Comments

Comments about WRTC-2000

August 01st 2000

Special thanks to the following:

Our host, Darko, S54DL, and his wife, who did everything possible to make our three days with them enjoyable.

Darko's mom and dad, who put us up and fed us continuously at the farm house below Bukovski Vrh.

The members of the CB Club, who sponsored a great party at the Kuk site.

Our referee, Mirko, S57AD, who helped us haul all of the heavy equipment all the way from Bled to Bukovsky Vrh, and then back again.

It was a wonderful week, full of great memories. My next trip to Europe with my xyl will definitely include some time in Slovenia, and I have also recommended the Bled area to my travel agent.

73
Dave Hachadorian, K6LL

I would like to express my sincerely thanks to all of people of CB club Porezen in Kuk for their unforgetable hospitality! 50 members of this
club including children, many of them were visiting us and giving us their support! That's a nice people. My collegaues from Spain were very
surpraising regard them, as there're no clubs in such way exist in Spain. And especially thanks goes to Tone Crv, S54E, who has the realy HAM SPIRIT.
Nice to meet all of you. I would try to be back to Slovenia some next years. I red and heard hundreds of glowing accounts about great efforts of SCC. And all of them are true. Thanks again and hope to see you in the air and personaly.
Sorry for delay with this letter because my vacation is continued in Trieste and Bad Hofgastein till now.

Sergei, UX1UA / UV5U

N3BB/5's wrap-up expresses it so well. His prose captures the universally exhilarating atmosphere we all experienced in Slovenia. Although Terry and I have been in Slovenia on several previous trips, this was the most exciting and perfectly orchestrated experience ever. Just to say thanks to our wonderful hosts seems hardly sufficient to express our true feelings.

For the future, I support Carl Cook's recommendation that four years is perhaps too long an interval between these events. Two years would be more appropriate in my estimation. As many of us are in, or getting into the older age category (+60), it is impossible to know just how our health will be in upcoming years. One thing for sure, as long as my old body permits me to travel, I will be coming back for more of the comradeship, excitement, and pure fun that IS the World Radiosport Team Championship.

73,

Lew Gordon, K4VX

It has taken me two weeks to get back home and to absorb my experiences of the WRTC in order to be able to write this letter. My wife, Diana, and I stayed in Slovenia after the contest and played tourist until Friday, renting a car and driving up into Austria Wednesday, and over into eastern Slovenia and Croatia Thursday. Those days, coupled with the Tuesday minibus tour to Venice enabled us to get several new experiences and to see places for the first time. The whole WRTC Slovenian experience was terrific, and I'll never forget it.

The contest week really started for me at the Frankfurt airport where K4BAI and K4UEE and I met for the flight to Ljubjana. We were impressed with the efficiency of the military pick up support at the Ljubjana Aerodrome, and it was exciting to see the banners and promotional signs as we approached Bled. Diana and I had been in Athens, Greece, the week before on a business trip, which came up at the last minute, and I had missed the announcement of the station location draws the week before. N3AD and I had received an email from Ducan, S52DG, one of our station hosts, welcoming us to the station, and Alan had read that. The WRTC HQ office at the Astoria was very well done, and the efficient dispersal of the bags with the information and tee shirts, maps, etc. was very well done. N3AD and his wife, Gloria, showed up at the Hotel Astoria contest HQ room, about the same time I did, and one day earlier than originally planned, with a rental
car packed to the gills, and so we were all there. We were excited with the map showing the station locations. The initial gatherings around beer at the outside hotel tables were high energy and charged with excitement, and it was nice to see many old friends and to meet many, many new ones. Bled was such a pretty location that it took my breath away with the lake, the island, the castle, and the mountains. It reminded me of my boyhood home in the Appalachian Mountains in southern West Virginia in the USA.

The week was well planned, and the competitors' meeting was very interesting. It was clear that people had thought of a wide range of
questions regarding things we had not considered. The SCC handled things well, and the judgement call about off times policy was well received. Later, Alan and I set up his radio in his hotel room, and found that the CW keying cable did not key the radio. The internal wiring had broken and was in bad shape.   I had not brought my extra cable. That put pressure on us. N5TJ and K1TO gave us an extra resistor and NPN transistor, so we could make another one if needed, but we didn't have the wiring diagram. Fortunately, VE3EJ had an extra CW keying cable, and we appreciate that loan very much. We did have several small things to resolder and repair, and my soldering gun running off the 220V-110V transformer came in handy, even if it weighed 12 KG!    When Gloria came back to their room one day, she nearly fainted when she saw the hotel room totally covered from one side to the other with radios, supporting gear, a laptop, cables, a monitor, soldering stuff and a big transformer. One upsetting event occurred when we plugged in the six position AC strip I had brought from the station at home. It had oversurge protection MOVs in it, and apparently didn't like the 50 Hz power, as it exploded with a big bang, blowing the breaker and shutting down the room power for four hours until an electrician came. He was a ham, and secretly explained to us where the breaker box was, so we could reset the breaker if we did it again!    Alan's six position AC power strip worked OK at 50 Hz, so we had one working AC power strip for the gear. In the mean while, we set up the station on a table out in the 4th floor corridor at the Park Hotel, and were the subject of quite a few strange looks as hotel guests passed by. The other open ended item for us was an adapter we had forgotten to bring to connect the external keyboard to the laptop. Thanks to S53R and S59AA for helping us find two, not one of these things! All I all, that day was unnerving!

The pileup tape competition was well done, and the process of conducting the two modes was done well in the Bled festival Center, a nice facility. Nervous energy was in the air now for sure.

When Alan and I had the chance to meet the host group and our judge in the Hockey Rink over beers and a meal, it was really exciting.   Our judge was the well known Montenegrin contester, Ranko, YT6A. The hosts were two brothers, S52DG and S52LD, and their two really good friends, S52QM and S52MW. On Thursday, the opening ceremonies were quite impressive to us all, and everyone enjoyed the "procession," the speeches, the dancers, and the whole scene. Later, at dinner that night the atmosphere turned a bit more serious as the week was moving on, and the time to drive to the stations was approaching the next day. Our hosts had put together a station on an 850 meter hilltop close to a very small village named Golica (pronounced Go-leech-ah), about 10 KM from Zelezniki. There is an electrical power line to the station because the ten houses in Golica are only a KM away, so no generator was needed. That 10KM takes a while to
drive because it's straight up and the narrow road becomes gravel! The station was well designed with good electrical grounds and a terrific view of the valley below, and beyond to the OE alps about 40 KM away. There is a clear shot to the northwest (USA and Europe) and to the east. One of the stunning churches seem commonly in Slovenia is located on a near hill top about 100 meters higher, and the carillon bells late at night and early in the morning were surreal with their clarity and loudness in the high mountain air. The station is located in a container building about two or three meters wide by five or six meters long. A Slovenian army tent had been erected 30 meters away for sleeping Friday night. We were excited and ready to set up the station, but Dusan (pronounced Dushan), S52DG, politely requested that we drive to meet the parents. "It will just take a few minutes," he said. The meetings were terrific, with each of the three stops having a nice spead of white wine and some sort of fruit juice, usually home made, plus some killer good pastries and cookies. All the parents were really nice and would not take "no" as a reasonable position when they offered their specialties. No one spoke a word of English but there was a lot of serious smiling, grinning, and gesturing and laughing, and things went swimmingly. We got a chance to see the very nice home stations of the four hosts, as the hilltop station was fairly new, and all had maintained their stations at home as well. So after three hours or so of the home tours, we were on the way back to the hilltop, but we had one more stop to make, lunch with the mayor of the region around Zelezniki. A
nice man, he spoke some English, and Alan and I had a wonderful meal including veal and mushroom sauce, a terrific treat. We were presented nice gifts including the lace doilies and small cakes for which Zelezniki; a town of 5000 residents is famous. Zelezniki is translated as Iron City in Slovenian, and it has a history as an iron center back 1000 years in time, with the original iron metal smelter still standing in the town center.

