[CQ-Contest] WRTC News #22 - Sponsored Teams Announced for WRTC2014

[Randy Thompson K5ZD]

WRTC2014 NEWS RELEASE #22
http://www.wrtc2014.org/sponsored-teams-announced-for-wrtc2014/

WRTC2014, Inc., host of the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC)
is pleased to announce three of the four Sponsored Teams that will compete
at WRTC2014.The Sponsors are from the USA, Azores, Brazil/Bulgaria.

The WRTC2014 Steering Committee permits each WRTC organizer to offer the
opportunity for sponsors to name teams outside the normal qualification
process as a fund raising mechanism. For WRTC2014, the first 3 sponsorships
were available on a first-come first-served basis. A fourth Sponsored Team
will be made available by auction.

The "Latitude 13" team is so named because the locations where the two
operators usually compete are both at 13 degrees latitude. The sponsor has
named Tom Georgens, W2SC and Dave Mueller, N2NL, as the team. Tom is
well-known in the radiosport community as the operator of station 8P1A/8P5A
in Barbados. He was a competitor in WRTC2006 (PT5Q, 10th place) and WRTC2010
(R34P, 5th place). Dave often operates as NH2T in contests and currently
holds the Oceania record in both modes of the CQWW DX Contest. Overall, he
has held 9 USA or continental records in major contests. He won the silver
medal at WRTC2006 as PW5C with partner N6MJ.

"RadioTeam Azores" is sponsored by Azores Tourism Association
(www.visitazores.com). They have appointed Martti Lane, OH2BH, and Ville
Hiilesmaa, OH2MM, as their team. Martti's operating achievements are
well-known. He has won the CQWW DX contest multiple times on both modes in
both single-operator and multi-operator categories. Equally important are
his efforts to conduct operations and demonstrations of amateur radio for
governments seeking to develop amateur radio in their countries. He was the
contest chairman of the first WRTC in 1990 and co-chair of WRTC2002 in
Finland.  Ville is a world-class operator, having held 11 World Records in
the CQWW DX Contest in the single-operator-all-band, single-band, and
multi-operator categories from a variety of stations on both phone and CW.
Currently residing in Brazil, he served on the organizing committee for
WRTC2006, and was a referee at WRTC1990 and a judge at WRTC2002.

The "Brazil-Bulgaria Friendship Team" is sponsored by a consortium including
The Araucaria DX Group, Triumph IESA Infrastructure AS, the Sao Paulo
section of LABRE, K1LZ, and the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs
(BFRA). They have appointed Soni Leite, PY1NX, and Atasnas "Nasko" Koitchev,
LZ3YY/LZ9R, as their team. Soni is an experienced and successful operator
with numerous high scores in the single-op all band, single band,
Multi-single and Multi-two categories, with several world-high scores from
ZY7C, PW7T, PS2T, and ZW5B. In the 2012 CQWW Contest, he scored World-High
and set World Records on both modes in the 10M Single-band Low Power
category. Nasko has been contesting since 1986 when he was 13 years old. He
has a total of 12 World-high finishes in a wide variety of contests in
single-op and multi-op categories, including the 2013 IARU HF Championship
in the Low Power CW category.

The fourth and final Team Sponsorship will be made available through an
auction to be conducted March 8, 2014. Anyone interested in participating in
the auction should contact WRTC Chairman, Doug Grant, K1DG,
(k1dg at wrtc2014.org) as quickly as possible to register.



About WRTC2014

The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) is held every four years and
consists of 50+ two-person teams of amateur radio operators from around the
world 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.
Previous WRTCs have been held in Seattle (1990), San Francisco (1996),
Slovenia (2000), Finland (2002), Brazil (2006), and Russia (2010).  More
information is available at www.wrtc2014.org or contact WRTC Chairman Doug
Grant, K1DG, via e-mail at k1dg at wrtc2014.org.