World Radiosport Team Championship

Ljubljana, Slovenia, 17. April 1998

WRTC-2000 is approaching really quick. Members of the Organization Committee (13 members, most of us WRTC-96 veterans), are working very hard to get everything in place for the big show. Apart from logistical "nightmares," which draw lot of effort and time, we also deeply discussed the competitory part of the event. Finally, decision was made to add a few "cookies" (pile-up tapes, time-off periods.....). We strongly believe that these new additions will give equal opportunities to everybody. Not all rules and selections have been fixed yet. Anyway, please find below the first official information about WRTC-2000.

1. Continents

The very first task we were faced with was: How to determine the number of teams representing each continent? Summing up the logs from different contests and calculate the ratios seemed like a good idea, but we strongly felt that more emphasis should be given to quality, rather then quantity. So how we'd actually done it?

Using selected contests indicated below, we calculated the average continent score per category for every single contest in 1995 and 1996 (CQWW CW & SSB, CQ WPX CW & SSB and IARU HF CHAMPIONSHIPS) For example see Table 1 below. AVG/SOAB/HP represents the average score for respective continent and LOGS QUALIFIED show the number of logs which at least equal or beat that score.

Table 1 - Calculation spreadsheet for CQWW96SSB - SOAB/HP

Categories used in calculations were:

• for CQ MAGAZINE sponsored contests (HP and LP were counted separately): SOAB, SO28, SO21, SO14, SO7, SO3.5, SO1.8, SO Assisted (only one category regardless of power used, single band entries count as multi band), QRPp (single band entries count as multi band entries), MS, MM.
• IARU HF CHAMPIONSHIP: SO CW/SSB, SO CW only, SO SSB only, MS, HQ Stations.

Then the numbers of "Qualified logs" from all categories were summed up on a continent basis, giving the "Total # of Qualified logs". Table 2 shows team allocation for the 51 teams.

Table 2 - Team allocation based on the total number of "Qualified logs"

2. Teams

We plan for a 53-team (2 contestants in each team) competition. Fifty-one teams will be chosen according to the rules described below. In addition, there will be a defending champions' Team (N5TJ - ex KR0Y&K1TO) and a bonus team for the Organizer - Slovenia Contest Club. The U.S. teams will be determined in a different way than the rest of the World. According to table 3 below, 12 teams are allocated to U.S. and 3 teams to the rest of North America.

Table 3 - Team allocation within North America (based on above mentioned contests from 1995-1996)

As far as the selection of U.S. teams is concerned, we are very much in favor of the same concept applied in 1996. This method will be described in a later message from the SCC. For the other continents, including the rest of North America, our idea is that team leaders will be determined by calculations based on scores achieved in the following contests from 1995-1999: CQWW CW&SSB (last one to count WW CW 1998), CQWPX CW&SSB (last one to count WPX SSB 1999) and IARU HF CHAMPIONSHIPS (last one to count IARU 1999; the 1996 IARU event will be canceled from the calculations, due to large participation of contesters in WRTC'96). This gives a total of 20 possible contest scores, out of which 15 best scores will be used to qualify. For the Europeans only, we will consider including scores from EU HF CHAMPIONSHIP 1998 & 1999 to the list.

Based on above calculations, separate continent lists will be compiled. For example, South America gets 3 teams according to the ratio between continents. Consequently, the first three operators on the continental list for S.A. are the Team Leaders. It would be solely up to them to choose his/her team-mate. The only requirement is that the team-mate comes from the same continent.

We would strongly like to encourage every contester interested in taking part in WRTC2000 as a competitor, to submit preliminary application on a form included below. This would give us a "feeling" on how large the interest in WRTC2000 is. Please make sure you are submitting ONLY officially published scores from before mentioned contests! You should update your application every time new results are published in CQ Magazine or QST. Applications should be sent to the following e-mail address: scc [at] bit [dot] si

Application form
Permanent call-sign:
Name:
Address:
E-mail:
Country of citizenship:
CONTEST CATEGORY CALL-SIGN SCORE

3. The Contest

IARU HF CHAMPIONSHIP 2000, of course! However, we are preparing some "nasty" surprises for you, guys. Here are the main changes, compared to WRTC `96:

- All 24 hours' operation during the 2000 IARU HF Championship, 80-10 meters, with obligatory 4 hour time-off period (maximum 2 time-off periods, lasting no less than 1 hour). We believe that time-off rule will add to the overall strategy and also give enough room to fight thunderstorms, which frequently develop during the summer period.

- As an addition to (but not within) IARU HF CHAMPIONSHIP, CW & SSB simulated reception (pile-up tapes) will be added. All teams will listen to the same tapes and try to figure out as many correct call-signs as possible, within a set period of time.

- The overall score for an entering Team will not be calculated according to common "points x mults" formula, but will be compiled from scores from four different standings. The best team in each standing will get maximum of 100 points and the rest of the crowd will get a number of points related to percentage of the score of the best team. The four different standings are:

- CW&SSB simulated reception,

- number of CW QSOs,

- number of SSB QSOs,

- number of multipliers.

The percentage contribution of each standing will be announced in a later message from the SCC.

As an addition to WRTC-2000 reflector, generously provided by Tack, JE1CKA, a WRTC-2000 dedicated WWW page will be created. This should keep everybody well informed on all important news.

Please spread the word among the contesters around the world!

Every first Monday of the month, at 20.00 local time the members gathered at the Club Headhqurters in order to discuss technical problems, experiences at various contests and major club issues.

The adress is:

Slovenia Contest Club
Saveljska 50
Ljubljana 1113
SLOVENIA

tel. +386 61 341-776
E-Mail: scc [at] bit [dot] si