By this time, we were anxious to set up the station, and confirm that everything worked, plus we wanted to get on the air with our S5 portable calls. The hosts told us that the weather forecast was dreadful, with a major cold front from the northwest dropping into Slovenia Saturday during the contest. The forecast was for very bad storms, with severe weather possible! Things looked bad. So the whole group drove back up to the hilltop dwelling on this news. Since we were the closest station to Bled, about 50 minutes away, and since Ranko had his family with him, he went back to Bled Friday night. Alan and I finished setting everything up at the station about 9 PM. The 1000 Watt transformer was running the station on 110 Volts quite well. There were a few RF feedback issues, but when we grounded all the equipment, that went away, and we appeared to be set. The hosts left, and we were sitting at an outside table eating a late snack right at dusk. Only the two of us were there. Honestly, the overall scene was such that I expected Julie Andrews to walk up over the hillside to our
meadow in the fading light, an orchestra to appear out of the thick woods nearby, and for Julie to launch into "the hills are alive with the sound of music!" What a memorable scene. Later, as we were starting to get on the air, my KC CW keyer (to be used along with the keyboard) suddenly went berserk and would not send CW. A check of its small power supply showed that it was putting out only 7.8 Volts of DC with the 50 Hertz supply, and the spec on the keyer was 8-15 Volts. We swapped another 13 Volt DC supply and it worked fine. So out came the soldering iron, a spare male RCA plug was connected to some wire, and we used the 13 Volts outlet off the back of my FT1000MP. All that took another hour to fix, with some additional angst, so now it was 11 PM Friday night. We taped the great circle map, our band plan, and an ITU chart to the shack walls, and finally we were ready! Both of us got on the air and worked some people, and the station seemed to get out well. Then we had to force ourselves to sleep. About 12:30 AM, I went to the tent, and lay there listening to the sound of Alan working people on SSB. About 1:30 AM, I walked back to the station building through the meadow and told Alan it was important for both of us to get a decent night's sleep. He finally came to the tent, and immediately fell asleep with a serious case of loud high altitude snoring! So now he was asleep, and I was the one still awake! It was hot Friday night before the weather front, but the tent was comfortable up at the 850 meter elevation.

We both woke at sunrise at about 5 AM local time Saturday. We tried to nap a bit more but soon we were up. It was hard to believe that this was the actual day the contest would begin, only a few hours from that time. For the past several years, I had hoped and planned for this day, and now it was here! The carillon bells were cascading us with great church bell music, and the overall scene was fantastic. Soon, our wonderful station hosts were there with a big continental breakfast with terrific mocha coffee and home baked breads. The morning was spent meeting quite a few townspeople from Golica and Zelezniki who drove up or walked up the mountain the see the "Americans who are going to represent our area" in the international competition, according to the newspaper interview with Dusan, S52DG. Apparently we were the first Americans to be in the area, and were some sort of item of interest. As 1200Z approached, Ranko returned from Bled, the townspeople left, the hosts retreated to the tent, and we got ready to go.

Ranko opened the sealed envelope and we looked at our call, S563X, which I could not pronounce. Each separate letter and number requires separate facial muscles to say the sound, and the whole thing was and is difficult for me. But since Alan was going to do the SSB and I the CW, it didn't matter that much as Alan had no problems pronouncing the call. The new call was programmed into the laptop, and at 1200Z, the magical bell rang! We started on 15 meter SSB, but with no results at all! Finally we got one answer to our CQ, but it was clear that we could not run SSB at that time. We switched to CW, and had a good first hour. The contest was a blur. The weather front hit Saturday night, and it rained all night steadily until Sunday morning-ten hours straight. S9 rain static for hours on end. The temperature dropped sharply, and we had the keep out shack door closed to keep warm. The cold weather clouds raced up from the valleys and across
our hilltop. We did poorly on our mult plan, as well as with the inability to run phone rates.   All in all we were very disappointed, and would like a replay, but such is life.

Shortly after the contest ended at 12Z Sunday, my wife, Diana, arrived from Germany at Ljubjana, where our hosts met her at the airport. Gloria Donziger came up to the site, our host families brought their kids and parents, and all of us were a great big family. A "combi" vehicle, big enough to carry all the radio gear, was there, and we packed up and loaded it with a lot of stuff! Good byes were made, and down the mountain we went, on our way to a wonderful restaurant on another high hilltop nearby. Ducan, Borut, Tomasz, and Neyo insisted on treating us all to a final great meal and we were able to wrap up the contest and be driven back to Bled. Sunday night was fun, but the scores indicated we had not reached our goals, and so we were worried about that. Monday brought the group excursion to the Postoina Caverns and the proscutto ham place on the bus tour, and concluded with the closing ceremonies and the top three team awards, and the final supper gathering in the ice rink. On our minibus trip to and from Venice, I got to know VA7RR, LY3BA, and K3NA a lot better. We talked about the contest almost the whole ride there! 'RR and his XYL and Diana and I did the gondola ride together, and it was fun. What a week.

I speak for Alan in offering sincere thanks to the SCC Organizing Committee, which did such a first class job. The gracious hospitality of the station hosts was a common theme among all the teams, and our hosts were simply wonderful. I believe that lifelong friendships were made.
Future WRTCs will have a high level of overall competence to match based on the Slovenian WRTC in 2000. Thanks to the competitors and judges for the collegial atmosphere. This was an experience of a lifetime!

73, Jim George N3BB/5

Dear Friends:

        God gave me the fantastic opportunity to attend to the three WRTC events, Seattle, San Francisco and now Bled in Slovenia.

        It has been both, an honor and pleasure to be at those three marvelous ham competition parties. The chance to be together with hundreds of five stars operators from all over the world is something that not one of us will forget.

        The Slovenians organized the event combining all positive aspects and lessons learned from the other two previous events, adding a perfect organization and an unforgettable fraternal friendly ambient in all Slovenian country.

        When we arrived at the airport the military guides really acted as old friends, giving us answers to all our questions, demonstrating a deep knowledge relative to the country's history and of course about the event organization.

        At the hotel, I must to admit that I never made such a fast check in at 11:00 at night!!!

        On the next day when we went to the Hotel Astoria to register, everything was perfect again!!. There we started to feel something different. The treatment was not only kind, but gentle and extraordinary friendly. People treated us as very old friends making us comfortable as if we were at home.

        I really don't know how the organizers succeeded in involving all the Slovenian people within the ham's atmosphere. In the restaurants, in the bars, on the streets everybody acted as WRTC attendants.

        The opening ceremony was also fantastic. I felt as an Olympic participant, and the emotion several times overpassed the reality.

        Then we met our hosts. What marvelous people!!!. They stayed with us during all the time as real brothers. If we had decided to eat all the food which they offered to the competitors and referees, we would have been in bad shape.

