World Radio Team Championship (WRTC) History

World Radio Team Championship (WRTC) History


The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) is held every four years and consists of approximately 50 two-person teams of amateur radio operators competing in a test of operating skill. Unlike most on-the-air competitions, all stations are required to use identical antennas from the same geographic region, eliminating all variables except operating ability.

Background
Amateur radio is a unique passion of all ages, with the radio spectrum providing a playing field for technical innovation and global human communication in pursuit of giving 4 million amateur radio operators a chance to experience telecommunications as a way of life and a source of technological innovation, taking our wonderful world a step closer to better and more human communication – or just simply, connecting people.

The World Radiosport Team Championship – WRTC in short – represents a large gathering of the world’s best in radio traffic – as selected Regionally – coming from any country and all continents in the spirit of competition, using the same playing field and allowing pure skills to determine world champions in two-man team, 24-hour nonstop competition.



Seattle, USA – 1990
Developed and hosted by a team of Seattle-area contesters, the first WRTC was conducted in 1990 at the same time as the Goodwill Games. WRTC-1990 was independent of the Games but brought contesters together from around the world in the style of Olympic athletic events. Also like the Olympics, WRTC-1990 had significant cultural aspects, emphasizing camaraderie and social events. The social aspects were carried forward into later WRTCs and have become a significant element of the event. The Seattle WRTC was the first time that contesters all competed from the same general location in a world-class event, rather than from their home stations. Minimizing the geographic variation unavoidable in a world-wide competition, WRTC enabled operators to compete on the basis of team skills in a common setting.

Top 3 teams
K1AR – K1DG
W9RE – K7JA
KR0Y(N5TJ) – KQ2M

San Francisco, USA – 1996
In 1996, the WRTC traveled to San Francisco, and in the shadow of the Golden Gate the event provided an historical setting and a ticket of continuity. At the same time, the WRTC Steering Team was born in the U.S. to promote the concept, to select future sites and to be of valuable help to future events. This time the WRTC was a pure Radio Amateur event and assumed more clearly defined proportions of the Olympics. The WRTC began to emerge as a worldwide radio contest and, in particular, a warm-hearted get-together of radio-contesters.

Top 3 teams
KR0Y(N5TJ) – K1TO
K4BAI – KM9P(W4AN)
K6LL – N2IC

Bled, Slovenia – 2000
It was in 2000 that WRTC expanded internationally, as the newly born country of Slovenia – on the sunny side of the Alps – set the stage. WRTC 2000 was another historical event for the benefit of those present as well as those following the event on the radiowaves from all corners of the globe. The entire country of Slovenia was actively involved, once again upholding the spirit of WRTC and its Olympic flame. A big and successful event by a small country, those that were there have an experience they never will forget.

Top 3 teams
K1TO – N5TJ
RA3AUU – RV1AW
K1DG – K1AR

Helsinki, Finland – 2002
Honoring the declining sunspot cycle – the source of shortwave radio propagation – the 2002 event came only two years after the previous competition, a true 50 years celebration of the Helsinki Olympic games 1952. Here, Contest Club Finland (CCF) and the Finnish Amateur Radio League (SRAL) jointly hosted the event. While the actual on-site race was organized in the Helsinki area, the week prior to the competition saw these world competitors spending several days together with the entire amateur radio population of Finland as well with many international guests. Some 2000 people gathered in the SRAL Summer camp (field day). This time 53 teams from 30 countries were competing, with almost real-time score presentation on monitors at the WRTC HQ and on the Internet, Finnish hi-tech at its best.

Top 3 teams
N5TJ – K1TO
RA3AUU – RV1AW
DL2CC – DL6FBL

Florianopolis, Brazil – 2006
At the bottom of the sunspot cycle the competition will be held in Florianopolis at the Atlantic coastal area in southern Brazil. 47 WRTC and up to 15 Multi-National Multi-Single Teams (MN MS) with participants from 47 countries, will participate. In line with the qualification principles for the Olympic games, the competitors have this time been selected on basis of real performance within their Region (total 14 Regions). To encourage participation of ladies and young radio amateurs, special selection criteria have been created for them. The MN MS Teams will serve as a booster for the Radio hobby in Brazil, at the same time develop international friendship and contesting experience between the participants.

Due to the poor propagations (sunspot cycle) and the remoteness from the radio amateur population centers, the WRTC is for the first time providing a linear amplifier and a beam for the 40 m. band, this in addition to the standard set-up. Further, the rules have been modified to give the second operator a more active role.

Another significant step towards globalization and international friendship is that all teams are not longer National but there are also Bi-National Teams.

Top 3 teams
VE3EJ – VE7ZO
N6MJ – N2NL
K1DG – N2NT

Moscow, Russia – 2010
The World Radiosport Team Championship was the major HAM Radio contest event of year 2010. WRTC-2010 will took place near Russia’s capital Moscow where 50 teams from all over the world competed in the same field conditions. The event was held by Soyuz Radioljubiteley Rossii – Russian National amateur radio society.

Top 3 teams
RW1AC – RA1AIP
ES5TV – ES2RR
N6MJ – KL9A