[CQ-Contest] Japan and the WRTC

[Kenneth E. Harker]

On Sun, Feb 10, 2002 at 08:59:38AM +0100, Zoltan Szoke wrote:
> 
> Yes, the "Only English" rule can hurt all other nation languages. But we
> should forget this for ~24 hours. Otherwise, I think that if we will don't
> give up our "opposition" then the rule-maker will be obliged to do cancel
> SSB in the next WRTC. Why? Because the next WRTC probably will be in Japan.
> And the JA-TEAMs will make over 400 Qs/h rate with their Japanese language.
> And what will be there with your Qs/h rate in your japanese language(?).

Why on earth would the Japanese ever be interested in being involved in
organizing the WRTC?  The WRTC organizers have been marginalizing Japan's 
competitive presence in the event from the very beginning.

1990: 22 teams, 2 JA teams, 9% JA participation.
1996: 52 teams, 2 JA teams, 4% JA participation.
2000: 53 teams, 3 JA teams, 6% JA participation.
2002: 46 teams, 1 JA team,  2% JA participation.

In the 2002 WRTC, Slovenia will have twice the competitive representation
as Japan!  I know for a fact that Japanese contesters represent more than
2% of the contest participation in worldwide DX contests, and probably
an order of magnitude more participation than Slovenia.

How many serious JA contesters look at the WRTC, shake their heads, and
wonder "why bother?"


(My guess is that the next WRTC will be held in New England, by the YCCC,
and that Japan will still be marginalized.)

-- 
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Kenneth E. Harker      "Vox Clamantis in Deserto"      kharker at cs.utexas.edu
University of Texas at Austin                   Amateur Radio Callsign: WM5R
Department of the Computer Sciences      VP, Central Texas DX & Contest Club
Taylor Hall TAY 2.124                         Maintainer of Linux on Laptops
Austin, TX 78712-1188 USA            http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/
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