        The organization of the Contest simulation was, once again, perfect. The very democratic discussions on the rules, having competitors, referees, Judge committee, all together, was excellent. The committee has answered all the competitor questions.

        Another surprise!! The QTH locations, fantastic again!!. We all were imagining how they succeeded to have so many similar superb locations. Really they created some miracles!!.

        The organizers didn't forget some other minor details. Together with Trival Antene (one of the sponsors) they offered a spectacular dinner to the Contest Hall of Fame members present at the event. I think that this was the first time this kind of meeting was organized. Applause again!!.

        They also provided us space and time to have a very good CQWW CONTEST COMMITTEE meeting at Hotel Astoria. The fraternal atmosphere permitted us to maintain a very efficient meeting with some important innovated suggestions for the future contest rules.

        The tours provided by the Slovenians also gave us an excellent opportunity to visit some of the wonderful spots around Bled. Again 5 star treatment.

Another magnificent surprise. The closing ceremony. Impossible to be at the same time more, beautiful, simple and full of ham radio spirit.

        When I was ready to return, I realized that it was impossible to obtain such success only due the fantastic job of the organization committee lead by this miraculous Tine Brajnik S50A. ALL THE SLOVENIAN PEOPLE MADE THE DIFFERENCE. They worked together with the S5 just as an orchestra would do.

        Finally I must thank GOD for:

-    To be there in Bled with my wife Marcia ZZ5MCO, receiving the gift to participate in this WRTC 2000.
-    To be together with PP5JR and Monica, PY5CC, PY2NY and Ana, PY1KN (The Brazilian mission), beloved Brothers.
-    To consolidate a solid friendship with so many hams.
-    To visit this marvelous country Slovenia, and to meet this even marvelous people.
-    To learn with the competitors and referees.
-    To honor our Argentinean friend and member of our Araucaria Group LU8DQ (Silent Key) offering a Trophy to the Canadian Team for         the best score outside Europe and US.
-    To call all of you as BROTHERS.

To all Slovenian people our deep and best thanks !

Well my brothers I promise, with the help of God to attend all the future WRTC events.

        Best 73

Atilano de Oms PY5EG

Hi All,
My new friend, Yuri 'UZ thinks he might be last to check in after getting home but I must possibly claim that honor. Frequently my scores can be found in a similar place so this is fitting.

I have been traveling a great deal almost since the very moment I arrived back in Reno. I wanted to get this message of thanks off earlier but must admit that for once in my life, I have found myself speechless. (the crowd roars).

The whole WRTC experience that started with Ralph K9ZO's telephone call to ask me to join him in Slovenia and extended through the entire event was totally overwhelming for me.

So many fantastic people met, so many old friendships renewed, so many new friendships started, so much contesting excellence experienced in such close quarters, so many smiles and laughs, so much unconditional and unselfish kindness and respect received, so many handshakes and hugs, the list goes on and on.

Thank you to my hundreds of "Contest Heroes" who humbly and generously accept me and my shy wife, Lieska, into your sphere of friends each day and night in Slovenia.

From my heart, I wish to extend my deepest gratitude to the Slovenia Contest Club and the WRTC 2000 Committee for your every minute of effort to make this historic event happen. I love "movers and shakers" and you are every ounce that, my friends!

To my new Slovenia family, 'Pol S57U and Samo S57KAA, my heart pounds with emotion now as I try and thank you for opening your personal world to Ralph and I - all of us now have a much extended family to share more ties in the years to come -- family is forever.

Lieska will never forget the warmth of the woman who, like her, traveled to Slovenia to try and comprehend the magnitude of the adventure their mate was living. (Nora - she says she will be in Dubai visiting you sooner than you think!)

A special thank you to our newest Hall of Famer, Walter DJ6QT, who opened his home to us, took all my feisty abuse and ribbing -- and tossed plenty back in return. But even more important, he was kind enough to offer me some personal consul that I shall never forget.

Each WRTC event seems to breath a life and character of its own - I can hardly wait until the next gathering comes along with its own flavor and memories.

73 Dennis Motschenbacher K7BV - S566Z

WRTC 2000 was for me the most important Ham radio event in my life. I attend to the other two previous WRTC and I was very happy with it, but the WRTC 2000 was something special!!!!

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S T O A L L O F Y O U !!

Hope to see you on the band.

Oms PY5EG

Have just arrived home after a wonderful experience at WRTC in Slovenia. The SCC and WRTC Committee did an outstanding job of organizing what was without doubt the greatest event in Amateur Radio history.

Thanks to S57AW and the guys at S50G for their gracious hospitality and support.

73,
Ron, K8NZ
North Coast Contesters
Team Captain (with W2GD)
WRTC 2000

Dear friends,

I read your comments and am very glad that you all returned home all right. My mind and heart is still in the beautiful and sunny Slovenia. I would like to thank to the all Slovenia organizers very much for the unforgettable week. Special thanks to Robi, S53WW, Stojan, S51WI, Igor, S51IK and others from S59DEM club for their hospitality. I hope that I will have a chance to return it.

73´s and gl. Jan, OK1QM

Thanks for writing up stories about some of the "behind the scenes" activities. I really enjoyed reading about what was happening with other
people, while I was doing other things.

I hope all the S5 WRTC participants understand how much we enjoyed visiting Slovenia -- and our admiration at the outstanding organization of WRTC. I can not think of any way in which WRTC could have been improved.

Future hosts can only hope to equal the performance of Slovenia.

Here in the Washington DC area, PVRC club members that I've talked to in the last few days were thrilled at the level of contest activity from S5 during the IARU/WRTC. As one person told me on 2 meters, "There were Slovenian stations with every conceivable form of callsign: S5S all the way up thru S571W and S5/something very long! And they were everywhere! If you couldn't hear a Slovenian station within the passband of your receiver, your radio was either broken or tuned outside of the ham bands."

I can only echo what others have said: I will remember WRTC-2000 forever as a highlight of my life.

Warmest regards,
Eric K3NA

That was definitely the occasion of a lifetime! I can't praise the organisation of WRTC too much. To the Roberts, Tine, Mario and all the
others, my hat is off to you, also to our hosts at the Ljubljana Club and Tomaz S59W in particular. WRTC2004 has a big challenge to equal what you have done. It was also a pleasure to see a country so filled with greenery and dedicated to keep it that way.

As a member of the oldest team in the competition, 121 years between us, I can tell you I was pleased with the results and can understand how difficult it would have been to place substantially higher in the standings, after meeting the other participants. Those young fellows really can get the job done! Special praise to Dan and Jeff who were gracious in their victory, true champions.

Oh, yes, the Air Canada saga plays on, the baggage arriving the next day after the plane ;-) Oh, yes, there may still be a pilot's strike. Talks have broken off.

73 Bob VE3KZ the second half of S561Canada with VE3BMV

Hello Everybody !

We are in our homes again, but my mind is still at Slovenia... Was an incredible time, living together with those incredible people... Many thanks to all organization crew, and remember that will be hard to make better in the future, with next WRTC events...
Was the best experience in my life, taking good wine and food with our host, and talking about radio and other things with S58T, K6NA (our referee), PP5JR team boss, and Janez...
I'm sure that I'll come back into Slovenia again...

