worked All WRTC Stations: Minimum of one QSO with each WRTC station
- WRTC Sprint: Work all stations as quickly as possible. You may pick any time frame during the 24-hour contest and work on any band or mode. There will be separate scoring for each of the 29 WRTC 2018 qualification regions.
- Most QSOs: Work as many QSOs with WRTC stations as possible (63 stations/2 modes = up to 630 QSOs possible). There will be separate scoring for each of the 29 WRTC 2018 qualification regions.
- Distance Challenge: Most QSOs in respect to distance from contesting stations in Germany.
If you don’t come out on top in any of these challenges, there’s still a chance to win. Send in your log by 1800 UTC Sunday and your callsign could be randomly drawn out of the pool of participants to win special prizes.
