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While the IARU HF Championships may just be a regular July contest for many in the ham radio contest community, for those involved in the World Radiosport Team Championships in Russia, there is furious preparation underway for the World Cup of amateur radio contesting.
"Now that we have things working, I am getting excited," said Randy Thompson K5ZD, who will be paired with Tom Georgens W2SC.
"It is going to be a very interesting competition and one that will really test the ability of the two operators to work together for the full 24 hours."
While Thompson & Georgens were doing some last minute practice work, the Russian organizers were busy making final changes to the list of teams that will be in Moscow.
The headlines include HI3TEJ finally getting a teammate, but then dropping out of the competition, as Teddy Jiminez was allowed to choose someone outside of the Central American region, but then opted against traveling to Russia.
"Unfortunately, Ted HI3TEJ, after being joined by John P40W had to withdraw at the very last moment for personal reasons. We'll miss him" read a statement on the WRTC 2010 web site.
"I'm back to being a referee," said John Crovelli W2GD/P40W, who went from ref to competitor and back to ref in the space of about a week.
Meanwhile, one team of American operators has informed organizers that they will not be going to Moscow in July either.
"Unfortunately, the Hawaiian team of Mike KH6ND and John KH6SH had to resign from participation for personal reasons. Since there is no replacement for Team Oceania #2 we will be missing this team," said organizers.
"We are ready," said Luc PY8AZT, who will be operating with PY2NDX in Russia.
"I never operate abroad, so I´m not so sure about how to work a European station from Moscow," told radio-sport.net. "Well, many competitors aren´t also. I guess, strategy will play the big role in this WRTC."
As you can see on the sidebar to the right, some teammates have been getting together for practice sessions to make sure they are as ready as possible for WRTC, which runs alongside the IARU HF Championships in July.
The special WRTC reflector has been on overdrive for weeks now, as competitors not only ask very specific rules questions, but also navigate their way through a bureaucratic maze to make sure their equipment and licenses will be ready upon arrival in Russia.
For example, here is the description of what each team will get in their "Field Day style" setups for the WRTC:
Many of these operators have had very little experience working a contest with each other, as the pairs format of this event is rare.
That has led a number of the WRTC qualifiers to get together and try to create a little chemistry before the start of the 2010 WRTC, which is run as part of the 2010 IARU HF Championships.
Our first team photo is two very experienced US contesters, Tom Georgens W2SC and Randy Thompson K5ZD. The two are pictured at Thompson's QTH during this year's CQ WPX CW Contest, where they did a dry run of their WRTC setup.
The next WRTC team was a duo chosen by the Russian hosts as the "Youth" team representing Russia. On the left is 20 year old Yury Khmelenko and his partner and 23 year old Anton Navnychko RX9TL.
A third team that's been logging some practice time is another American squad, that of
Krassy Petkov K1LZ and Jeff Briggs K1ZM, shown here in May.
While others have been getting together for practice sessions, Bernd Och DL6FBL and his teammate Dieter DL3DXX have been working contests together for some time, and feel confident about where they stand.
"That’s nothing different from what we’ve been doing the past few years during CQ 160m Contest for instance. We both know how to operate a two-radio setup, which is only allowed one signal at a time, even if the two radios are on the same band. We can operate very closely together, and that’s most of the secret!" Och told radio-sport.net
As for some of the complex ideas on how best to put together a Field Day-style setup for the 2010 WRTC, Och sounded confident in an email last week.
Our technical setup will not differ much from other teams. We will have two Elecraft K3’s (it’s not because that rig is regarded so great – it’s just because they only weigh 3 kilograms each!). We’ll have two regular Dunestar 600 bandpass filter banks, and a microHAM Double Six Switch for the coax distribution."
"The only gadget we have is a TRIPLEXER box, which is enabling us to use the Tribander Yagi on two bands at the same time. We can transmit on 20 meters, while listening on the same antenna on 15 meters for instance."
"This magic is done by a dedicated filter box activating special RF bandpass filter combinations, which will add another +40 dB to the regular Dunestar 600 band pass filters."
This second photo is an inside view of the two Dunestar filters.
As you can tell, the WRTC is about more than just showing up with your two radios.