73 from PY2NY (CW'er at S532N station)
Vitor Luis Aidar dos Santos, PY2NY

HI all

We are back in Lithuania after an unforgettable trip to Bled. On behalf of my team (S512T) I would like to thank and congratulate S5 guys again for their hard work and amazing hospitality. Our thanks also go to our host Vito,S56M for being an excellent host.

73&CU in the Contests soon!

Gedas,LY3BA
Rimas,LY2BM

Hello everybody!

It has been said many times before on this reflector, and I would just like to say it one more time: WRTC 2000 was an amazing experience. Hats off to the organizers for what they have achieved! I only wish I would have had a chance to talk to everyone who was there...

I would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to everybody at Radio Club Maribor, S59ABC! The station was perfectly well prepared, we enjoyed their great hospitality, and we received every assistance we could possibly dream of (within the rules of WRTC 2000, that is!).

As you're talking about having next WRTC in only two years' time: it won't be easy to put on such a great show every two years! The Slovenian Contest Club has really set a standard that won't be easy to follow...

CUAGN!

73, Felix, DL5XL, S583D in WRTC 2000.

PS: See you in RSGB IOTA Contest on July 29/30!

As I type this while flying back over the Atlantic after 3 wonderful weeks in Europe, I can't help but wonder whether everyone else
was as thrilled with the gathering in S5 as I was!

The entire team of Organizers went from "who are these guys?" status 4 years ago in California to "how could anyone top that?" status now!

Jeff, WC4E and I travelled extensively throughout Europe over the 3 weeks we were on the continent and covered almost 7000 KM in the rental car (the rental agent did a double-take when we returned it this AM!). The other Jeff, N5TJ joined us for a few of those days and a whole lot of driving.

There were many highlights of the trip, but the consistent warmth of the Slovenian hospitality and support was at the top of the list. Most of us did not know what to expect from this visit and that was blatantly obvious from all the questions and doubt that permeated this reflector in the weeks and months preceding WRTC. Concerns about customs, bears, snakes, coax switches, cold wx, etc, etc were patiently and systematically addressed and NONE of them turned out to be anything close to the issue that some had built them up to be - yet another indication of the tremendous effort that our hosts put into this!

Having the opportunity to meet so many new friends and deepen relationships with existing friends was by far my biggest take-away from this week. Yes, the trophies are tremendous, too, but any of a number of teams could've walked away with them and my feeling would be the same. That is a one-time occurrence. Friendships last forever.

You guys may have the prefix of S5, but you will always be S9+++ in my mind.

Thanks.

vy 73, Dan, K1TO/4

Hello Contesters!

Thank you very much to all the Slovenian Guys for the very fine organization, was impressive to be together with the best contesters in the
world for a full week....

Cu soon in the pile-up !!!!!

Stefano, IK2QEI

Team Italy #1, one of S562P

I've been in Bled during the week of WRTC like companion, I have to say that was a wonderful exciting experience. Thank you to Tine S50A & Slovenian Team for the great professional organization in WRTC and given to me opportunity to meet a lot of Contester-friends.
See you soon all of them

73 de Pietro, IK4MTF

The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC-2000), held in Slovenia, exceeded every expectation for an outstanding success. The organising committee deserve all the congratulations that have been flowing from around the world. From the moment that I arrived in Bled Slovenia, I could see the overhead banners and public displays that welcomed visitors and involved every member of the Bled community in the enthusiasm of the event.

Slovenia provided an outstanding venue with high quality hotel accommodation, meeting places, catering, guided tours and, spread across
the country, 53 amateur radio stations that were carefully prepared for equal performance.

My congratulations extend to the leading team Dan Street, K1TO and Jeff Steinman, N5TJ. Dan and Jeff combined their talents to demonstrate how to achieve outstanding results under highly competitive and challenging conditions.

Special thanks go to all participants, supporters, referees, drivers, and hosts for making WRTC2000 a most enjoyable and memorable event.

We can all look forward to seeing, hearing and reading more about the great success of WRTC2000 over the coming months. My digital photos are now ready to be sent to John Devoldere for production of the special WRTC2000 photo CD. You might want to make a cup of coffee while waiting for a few previews http://homepage.renren.com/john_loftus/index.html to download. The beauty and tranquility of Lake Bled is breathtaking.

73, John Loftus VK4EMM

Hi Folks,

All I can say is what the others have said, and then some....WOW...Gonna be a real hard act to follow! And, What a Beautiful Country!
Additionally, It is awesome to see the motivation and drive behind many of the S5 ops which was shown in the effort they put into locating and building of their contest stations, at really optimum hilltop locations. I am also looking for a printed copy of a map with the callsigns
imprinted on it. I had one, but it was being passed around about the time of the fireworks at the lake, and was lost. I would like to write an
article about the event, and hope someone has a map copy. Also, the contest callsigns used at each location. The map I had was a photocopy of the one posted at the Astoria HQ. I would gladly pay for postage to my California address..

Also, I've arrived safely back in Monterey, and checked out the station, It's all still intact at 599 DX Drive, awaiting any guest ops, who want to operate...Come vacation to the Monterey Peninsula, and you are only 15 minutes from N6IJ...The BBQ, refrigerator, FT990 and beams await....

73, DX, de
Pat, AA6EG/N6IJ

Had a very nice time as a visitor to the WRTC in Bled. The results of all the efforts was amazing, the planning was down to the detail level,
even the dancing team at the opening and closing ceremonies and the fireworks!

Operated from the station at the HQ site, Hotel Astoria. Using a vertical and 100Ww in a poor location make 100 qso's. Alot of fun to hear
the contest from Europe.

The whole operation will be in my mind forever. Those of us there are wondering if it will be possible to top the effort and results achieved
by the WRTC 2000 committee.

Ray, N6VR

Hi all, specially S5 friends !

Million thanks to all of you for the most extraordinary ham radio event ever happened. To our brothers in S5 congratulations for everything. We will never forget the friendship they devoted to us. When I get back to Brasil I will try to express in a letter my deep feelings.
God, for sure will compensate that, giving to those friends and their families health, success, and happiness.

God bless you !

Oms, PY5EG

Hello,

We are finally back home after an incredible 10 days stay in Slovenia!

We would like to thanks Tine, S50A and his team for such fantastic organization. Our BIG THANKS to our host Arpi, S51AY! Special thanks to S51TA, S51ZO, S57MHZ, S57MW, S59W for technical support. Also thanks to S52EZ, S54AC, S57RA, S50C team and many many others...

It was unforgettable event!

73,

Dainius, LY1DS
Saulius, LY4AA

Only think I can say is repeat all the comments wrote in this reflector before. Incredible week-end in Slovenia, their preparation, the ham spirit, and the best important ... the Slovenian people.

Congratulation to organization, they can't done better . I wish to thank's organization, our host Tone - S54E - and Radioclub Cerkno -S50E, the support all of the CB Porezen KRN Tolmin for they hospitality.

Wold wide radio ham community should learn about the example of the Slovenian radio ham spirit.

I will keep in my memory these unforgettable week-end .

I hope to see everybody in next WRTC.

Fernando, EA3KU - S567F

I am finally back home in Cyprus after an unforgettable week in Bled. On behalf of the Cyprus team I would like to thank and congratulate Tine and his team for their work and amazing hospitality. Well done guys!! Our thanks also go to our host Drago, S51XA for being an excellent host.

Best 73s

Andreas 5B4LP - Marios 5B4WN

Of all the adjectives that I've thought about I think the word "spectacular" best describes WRTC 2000! What an event - a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will never forget. The Slovenia hams out did themselves in their preparation - I heard not one complaint during the entire week.

