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Re: [CQ-Contest] A Peek at Next Weekend's WRTC2018

To: "<k5zd@charter.net>" <k5zd@charter.net>
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] A Peek at Next Weekend's WRTC2018
From: David Siddall <hhamwv@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2018 09:15:15 -0400
List-post: <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
Randy,

Thanks. I don't know what that link is, looks like an email address.
Undoubtedly, the scoreboard info and link will be prominently displayed on
the WRTC2018 home page by the time competition starts next Saturday.  Work
in progress.

73, Dave K3ZJ

On Sun, Jul 8, 2018 at 8:56 AM, Randy Thompson K5ZD <k5zd@charter.net>
wrote:

> The link to the live WRTC scoreboard is not correct.  I can't find a link
> to the scoreboard on the wrtc2018.de web site.
>
> Dave - hoping you can find and publish the correct URL.  Always fun to
> watch the race unfold over 24 hours period.
>
> Randy, K5ZD
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: CQ-Contest <cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com> On Behalf Of David
> > Siddall
> > Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2018 8:20 AM
> > To: cq-contest <cq-contest@contesting.com>
> > Subject: [CQ-Contest] A Peek at Next Weekend's WRTC2018
> >
> > Good luck to all at WRTC next week.
> >
> > Below is a "peek behind the scenes" that I thought contesters would
> enjoy.
> >
> > Please get on the air and work all the competitors.  Submit your log
> > immediately after the contest ends.  Your WRTC award(s) will be made
> > automatically based upon your log-- no other application required -- and
> > downloadable from the WRTC2018 website.  All but one WRTC award (WAWRTC)
> > require log submission by no later than 1800 UTC Sunday (July 15).
> > Several are geographic-based, so your ranking will compare with others in
> > your vicinity.
> >
> > And please: spot all the WRTC stations as much as possible, BUT DO NOT
> > IDENTIFY to others who the operators are if you recognize them. The
> > competitors are as adamant on this point as anybody else.  Any "bump" in
> a
> > log compared to other logs will invite extra scrutiny by the judges, and
> > computer software is very good at flagging such anomalies.
> >
> > Live webcasts of the opening ceremony on Thursday and closing ceremony on
> > Monday are scheduled to begin at 1700 UTC.  During the event a live
> > scoreboard will track all teams and afterward claimed scores will be
> > posted.   Links for all will be on the WRTC home page:
> http://wrtc2018.de/
> > index.php/en/.
> >
> > There also will be two special broadcasts of WRTC news and information on
> > shortwave, as I posted yesterday.  These broadcasts will use 30 GIGAWATTS
> > (30,000,000 watts) ERP (300 KW > 20dB antenna)!  Sat. July 14 @ 11-1200
> > UTC and Sun. July 15 @ 0900 UTC, both on 6.070 MHz and 13.860 MHz (best
> > for North America).
> >
> > 73, Dave K3ZJ
> >
> >
> > *WRTC2018 Activities and Information*
> >
> >
> > *Time Schedule*
> >
> > You can find the *sequence of events* in http://www.wrtc2018.
> > de/index.php/en/competition/schedule . Chris, DL1MGB, President of WRTC
> > 2018 e.V. and Michael, DL6MHW, VP of WRTC 2018 e.V. are already at the
> > site in Wittenberg to overview and participate in the final preparations
> > for the big event. Most of the other organizers – including myself - will
> > arrive at the latest on *Tuesday, July 10th*.
> >
> > *Wednesday* is the official arrival date. The *“Ham Widows Ball”*,
> > sponsored by the YASME Foundation, certainly will be the highlight of the
> > day.
> >
> > The official *opening ceremony* cum dinner will be on *Thursday,* July
> > 12th .
> >
> > On *Friday *we’ll *raffle the sites* among the 63 competing teams
> >
> > On *Saturday, July 14th at 11:45 UTC* (13:45 local time)  the referees
> > will open the envelopes containing the *special callsigns *assigned to
> the
> > competition teams.  And, of course, at *12:00:00 UTC* a massive outburst
> > of “CQ Test” messages will be heard on the bands….
