WRTC 1996 Team Selection Process
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 10:35:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Charles Epps <epps@netcom.com>
Subject: WRTC-96 Press Release #4
WRTC-96 PRESS RELEASE #4
Redwood City, CA
September 30, 1995
The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC-96) will pit up to 52 two-operator teams in a head-to-head competition in the San Francisco Bay Area during the IARU HF World Championship the weekend of July 13-14, 1996. Forty-five teams are allocated to 27 Invited Countries, one team to the defending champions from WRTC-90, and six teams to Wild-card entries which may come from any country. Entrants are responsible for their own transportation to San Francisco where the WRTC-96 Committee will provide them housing, meals, local transportation and access to station locations.
The WRTC-96 organizers seek team members who have won recent major contests and who are capable of competing on both CW and SSB at the level of the very best contesters in the world. The selection process begins with the naming of Team Leaders, who then choose their own Partners. Each national Team Leader will select a Partner from the same country and Wild-card Team Leaders will select from the same continent.
The Invited Countries have been allocated a number of teams determined by the number of logs submitted from those countries in recent international contests. The actual selection of teams in each country will be managed in that country by contest clubs, contest managers or other respected individuals in the contest community. For example, based upon ranking
and point totals in major contests, the WRTC-96 organizers invited ten USA contest clubs to select the ten USA Team Leaders. Wild-card teams will be chosen later from among direct applicants to the WRTC Team Selection Committee.
TEAM ALLOCATIONS BY COUNTRY
Bob Cox, K3EST, Chairman of the WRTC-96 Technical Committee, described the method used to allocate teams to the Invited Countries. “The number of teams a country may have is based upon the number of logs submitted from each country for the 1993 and 1994 CQWW and ARRL SSB and CW contests. Using the number of log submissions gives an indication of the ‘seriousness’ of a country’s commitment to contesting. Based upon the
available number of operating sites we expect to have, the WRTC-96 Technical Committee required at least 50 log submissions for a country to qualify for a team. We limited the maximum number of teams that any country can have to ten.”
SELECTION OF TEAMS
Each team will consist of a Team Leader and a Partner. The selection process begins with the naming of the Team Leaders who then choose their own Partners. Each national Team Leader will select a Partner from the same country. To emphasize that these are national teams, not part of an interclub competition, and to extend the opportunity to compete to
contesters who are not members of the selecting clubs, the WRTC-96 organizers will require that USA Team Leaders not choose Partners from the same contest club.
Individuals wishing to compete in WRTC-96 should make their interest and qualifications known to those who have been invited to select the Team Leaders for each country. In the order of total log submittals, these are:
Country Teams Selected by United States 10 Frankford Radio Club (1 team) Mad River Radio Club (1) North Coast Contesters (1) North Texas Contest Club (1) Northern California Contest Club (1) Potomac Valley Radio Club (1) Society of Midwest Contesters (1) Southeastern DX Club (1) Southern California Contest Club (1) Yankee Clipper Contest Club (1) Japan 4 WRTC-96 Team Selection Committee Germany 2 Rhein-Ruhr DX Association (1) Bavarian Contest Club (1) Spain 2 Spanish CQ Magazine c/o EA1AK Italy 2 ARI c/o I2UIY (all I prefixes) Poland 2 SP DX Club Russia 2 SRR c/o UA3DPX (Europe and Asia) Canada 2 Radio Amateurs of Canada c/o VE2ZP Ukraine 1 Ukrainian Contest Club Sweden 1 SSA c/o SM3CER Czech Republic 1 CRK c/o OK2FD Finland 1 OH2MM United Kingdom 1 RSGB c/o G4BUO (all G prefixes) France 1 - pending - Argentina 1 Grupo Argentina CW Brazil 1 PY5EG Norway 1 NRRL HF Contest Manager c/o LA5QK Slovenia 1 Slovenian Contest Club Netherlands 1 - pending - Denmark 1 Danish DX Group Lithuania 1 LRD c/o LY2IJ Slovak Republic 1 OM Contest Manager c/o OM8AB Yugoslavia 1 SRJ c/o YU1RL Australia 1 WRTC-96 Team Selection Committee Belgium 1 UBA c/o ON4UN Hungary 1 Hungarian DX Club Bulgaria 1 LZ1JY Subtotal 45 Returning champs 1 Wild-card teams 6 Total teams 52
The WRTC-96 Team Selection Committee will issue a supplemental press release announcing the selecting entities for France and The Netherlands as soon as arrangements for those countries are finalized.
According to K3EST, “We first tried to find one or more national contest clubs in each country to name its Team Leaders. In some cases we identified an individual instead, generally the IARU society’s HF Contest Manager or some other respected individual in the contest community. We’re looking for team members who have won major contests at the world, continent, country or zone level. They will be up against many of the best contesters in the world and should be capable of competing on both CW and SSB at that level.”
WILD CARD TEAMS
Wild-card teams provide an opportunity for contesters who are not residents of Invited Countries, and for residents of Invited Countries who are not otherwise selected, to participate in WRTC-96. Applications for the Wild-card Team Leader positions, along with a statement of the applicant’s qualifications, must be sent directly to the WRTC-96 Team
Selection Committee. Wild-card Team Leaders will select Partners from the same continent. The Wild-card selection process will begin after the national selection process is completed.
DEADLINES
Contesters interested in participating in WRTC-96 have the opportunity to be selected as a national Team Leader or Partner or as a Wild-card Team Leader or Partner.
For Invited Country teams, the WRTC-96 Team Selection Committee should be notified of the selection of each Team Leader by December 15, 1995, including name, call sign, mailing address, e-mail address (if available) and telephone number. Each Team Leader must notify the WRTC-96 Team Selection Committee of the selected Partner’s name and other information by January 15, 1996. If team information is not submitted by these
deadlines, the country may lose the allocation which then would revert to the Wild-card pool.
Wild-card team applications must be sent directly to the WRTC-96 Team Selection Committee and be received by February 1, 1996. Wild-card Team Leaders will be named by February 15, 1996 and all applicants will be notified. Each Wild-card Team Leader must notify the WRTC-96 Team Selection Committee of the identity of the Wild-card Partner by March 1, 1996.
The mailing address for the WRTC-96 Team Selection Committee is P. O. Box 1, Los Altos, CA 94023-0001, USA, or via e-mail to wrtc@maspar.com.
For additional information about WRTC-96, contact Rusty Epps, W6OAT at 651 Handley Trail, Redwood City, CA 94062, USA or via e-mail at epps@netcom.com.