Thanks to everyone for making this a memorable experience and congratulations to the winners and organizers. I will return to Slovenia for another visit!

Tony N7BG

To Tine Brajnik, S50A and Crew!

A hearty well done guys!!!! It was fantastic.....you should be very PROUD of what you achieved. It will be a very hard act to follow.

All the best and CU on the bands.

73 Jeff, K1ZM

Hello Friends!

Back home (in the office) I also want to thank Tine, Robert and all the other S5-guys for the great job and the wonderfull preparation of this
unique event, it was really a "once-in-the-life-time" event. Special thanks also to Stanko, S50S, our station host, for his great hospitality (Coming back home my weight is 2 kg more!)

Thank you very much again and CU all in the contests soon.

73 de Wolf, OE2VEL (S533G)

The team Italy 1 was back at home safely. I would like to thank you all the S5 wich gave us an opportunity to meet, to enjoy, to make a nice contest. Our organizer, hosts were very nice.
Thank you for the good time and see you on the air.

Giorgio, I2VXJ

Hi !

We are back to home. We had an incredible week, lot of souvenirs in the head. It was a pleasure to see all these famous callsigns for real, sharing ideas and comments.

A very great event which I would not have missed !

73 Gérard F6FGZ (one of S543C)

Tine and all the rest of the SCC team !

Let me add my voice to those who praise the excellent venue, arrangements, organization, execution and truly pleasant atmosphere at Bled. A great pleasure to meet scores of old friends in such wonderful circumstances...

The standard has been set...as others have already pointed out, the next WRTC organizers have a real challenge..to improve on Bled will be daunting indeed!

I salute You all for a job well done!

73, Hans
OH2EA/OH2BDP

Hi all

Already back home in Paris area, all in a single day. Hope all of you are safe at home. It was really nice to meet all of you in person, some for the firts time.

For the ones that missed WRTC-2000 and heard it was a big success, I can confirm this but I'm sure the rumors were under the real facts.Tine and his SCC team did an unbelievable job and all of them have to be congratulated for the perfect organisation of everything. An excellent job guys, and again thank you.

All was so great right from the beginning that we have been surprised not to see at least a Minister or a Slovenian government member at the opening ceremony !

All the S5 worked a lot, except the guy in charge of the Complaints Office:-) He has sleep continuously for a week and he could certainly assist the guys at the Congratulations office !!

The WRTC organisation standards have been set up at the top level. Who can match this for the 2004 edition ?

Best 73 de Jacques, F6BEE (once half of S543C)

Hi !

Safely arrived Buenos Aires. I guess there's no way for us to describe with words what we experienced in S5. Thanks from heart to all the people involved in the organization of WRTC 2000. Deep heart thanks to Drago S50Q for being the greatest and kindest host I have ever had.

73
Martin, LW9EUJ

Hello boys!

Just got home ...I'd like to thank all of you for a great show we had for a week. I am sure we'll keep it in memory for a long time.

73s, Harry RA3AUU,S587N

As a competitor in WRTC 2000 I can endorse the comments already made here on the reflector on the fantastic organisation of the event by the Slovenians. From the time we were collected at the airport by army transport it was obvious that Tine and his team had gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure the success of WRTC.

While the competition was the core of WRTC, it was also a great opportunity to put faces to many of the callsigns that I have worked in contests over the years. I renewed aquaintance with some of the people not seen since the first WRTC in Seattle ten years ago, and met many others for the first time. It was a magical week.

Bled is a great location, and I will certainly be returning for a holiday though I will miss the experience of walking by the lake and meeting by chance people whose callsigns appear so frequently in my contest logs.

As to the WRTC contest itself, we are disappointed by our placing but the simple answer is that we were in the company of very many top contesters! This event has enhanced the already considerable reputation of the S5s in the contesting world and it is a week of my life that I will never forget.

Dave G4BUO

Team UK - G3SXW+G4BUO - S568Y

WRTC Team

Thank you for a wonderful week and for your hospitality. Andy and I had a great time. It was a great job - you should all be PROUD of your work.

It was FANTASTIC!

CU on the air.

Jeff, K1ZM

Congratulations to the undisputed champions of radio, K1TO and N5TJ!! You guys proved that you are undoubtedly the best of the best! Words cannot do justice to the feats you have accomplished. Your performance says it all!

With all due respect to the dynamic duo, it appears the REAL winners of WRTC were the Slovenians. From all accounts I've read and heard, S5 put on an amazing operation over there. S50A and his team deserve enormous accolades for WRTC 2000. The WRTC 2004 organizers can learn a lot from their success. They truly have a tough act to follow! I wish I could have been there!

I echo the comments about signal strength of the S5 stations. It was remarkable how even the stations were, considering the mountainous terrain of Slovenia. Again, the S5 organizers did an incredible job.

To sum it up in one word ... Wow!

Thanks from this side of the pileups!
73 de Glenn K3PP

With a lot of the top US operators over at WRTC I figured this year was my chance so I made a serious effort in the Mixed Mode category, running up some 2319 QSOs and just over 2 million points. As such, I was not searching out WRTC stations most of the time though when first hitting a new band/mode I did call any WRTC stations I happened across while sweeping through the band for IARU society mults.

A few tentative conclusions can be drawn from all of this:

1) Considering the first three place winners, there may have been an advantage to having a callsign beginning with S58 :-)

2) I didn't study the list of WRTC calls before the contest, and I busted one! I did e-mail my log to the WRTC Committee, so sorry if I cost the DL6RAI/OE2VEL team points due to my copying error.

3) Obviously there was no advantage to WRTC stations in working K3ZO. The second-place team didn't find its way into my log at all. On the other hand, the three stations who tied for first place in number of K3ZO QSOs made (with 4 each) finished in 16th, 20th and 40th places, respectively.

4) I agree with other observers that the signals seemed very well matched in strength.

Summing it up, I made a total of 74 valid WRTC QSOs with 43 of the 53 WRTC stations, broken down by band this way:

       15 CW: 12              15 SSB: 15
       20 CW: 16              20 SSB: 12
       40 CW: 19
    TOTAL CW: 47           TOTAL SSB: 27

One of the WRTC stations with an American accent asked me to QSY to 40 meter SSB but I turned them down as I was going for score myself and considered operation on 40 meter SSB a waste of time, since mults count only once regardless of mode. With 20 and 15 wide open to Europe all night long there was no percentage in my making such a move.

From everything I have been able to observe from here the next WRTC host is going to have a hard time equalling the show put on by the S5's. The real WRTC winners were the Slovenians who showed the world how it's done!

73, Fred, K3ZO

I wish to congrat all S5 hams and especially Tine S50A, for a fantastic event, that will be very hard to follow. I was in Bled before and after IARU (QRV as T77C during IARU) and it was a memorable event, that I will remember for ever.

SUPER, Super Super Job, well done boys.

73
Jose Nunes
CT1BOH

WRTC 2000.....Super operators and congratulations to all of them. Also congratulations to the folks who put it all together...a HUGE logistic undertaking.

Good operators hear well too! Because I was running an Elecraft K2 at 10 watts and worked all of the stations. Yep, I'm very happy about this as it goes with the 96 clean sweep albeit not QRP then.