> >
> > The contest will *end at 11:59:59 on Sunday*, July 15th and I would not
> be
> > surprised if the top competitors would score in excess of 4 K QSOs in
> > spite of the fact that the competitors may only use a maximum of 100 W of
> > RF power.
> >
> > *Log evaluation* will start immediately after the end of the contest and
> > will last *until 16:00 UTC on Monday*, July 16th followed by the closing
> > ceremony and the YAESU Award Dinner.
> >
> >
> >
> > *The calls behind the calls*
> >
> > WRTC is all about fairness and equal chances. Thus, we are trying hard to
> > keep the structure of the calls to be used in the competition a secret.
> We
> > are trying even harder to prevent any link between the original calls of
> > the competitors and the call signs used by the competitors during the
> > contest from becoming known to the thousands of participants in the IARU
> > HF championship resp. the participants of the WRTC competition.
> >
> >
> >
> > *Live Score Board*
> >
> > For those who cannot personally attend, one of the highlights of the
> event
> > will be to watch the live scoreboard. A team of high caliber
> professionals
> > *headed and coordinated by Ben, DL6RAI*, has worked hard to come up with
> > something which we call the SCC (*score collecting computer*). There will
> > be an SCC for each competing team and it will automatically send the
> score
> > by means of mobile radio technology to a central computer. Here the
> scores
> > will be configured to provide meaningful information for the thousands of
> > WRTC fans all over the world. Of course, the calls presented in the live
> > scoreboard will not list the actual contest calls but rather the original
> > calls of the teams for reasons of fairness and equal chances. Neither the
> > competitors nor the referees will have access to this information.
> > Internet and mobile phones are a strict no-no to them.
> >
> > The scores will be updated every 60 seconds!
> >
> > Our thanks go to *Dave Pascoe, KM3T, and Bob Raymond, WA1Z*, for allowing
> > us to make use of their sophisticated software designed for the 2014
> event
> > in Boston.
> >
> > *The live scoreboard may be accessed at sb@wrtc2018.de*
> >
> >
> >
> > *Logistics*
> >
> > This definitively is no kiddy stuff! We’ll rent about 16 vans and put
> > another 3 mini-buses at our disposal in order to transport material,
> food,
> > and petrol to and from the sites as well as people between  Berlin
> airport
> > (TXL)and Wittenberg and its vicinity. Robby, DM6DX,
> >
> > wrtc2018@dm6dx.de is in charge of all our vehicles and mobile services.
> >
> >
> >
> > And there are such smallish issues like 65 portaloos needed to be hired
> > and brought exactly (by means of exact coordinates down to the second) to
> > the sites. Not to talk about 1,300 pieces of broom handles plus 30 km of
> > barrier tape to seal off the competition sites from curious spectators. A
> > metric ton of gasoline is needed to be brought to the sites to fuel the
> 65
> > generators providing the electric power to the competition tents. Not to
> > talk about the 10 km of coaxial cable needed and donated by our gold
> > sponsor Messi & Paoloni from Italy. Although very light weight, the total
> > weight of the coaxial cables alone exceeds 1,000 pounds!
> >
> >
> >
> > We had subcontracted the services of an outside agency, namely DALICHOW
> > events, to handle hotel reservations, sightseeing tours, and airport
> > transfers. Unfortunately, the start of their involvement was everything
> > else but smooth. *We sincerely apologize for the various initial hickups
> > and the inconveniences caused.* In the meantime *DALICHOW Events* deliver
> > and I feel they are coming closer to the mark. At least, I finally
> > received the confirmation for the various events I had booked for my XYL
> > Richardis and myself….
> >
> >
> >
> > Quite a number of fellow hams have volunteered for the *transfer service
> > from the Berlin airport (TXL) to Wittenberg*. If you are lucky your
> driver
