The World Radiosport Team Championship Wrap-Up.
By Steve Morris, K7LXC

The first ever World Radiosport Team Championship can only be described as one of the most exciting and most significant events to ever take place in Amateur Radio contesting. The gathering of 44 of the world’s top contesters yielded not only world-class competition, but also immeasurable international goodwill and enduring friendships. After we worked for nearly two years to get them here, the arrival of the Soviet delegation on the Tuesday before the contest was very emotional. To make it even more special, we obtained official permission from the FCC for the UA, LZ, HA and OK teams to operate (despite the lack of reciprocal operating agreements) just five days before their arrival.The contest itself was preceded by several days of get-acquainted activities. Although the Soviets were very focused on preparation and the contest itself, they found themselves in the middle of a social whirl that exceeded Dayton or Visalia in magnitude. N2AA and UW9AF were unflagging in their dedication to keeping the festivities going no matter how long it took or what the hour was. When the WRTC Committee decided to sponsor its own contest, it was like throwing a party and not knowing if anyone would show up. With the winning team making over 1400 QSOs and with more than 2000
call signs in the contest data base, the participation can be summarized as fantastic!
Propagation was poor for several hours before the contest started, but conditions
kept getting better and the rates never let up. The only atmospheric disappointment
was the virtual RF “wall” to Asia. Normally high rates into Japan never materialized,
with several teams working only one or two JAs.
Despite the “Asian curtain,” the contest exceeded everyone’s expectations. Not only
was the activity level high, but US and DX stations reported high numbers of QSOS
and many interesting “counters” (mults). All of the logs were put into a computerized
format that could be used by the Judging and Scoring Committee. Headed by Rusty,
W6OAT, and Martti, OH2BH, the Committee put in more than 100 hours analyzing and
scoring the logs (they missed the entire DX Convention while holed up in a hotel room
checking logs!). There was a requirement that all teams submit an audio cassette
humors from the WRTC of their effort. We’ll never know just how many times the Committee listened to the same contest on different tapes! With the top three scores winding up within 3o/0 of each other and with national pride at stake, close scrutiny was mandatory. The final analysis was a “unique + 1” analysis. With the increase of computerized logging, it is hoped that this effort will be a prototype for future contest log-checking programs. The final scores put Kl AR and Kl DG as the gold medal winners, with the K7JA and W9RE team as silver medalists and KQ2M and KR0Y as the bronze- medal-winning team. Different strategies were employed by the different teams.
The winning team stuck to its proven East Coast plan of “running them and letting
the mults come to them.” This resulted in a low counter total for John, KlAR, and
Doug, KlDG, but their well-oiled team pulled out the win aided by a winning
CW effort. Chip, K7JA, and Mike, W9RE. used their SSB skills to win the SSB title
and points, but again finished down in the pack for counters. Unable to produce the
rates of some of the other teams, especially on SSB, Bob, KQ2M, and Jeff, KR0Y, found
counters that no one else worked and walked away with the top honors for
counters. At the conclusion of the contest, many teams were already making strategy
plans for “next time.” All stations were deemed to be approximately
equal in terms of antennas, location and overall station performance. The great
equalizer of station dominance was achieved through a random drawing of teams and
stations. No one team or station combination had a clear advantage over the other
teams, and since this was supposed to be a test of operator skill and not station
performance, it turned out to be the close horse race that everyone wanted to see. The
final results are:
Team Points
KlAR/KlDG 263.35
K7JA/W9RE 255.39
KQ2M/KR0Y 254.30
VE7CC/VE7SV 247.44
DL5XX/DJ6QT 247.11
LZlMS/LZ2PO 244.86
G3YDV/G4BUO 239.21
EA5BRA/EA9EO 237.56
UA9AM/UW9AR 236.45
AA4NC/W7EJ 235.12
UAlDZ/RB5IM 232.78
I2UIY/IK2DVG 229.06
OH1XX/OH8PF 228.06
OK1RI/OK2FD 225.38
YUlRL/YT3AA 220.55
HA6NY/HA0MM 219.85
UW3AA/UA9SA 209.91
UW0CA/UW0CN 209.59
JElCKA/JElJKL 195.64
PY4OD/PY5EG 193.06
FDl NYQ/F2CW 177.43
JJ3UHS/JM3JOW 172.45
The morning after the contest (with little or no sleep), everyone traveled to Portland
Wllly, UW9AR, and George, UA9AM. for the annual Pacific Northwest DX Convention,
where the competitors were the honored guests. With over 300 hams in attendance,
the convention offered even more hospitality for the competitors. Monday evening was the Awards Banquet, emceed by K7SS, with talks by UV3BW and W6EJJ. After bestowing honors on the competitors, the results were declared official and medals were awarded.
Seeing the 44 participants assembled together on the stage made you realize the tremendous contribution that these operators have made to radio contesting by meeting and competing for World Radiosport Team Championship honors. As many of the radio sportsmen and guests talked together about the future of radiosport contesting, two things became clear. One, that this event should take place again. Whether there is some kind of special event (like the Olympics, Goodwill Games, expos, etc) shouldn’t be the deciding
factor, but it may offer a stage or backdrop for the competition. This event was too
important not to happen again and the Committee hopes that another group will pick up the baton for the second WRTC. We will offer all of our expertise and experience to make ths happen again, anywhere! The second significant outcome was discussion of a permanent organization that will help to establish new standards for judging, scoring and contest coordination throughout the world. The World Radiosport Team Championship
would not have been possible without the tremendous financial support of our
sponsors. First and foremost was ICOM America and Evelyn Garrison, WS7A, who
shared the vision and helped us launch this world-class event. Our grateful thanks
also go to Bob Ferrero, W6RJ, of Ham Radio Outlet and US Tower; Martin Jue,
K5FLU, of MFJ and Ameritron; the Northern California DX Foundation and Joe
Mullan, W3RLR. Special thanks to Dick Ross, K2MGA, of CO, Atilano (Oms) de
Oms, PY5EG, for helping us with financial support from Brazil, and Barry Merrill,
W5GN, for their generous donations. Led by Danny, K7SS, WRTC Committee
members include Steve, K7LXC; Don, W7NG; Jean, KM7E: Pat, KS7L; Karen,
KA7VMP; Ron, NV6Zi7; John, KE7V; Ward, N0AX; Mary, W7QGP; Adam,
N7MJZ; Chip, K7LR; Marina, N7LSL; Dave, N7MYO; Dick, N7NKG; and Mike, KF7YB.
Team Zebra (in the black-and-white striped referee shirts) included W6OAT, K3EST,
OH2BH, N6AA, OH2MM, N6ZZ, K6NA, UZ3AU and UW3AX.
Thanks to everyone for all your support and we’ll see you on the air!

YouTube VIDEO: WRTC'90