I set out to just have fun and didn't keep track of how many different stations were being worked...just having fun working 142 QSOs with the WRTC stations by the end. SSB and CW on 20 and 15 and 13 QSOs on 40. Antennas are the C31XR on 20 and 15 at 100' and a flat top dipole at 80' on 40.

Signals were relative equal here in East Tennessee overall. None was dominating over any other. Almost without exception all of the ops were very interested in getting my call correct....and you can bet I was not a powerhouse, hi. I'm impressed at their ability to pull me out of that mess.

So life isn't too short for QRP if this past weekend is an example. Thanks to all those helping me have an enjoyable time as it brings back past memories of my good old days with the PVRC.

73, lynn W4NL

PS...yep, Rosie KA4S was close by keeping me honest and cheering me on...good things never change do they?

I only can second Bruce's observations, the stations were nearly equal in signal strength (and what a strength!!) even from the other direction.

My results:
- 98 out of my 1956 IARU-QSO's were made with 45 different competing teams.
- 29 of them were worked more than once, 22 of them on different bands.
- My top-scorers were:
S511E : 6 QSO, 4 Bands (10..40m)
S519I : 6 QSO, 3 Bands (10, 15, 20)
S533G : 5 QSO, 3 Bands (10, 15, 40)
followed by: 3x 4 QSO, 7x 3 QSO, 16x 2 QSO, 16x 1 QSO.

80 meters was out of question (very poor condx this year), but 7 teams managed to hear and work me on 40 meters CW, special congrats to them !!!

Missing announced callsigns in my log are:
S513A
S516M
S523W
S531R
S546Q
S566Z
S576K
S578R

Hats off to the WRTC-2000 organizers and the teams,

vy73,

Joerg, YB1AQS/DL8WPX

I only had a little time Saturday morning to spend in the contest so decided to CQ on 10 CW and see who answered. I beamed about 90 degrees expecting to work EU via backscatter. First QSO was with 4O0HQ at exactly 1200 (I answered him). Following that the following called me:

UTC     Call
1249    S573O
1302    S533G
1332    S543C

Signals were essentially identical...solid 559 by ear but not moving the MP's meter at all. I worked a bunch of other EU (43 total) from 1200 untl 1345 so I conclude most of the WRTC guys were not chasing mults on 10 at that time. Will be interesting to see if any of the guys above had above average mults since they were obviously tuning for them. I understand Sunday's opening was much better so hopefully many of them were able to put some Zone 08's into their logs.

73, Bill W4ZV

About a week before the contest my Dad (ex KC3AJ) decided to do the IARU HF WorldChampionship as a multi-single. Frank's, W3LPL, station was still torn up from Field Day so we ran the contest from my basement and long runs of feedline!!! No rotors. I got a lot of exercise this weekend. My Dad is just getting back into contesting and wanted to break in his new callsign so we used N3ME from the QTH of W3UR with W3LPL antennas. Had a great time with my dad and working all the S5##x stations.

I just tallied up the numbers and it looks like we missed working three of the 53 stations (S538F, S567F and S584M). In total we worked 85 band/mode QSOs.
We did not spend a lot of time chasing them as we did not have packet networked with our computer log. I noticed that most of the stations seemed equal in strength on 20 meters. However on 15 meters there were some differences of about 2 S units. We did not work any of the WRTC stations on 10 meters and only a few on 40 meters, all about the same signal strength. I did not hear any of the WRTC stations on 80 meters, but I did hear one of the Europeans work one there.

Can't wait to see the results.

I have put together the following list of stations that people have either told me or I figured them out from packet spots. The results were supposed to be made at 1500Z today. So we should hear the final results soon.

The following list of calls are NOT official:

                S526O - K8NZ and W2GD
                S539D - ON4WW and ON6TT
                S543C - F6BEE and F6FGZ
                S546Q - K9TM and N2IC
                S547B - SP8NR and SP9HWN
                S521H - VE7SV and VA7RR
                S566Z - K9ZO and K7BV
                S567F - EA3NY and EA3KU
                S568Y - G3SXW and G4BUO
                S571W - K3NA and N6TV
                S572L - ZS6EZ and ZS4TX
                S582A - K1AR and K1DG
                S588S - WC4E and W0UA

Bernie McClenny, W3UR

Yes I know they had, but not all of them seemed to have been compliant with those rules. I followed for some minutes S5... on 80m SSB (I can tell you the call whenever you want) calling CQ with their callsign spelled in German and answering and giving reports in German and even say hello (Dankeshoen and Alles-gut of course). I cannot say who they were, (since I still do not know the callsign-team relationship) and really I do not mind anyway since I think that it is quite easy to guess a Japanese man even if he is speaking english, but I can guess they were a DL team or an OE/DL team, (and the last shouldn't be, since you were their referee, weren't you?)

73
Bob,I2WIJ - J49WI - (J45W very soon)

The competitors played it straight, but there are certain voices that it would be hard to disguise. Chris ZS6EZ is one that comes to mind. I sympathise with them - With my residual British accent, I can't get away with anything on the bands. One day I yielded to the temptation to do something a little "out of the ordinary" (unidentified), and a voice on the frequency immediately said "Oooooh, it's NT5C!".

John, NT5C

My apologies to all the WRTC participants who I blew off when asked to go to SSB.

I did my best to bounce to other bands though & with the exception of S583D I think it was, the bounces were successful. Sorry 20 wasn't open... but I tried!

Between old age, the hot WX (peaking 36 or 37C in the shack) & having been distracted Saturday before the start (next time, the YL stays for the contest!) this year I didn't stand a chance from the first time I fell asleep - hardly three hours after the start.

Watching with keen interest for what went down in Bled - the S5 boys look to have really put together quite an operation, judging from the transport used by JH4NMT/JK3GAD & N2AA to get their station - really sorry I couldn't go myself!

73, VR2BrettGraham

Well, looks like I'm on the low end of the totem pole regarding the number of WRTC QSOs that ended up in my log. I only ended up with 40 WRTC contacts, and some were multiples from either changes in band and/or mode. I had hoped to be able to accomplish two things at once: work many WRTC stations, and improving last year's score in IARU. While our score in the contest was better (albeit peanuts compared to the big guns) we didn't work as many WRTC stations as I had hoped.

I have to agree with the other comments made regarding the quality of operating, and as someone who still had something to learn, it was nice to be able to sit back and "watch" them. I very rarely had to repeat a call; the ops usually got the full call right the first time (maybe it's my southern drawl, but most IARU ops tended to hear my "4" as a "2" among other problems). There was only one "iffy" contact and that was on CW, where the op didn't come back with the corrected call. I also noted that signals were fairly equal with QSB hitting all at various times. At any rate, it was nice to be able to slip in and out, especially when using VFO B for S&P contacts. I didn't get to see the packet spots because my husband (my multi-op partner) was out of town until about 3:00 UTC, so there wasn't much time for spotting "new ones".

As to band condx, I was a bit disappointed in the daytime noise level of 15m. In AL, the noise floor was typically S7, and many people who called me were only audible with both noise blankers enacted on the 1000MP. While on a running frequency, I had the choice of either deciphering through the distortion caused by the noise blankers or not hearing the stations at all (I felt like I was on 160m without a beverage). Night condx were nice, however, and we ended up on 15m until around 7:00 UTC when we finally succumbed to the reliability of 20m until the contest's end. At any rate, we did manage to improve our score over last year's, so my main goal was met.

