2000 Bled, Slovenia

This is a video documentary and travelogue of the World Radiosport Team Championship 2000 in Bled, Slovenia by Dave Bell, W6AQ.

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y_dkyImcfk

Thanks to Bob, N6TV, for posting this video to YouTube. Thanks to the family of Dave Bell for allowing us to share this video on our site.

After the winners of WRTC 2000 were announced in Bled on July 11, Team Finland (OH1EH and OH1NOA) questioned their reported score which was much lower than they had submitted. Here is how that came about. The referees’ team had intended to extract log data from text files. However, one software vendor made unannounced changes to the structure of his output files, which rendered the referees’ log-data-extraction software inoperable. As a quick fix, to reduce the amount of manual manipulation required, the referees used the binary files that had also been provided by some entrants. While Team Finland submitted a complete text file of their log, their binary file was incomplete owing to another logging program issue. The log that Team Finland submitted earned them a fifth place finish. The referees’ team apologizes for initially reporting a lower score.

Several teams commented that their multipliers were lower than expected. Since the logs had to be rescored to include the complete log of Team Finland (which eliminated some “not in log” score reductions for other contestants), the referees’ team took the opportunity also to correct some scoring of multipliers and to conduct a more complete review of the logged call signs, resulting in some changes to “bad” calls. This was done in order to provide the most accurate record possible of the results of WRTC 2000. The order of the top finishers is not affected, but there are a few changes in the order of finish farther down the list.

The referees’ team appreciates your understanding of the difficulties it faced in adjudicating the results in the very short time that was available in Bled. We are glad to have been a part of WRTC 2000 and to have had the opportunity to be of service.

1. Date and Contest Period: WRTC2000 will be run within the IARU 2000 HF Championship. Begins 1200 UTC Saturday, ends 1200 UTC Sunday, July 8-9, 2000.

2. WRTC2000 Operating Time: 24 hours with obligatory 4 hours of breaks (maximum 3 breaks, each at least 60 minutes). (read more…)

1. The Organizer will make best effort to provide largest possible selection of quality transceivers. However, we strongly encourage all teams to  bring their own equipment, this means everything except the coax and antennas.

2. Radios: Two transceivers are allowed, but only one will be allowed to transmit. It should be named “MAIN” before the contest begins. Second transceiver can only be used for receiving. Change of functions between the transceivers is only permitted in case of malfunction, as   determined by the Referee. Transceivers must not be physically connected in any way.

3. Output power: Maximum output power is 100W and is verified by external power-meter provided by the Organizer. (read more…)