WRTC 2010 Teams Announced; Picks Include Russian Who Operated Illegally in 2008 CQ WW

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted November 15, 2009

After months of qualifying, 45 two-man teams from around the world are now set for the 2010 World Radiosport Team Championships in Russia, as the countdown to the "World Cup" of ham radio contesting is now underway.

There were only a few surprises in this round of selections. One came from the United States, where Mike Wetzel W9RE, the leader of the NA #2 competition, opted out of the trip to Russia as expected.

That opened the door to Terry Zivney N4TZ, who chose Marvin Bloomquist N5AW as his partner.

You can see a full list of the teams in the column on the right.

Among the US teams for 2010 is Scott Robbins W4PA and Ken Widelitz K6LA, who have met in person one time, four years ago after CQ WW SSB efforts from Prince Edward Island in Canada.

"I've talked to him by email and off over the years," Robbins told radio-sport.net, saying that Widelitz was "enthusiastic" about WRTC and had participated before.

"We're going to try and arrange a practice contest or two," said Robbins.

The field also expanded in several cases when a WRTC qualifier picked another qualifier as his teammate.

That happened in EU #3, where Tonno Vahk ES5TV chose Toivo Hallikivi ES2RR. That opened the way for Ged Lucinskas LY9A to grab a team leader's position.

Asia region #3 had much the same happen as first and third place finishers UN9LW and UN7LZ joined together as one team.

That allowed the next best finisher, Faisal Al-Ajmi 9K2RR of Kuwait to qualify. He picked his fellow countryman Hamad Alnusif 9K2HN.

More Controversy With WRTC Choices

With concerns over the selection of Andy Kotovsky UU4JMG still bubbling, the latest controversial addition to the 2010 WRTC is Dimitry Kryukov RA3CO, who was picked as a teammate by RV3BA.

Kryukov had one of the top Single Operator scores in the 2008 CQ WW SSB Contest, but his entry was rejected after the government of Colombia ruled that the Russian contester operated CQ WW from that South American nation without a proper license.

Kryukov was also accused of pirating the call of Wolfgang Torres HK3RA without his permission in that same contest.

You can read more about the details at http://www.radio-sport.net/hk_ra3co1.htm.

Kryukov's case was never commented on publicly by the CQ WW Contest Committee, and never noted in the printed results, though his log was made available on the internet by CQ WW, confirming his entry.

It was what some have termed a "private disqualification" - which in this case allows Kryukov to participate in WRTC 2010, even though the CQ WW CC decided his entry violated the rules of the contest.

Meanwhile, the case of UU4JMG is still raising eyebrows among contesters. Kotovsky avoided being barred from the 2010 WRTC by arguing that he was not part of the 2008 CQ WW SSB operation from UU7J, which was disqualified.

Kotovsky reportedly claimed that he was traveling out of the country, even though he was listed - both on 3830 and in the official UU7J log - as one of the operators.

A further review shows the 3830 submission after the 2008 CQ WW SSB was made by Kotovksy, from his own email address:

In 2009, Kotovsky was in Georgia with UU0JM as 4L0A. He also used the same email address to post his score on 3830.

In both cases, he listed his own call as part of the team on 3830.