Well, that's my .25 worth. I would like to add my congratulations to the guys in S5 land for the way the WRTC was handled, and commend the ops for a
job well done!

73,
Bridget, KS4YT

Just to add another deminsion to the comments on the WRTC activity here's what I observed from south central Texas (just north of RC's old QTH.)

I operated only 15 and 20 M. Nothing on 10 M except the two stateside HQs stations. Didn't try 40 M. I had good antennas, 5 el 15 at 120 ft. and 5 el 20 at 140 ft. I spent most of the time S&Ping for the WRTC gang. Picked up a few Hqtrs. calls and spent roughly 30/70 % time between SSB/CW. I made 85 Qs with the WRTCs. I worked only 47 of the 53 stations. As has been reported, the essential differences in signal strength seemed to be band/time dependent. Stations on the same band/mode in the same time frame were pretty much "neck-and-neck". Once or twice I ran across a "very weak" station buried in the QRM, but I suspect I may have been seeing beam heading effects. (It would be interesting to know what the guys were hearing and from which directions over the various time segments during the contest. Perhaps some of the returning crew will share their logs with us "wall flowers" who missed the party.)

Operating practices were, with a few exceptions, really quite good. In fact I was often able to spot an S5XX station just by their "sound"... i.e. not excessively loud (or overdriven), steady as opposed to "choppy" code or vocal exchanges, and more often than not "in a relatively clear spot". Speaks well the the overall skills exhibited by the group.

Though I initially felt a bit disappointed when I realized that the "rate" was not going to be anything approaching the two earler events, I managed to get a real kick out of the hunt... puts things in perspective when you have to scratch a bit for the new ones.

My congratulations to the teams, the support group and the organizers. One hell of a fine job.

Now, to coin a phrase, "where to they go next ?"

Joe, W5ASP

We were operating IARU multi-single from K8CC, so our WRTC QSOs were made during the normal course of that event. However, when a WRTC spot would appear, that "B" VFO sure comes in handy. We made 83 WRTC QSOs, with 45 of the 53 teams. S568Y was our QSO champ with four, while eight others we worked three times each.

I am pretty sure the S546Q was the MRRC team of K9TM & N2IC. It sure sounded like 'TM's voice on 15M SSB.

From our perspective, the WRTC stations were pretty even in signal strength and easy to work on 20M & 15M. I even had a couple that were pretty weak pop right back to a call on 21 MHz during the 09Z hour. On the other hand, we had thunderstorm QRN up to S9 on 7 MHz, but if we could hear the teams they could work us. Forget 80M - like K8AZ said, even the big HQ stations were barely audible here amoungst the QRN. 10M was not quite good enough for us to work the WRTCers. Still, you gotta love working JAs on long path. Again, the 10 minute multi-single bandchange rule sometimes got in the way.

We were connected to the K1TTT PacketCluster via the Internet all weekend. The majority of the spots seemed to come out of EU, so there were a lot of times we'd go chase a WRTC spot and not hear a thing.

As for operating practices, for at least the QSOs *I* made from our multi-op, I found the WRTC guys signing their calls every time and acting like superb operators. Still, I wonder how many calls are going to be busted. Many of the calls are similar - S546Q and S564Q for example. One time, I found S517W and S571W only a couple KHz apart. Ops who can't copy code were in trouble - for example I saw a spot for "S5BBZ" with the comment "Sometimes sends S56BZ".

As someone who was a participant in WRTC 1996, and said at the time that "The S5 crew has its work cut out for it", it appears that WRTC 2000 was accomplished in fine style. My congratulations to everyone involved.

73,
Dave Pruett, K8CC

All of the above except S583D are in my log amongst the 47 contacts with WRTC participants I have made. I did make 5 qso even on 80 meters but none on 10 (I only worked in the contest on Saturday and went to bed Sunday morning before the 10m band got opened). RK9CWW worked 52 out of 53 participants but they used packet cluster being M/S. While most of the WRTC teams were worming up on Friday I have tried to call them with just 5 watts out to see how well they can hear. Almost all of them had very good ears (that includes some contacts on 40m with 5W and single el delta loop).
In the contest though the differences became more pronounced. Some of the ops were really Top Notch and some seemed about average in speed, reactance and accuracy. The bottom line - the event was very well managed and having sent my log for the cross checking I will be anxiously waiting for the final results.

73,
Igor, UA9CDC

I must also echo N6NT's comments about signal equalization.

As a referee in 1996, I observed first-hand the difficulty of creating equal stations. Although the organizers had obviously made an enormous effort to level the playing field, the competitors I was with were assigned to a station with very obvious handicaps. Consequently, I was interested in observing relative signal strengths of the various WRTC-2000 stations.

For fun, the gang at K8AZ decided to operate the contest focusing exclusively on working the 53 WRTC teams. Almost without exception, we found that the signals were equivalent at comparable times; when 15 & 20 were really open, the stations were almost all S9. And the minor variations in signal strength could easily be explained by beam headings during times when the competitors may have been beaming somewhere other than NA.

Our effort resulted in 212 WRTC QSO's. We had only a brief opening on 10m Sunday morning, which resulted in 4 Qs, and we did manage to break through the EU QRM on 40 CW for 22 Qs, but had no Qs on 40 SSB or on 80m. (80m conditions were poor -- even close to S5 sunrise, the EU HQ stations were barely above the noise).

I also reiterate Bruce's concerns about the callsign accuracy of some of the competitors. My guess would be that at least 1/2 of the guys signed their call every QSO, and that many more signed at least every other Q. But some signed only when the pileup died. Of great interest to me was the number of guys that we worked who were mis-spotted on the US and EU DXpacket clusters. We often found that stations were spotted with transposed numbers or with other minor errors. This almost always seemed to happen with guys that were not signing frequently. Our practice was to work the station -- whoever he really was -- and then try to get a valid callsign. Often this proved difficult; moreover whenever the guy we worked turned out to be a dupe, the dupe was not acknowledged. (Not a problem, I suppose, with computer logging -- but it should have immediately tipped the operator that we thought he was someone else (we have a computer too!) Listening to the pileups on several of the mis-spotted guys, I am certain that they had dozens (maybe hundreds) of QSOs with stations who did not log their calls correctly.

With the immediate e-mail log submission encouraged by the committee, it will be very interesting to see how much of this shakes out & changes the claimed scores. Maybe someone will obtain a dump from the various packet clusters and see how much the erroneous spots actually cost the guys who elected not to sign more frequently.

On a separate note, from my discussions with several competitors before the contest, it appears that the S5 committee has set a standard that will be difficult or impossible for future hosts to match. The competitors were treated with the kinds of ceremonies and events that Olympic athletes talk of, and the warmth and hospitality displayed was overwhelming. Congratulations to the S5 committee for a job superbly done.

73,
Tom, K8AZ

OK - who was who ? What happened ?

I think S526O was K8NZ / W2GD. GD kept saying "Sugar Mike" instead of "Sugar Five" at the start.

What did "3830" sound like in Slovenia after the contest ?

After the WRTC in '96, all the teams got together immediately after the contest and drank a few 807's and swapped "war stories". Perhaps this wasn't possible due to the dispersal of all the stations all over S5 land?

From AA5NT, we had 41 qsos with WRTC stations - some of them were several band modes with the same station - I know we worked S549L on 3 different band modes. So our total stations worked is fairly low.