> > will be *Ben, DL6FBL*, one of Germany's top contesters. As you know,
> there
> > is no speed limit on German highways (Autobahn); yet, Ben has promised.,
> > not to exceed 200 km per hour in consideration of the feelings of our
> > American guests….
> >
> >
> >
> > *Axel, DL6KVA, dl6kva@wrtc2018.de*  is in charge of recruiting and
> > coordinating the more than 300 volunteers needed to get things rolling.
> >
> >
> >
> > *Bookings*
> >
> > Wittenberg is a *small, yet quite a historic town* with kind of limited
> > facilities and resources. Everything is a bit tight from parking lots to
> > hotel rooms. When deciding on the location we had to compromise to some
> > extent between rf-quietness, availability of plots and infrastructural
> > strength. Overall, I think we came up with a good compromise: Very quiet
> > locations – they have all been tested by Uli, *DJ2YA, dj2ya@wrtc2018.de*
>
> > and good sightseeing opportunities.
> >
> >
> >
> > Of course, the *hotels are heavily booked* but *Ralf, DK1DSA,
> > dk1dsa@wrtc2018.de* , in my opinion, does an outstanding job in getting
> > things straightened out: I am sure, nobody needs to bring a tent to
> > survive somewhere in the wilderness!
> >
> > *Opening and closing ceremonies are heavily booked out as well as dinners
> > in the HQ-hotel*. However, I have been told that there are *many small-
> > scale restaurants in Wittenberg*. So, my xyl and I gave up my options for
> > dinner at the HQ hotel in favor of meeting and dining in a cozy
> atmosphere
> > in one of the *restaurants within walking distance* of the HQ-Hotel.
> >
> >
> >
> > *Safety*
> >
> > Wittenberg is a *socially safe* area. The only safety risks I can see
> have
> > to do with environmental risks, namely
> >
> > a) the Wittenberg area at the moment is plagued by a *severe drought*.
> *As
> > a consequence barbecuing at the sites as well as any kind of open fire or
> > smoking inside or outside the tents is strictly prohibited. *Fire
> > extinguishers are part of the set up for each site.
> >
> > b) *Heavy thunderstorms*, unfortunately, cannot be ruled out at this time
> > of the year. On the contrary, they are likely to occur and they might be
> > heavy. We’ve come up with a scheme to warn and to safeguard competitors
> at
> > least to some extent as well as to maintain equal chances to all the
> > competitors. Details will be provided to the referees and competitors
> > prior to the start of the competition.
> >
> > Hartmut, DM5TI,
> >
> >
> >
> > *Creating pileups*
> >
> > Chris, DL1MGB and Michael, DL6MHW, have come up with a number of “award-
> > winning *contests within the contest*”.  The details can be found in
> > http://wrtc2018.de/index.php/en/activities/wrtc-2018-en . As you can
> > easily see the choice is yours: Anything from SPRINT (who is the first
> one
> > to work all the WRTC-competitors) to “long distance challenge” is
> > available. Just make your choice!
> >
> >
> >
> > *Support needed*
> >
> > Well, financing the event is no longer a headache to us. Spreading the
> > news has been accomplished as well. The only thing left – apart from
> > keeping your fingers crossed for the flawless conduct of the event – is
> to
> > create huge pileups for our competitors. They just love the pileups!
> > Kindly help them by motivating as many fellow hams as possible from all
> > over the world to call our competitors.
> >
> >
> >
> > *Closing remarks*
> >
> > I take the opportunity to thank you very much for your contribution to
> > finance the WRTC 2018 and to make WRTC 2018 known to your compatriots.
> The
> > board and my colleagues of the organizing committee are looking forward
> to
> > meeting you and our guests next week and if you can’t make it, don’t
> > forget to have a look at our life scoreboard at sb@wrtc2018.de. I
> > guarantee thrill and excitement!
> >
> >
> >
> > vy 73 de Rudy, DJ3WE
> >
> >
> >  (edited by K3ZJ)
> > _______________________________________________
> > CQ-Contest mailing list
> > CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>
>
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