We only worked WRTC stations on 15 and 20m. Despite chasing numerous packet spots, many of them we could not hear. Of course, we could not change bands freely as we were multi-single.

All in all it was fun despite the lack of propagation on bands besides 15 and 20m.

73,
Bob N5NJ

While I didn't make as detailed comparisons as N6NT I saw about the same results on 20M from the WRTC stations. Most were about the same strength and I thought they did a great job of hearing my own station which is about the same as they were using. Almost all did a good job of pulling my signal thru. Guess that should be a given considering the skills of the contestants.

73 Jim KI7Y

I noticed the same results on signal strength...one of my notes reads "S564Q lite on 15m ssb" yet a little later they were very readable and Q5. The only 2 real differences I noted were at 2138 on 15m SSB ( abt 8 kc apart) S582A was almost S9 on my TS850 and S577V was barely S4; same thing at 2245, S564Q was very Q5 and yet 2 kc below was S568Y just above the noise. Curious to know the difference in location, elevation just to see what really causes a difference. I know my 10M opening was very short this morning yet stations abt 90 miles south of here seemed to be working everything. I think for the most part all the station I heard were very equal, at least on cw. On SSB, while the sig strength seemed equal, some of the guys seemed to have much more "punch" to their signal...not really overdriven, but probably a difference in mikes.

73 Jamie WW3S

WRTC from GB5HQ

Congratulations to the organisers of WRTC2000 and the teams who took part - everything seemed to go smoothly (from a distance!)

We found that the signals from the teams were fairly similar (we are 1900km from Slovenia) and we had no real difficulty in working the teams - all 53 of them - a total of 219 QSOs on 3 bands - GB5HQ was only on 40, 20 and 15m, SSB and CW, so each team could have worked us a maximum of 6 times - only 5 teams did this.

We don't know which team had which callsign. Anyway - a great event and we enjoyed working the teams - taking part in WRTC2000 from a distance.

73
Chris GM3WOJ/GM7V

I'll echo N6NT's comments about equalization of signals from the S5 Boys. There were more pronounced differences on 15 than on 20, but none were dramatic. Well done.

I only managed to work 41 of the stations, probably because I did not want to do SSB. All of my 345 QSO's were on CW, mostly S&P. I also dumped a lot of spots on packet.

I was also concerned about logging accuracy. I pushed a wrong button and duped S548X. They did not challenge the dupe and kept on going. I guess they were looking to N6AA and crew to clean up logs after the contest.

I was also disappointed to have such crummy condx on 40. The only European I worked (or heard) was DA0HQ. Ten was a bust. I couldn't even hear my partner, J75KG.

All and all, it was fun to search for the boys. I never figured out who was who, not even one of them even said hello. Guess they had guidelines to follow.

Tom Taormina, K5RC
aka K7GJ, K7ISO "Communication is the
Virginia City NV problem to the answer" - 10cc

Some disconnected observations on WRTC as heard from the SF Bay area...

I still remember some of the zinging criticism we suffered in 1996 regarding the inequality of WRTC stations. ZD8Z was one of the most vocal, as I recall, and Jim made a big point that from his perch the stations were anything BUT equal. Naturally, several of the competitors who finished in the bottom half of the rankings voiced the same complaint. So this weekend I made a concerted effort to try to observe how the S5 guys did on station equalization and not get distracted by the rest of the contest.

My IARU contest effort was strictly S&P, and that S&P was for WRTC stations only. I did buzz a few friends I heard who were serious about the contest, but only a few. In the spirit of the thing, I really went slumming: I plugged in the mike and hooked up to packet. Ugh! It felt just like visiting a tattoo parlor down by the docks. But if the focus is finding WRTC stations, I guess you have to do both. During the contest, I made many notes into the .not file, trying to record an honest signal strength reading every time I heard one of the stations.

When the opening on 20 finally died last night, I had only managed to get 90 WRTC contacts into the log. (A little different from 1996, when I got 353.) All of those contacts were on 15 or 20; I never heard a hint the WRTC stations could be heard here on the west coast on 10 or 40, and I did keep checking often when it might have been possible. There were 5 of the stations I never did manage to find. Who knows? They may have been pitifully weak stations that couldn't make it out...or the operators may have had better sense than to chase water-weak W6 stations when they could run the locals at a rapid clip. Those stations were S5333G, S544Z, S571W, S576K, and S583D.

For the other 47 stations, though, my personal feeling is that the S5 guys did an incredible job of equalizing stations. I have readings in my .not file that are all over the map, but the variation tends to be a function of time rather than variations among stations when readings were taken at the same time. A few times I found stations who were much weaker than the others and thought I had found some real loser stations, but then later readings on the same station showed no difference. For example, I have a note at 1613Z that S549L was S9 and the strongest station yet heard, while 2 minutes later I recorded S517W as barely audible at S2. An hour later, though, I heard S517W right up there with the strongest stations. The difference earlier was probably just due to beam heading.

Signals here on Saturday morning were simply awful. Almost none of them showed any indication on my meter, and they were ESP at best. That's the period of ~1630Z until ~2015. My rate at 2000Z was about 2/hour, so that's when I decided then it was time to go to church services for a while (St.John's Bar & Grill, next door to the Sunnyvale HRO). During that whole painful period, I could hear the east coast guys getting through one after another, no problem. Out here, I could only hear something for maybe 20% of each QSB cycle. Pure torture!

Once the sun set in S5, things sure seemed to pick up out here. Almost all of the signals I heard from ~2330Z until ~0700Z were in the range of S6 to S7, with an occasional strong S9. (S522R was 10dB over at 0409Z!) I think by the time it got good here on the west coast, everybody else had thrown in the towel and decided to forget the contest. It was so bad, in fact, that I had two of the teams (S539D and S531R) move ME from SSB to CW in order to get a "rare" zone 6 contact. (Maybe it was rare because all the contesters were already in Bled?)

One unrelated observation I wonder if anybody else made was what seemed like a cavalier attitude on accuracy by some of the teams. Many times I heard the WRTC station bust a call sign or come back to a partial, have the caller give a correction or a fill, and then the WRTC team just TU'd the caller and went on without ever giving a correction. This happened over and over to me, and once the TU is sent then the pile-up never gives you a chance to come back and be sure. Another gripe from this end was signing. Some of these guys would go for l-o-n-g stretches without ever giving their call. Several people gave a report to S526O and THEN asked for his call. Wrong! He just ignored them and went on. I finally gave up trying to figure out who this was and called him, then refused to give a report until he told me who he was. I don't know who any of the teams were, but I bet that guy got his contest training in the Caribbean! :-)

Funniest incident: at 0539Z I ran into S574V on 20SSB, CQing away with very few callers. Reason: sitting right on the same frequency, and about 20dB stronger, was DL0DR, also CQing away. Naturally, DL0DR was getting all the answers. It took a long time before I could find the right moment to call S574V, when the DL station was quiet for a second, and I tried to tell the op there was a super-strong DL station right on top of him. His answer: in the most irritated tone of voice possible, "We know". This is a guy who is used to waging frequency fights with 6 over 6 over 6 over 6, and winning. (Probably one of the W3LPL gang.) It doesn't work that way with 100w into a tribander!

Anyway, back to the starting point, I think the S5 guys deserve a major round of applause for having put together at least 47 stations that were extremely well equalized. I don't know about the 5 I missed, but the 47 I did hear were incredibly well-matched. Good job!

73,
Bruce, N6NT