[CQ-Contest] Teams nominated for WRTC 2018 Competition (WRTC 2018 Press Release)

[Michael Hoeding, DL6MHW]

Jessen/Wittenberg (1st October 2017)
WRTC 2018 e.V., organizer and host of the World Radiosport Team 
Championship (WRTC) 2018,
is proud to announce the 63 teams that will be invited to compete in 
Germany next July.

WRTC is a competition among two-operator teams. Team Leaders have now 
been selected
for each qualifying region based on 2 years of qualifying contest 
scores. The Team Leaders
were given the option to select any operator as a Team Mate to complete 
their team.

The team application and verification process was managed by Ulf 
Ehrlich, DL5AXX. Ulf pointed
out: “This will be a very competitive field. The top three teams of WRTC 
2014 in Boston will
participate once again in the 2018 event!”

The five sponsored teams, all representing high level contesters, have 
already been announced
some time ago. The selection of the Youth and Wild Card Teams required a 
more formal
application process and, therefore, could only be completed recently.

WRTC 2018 e.V. has received seven applications from Youth Teams, 
representing contesters
younger than 25. The selection was based on the number of qualification 
points, as defined
in the rules. Team Leaders will be CE2MVF (9107 points), YO8TTT (7254 
points) and HA8RT
(5056 points). These results made it easy to decide in favor of the 
three Youth Teams invited
to participate in the WRTC 2018 competition.

Issuing Wild Cards has been an entirely different process. Similar to 
the approach taken by
the organizers of the WRTC 2014 in Boston we have selected UN9LW (with 
Team Mate UN7LZ),
who missed the qualification criteria by just 24 points. Honoring the 
cleanest log of high
scorers ZL3CW (with F6BEE) was offered another Wild Card. Because of the 
close competition
in region EU#5 featuring outstanding results another Wild Card was 
offered to 9A7DX
(with 9A3LG) to join WRTC 2018. We also invited YV1DIG, performing 
excellently behind the
curtain of zone 9 DXpedition stations. Finally we unanimously selected 
K1DG, chairman of the
WRTC 2014, well known top level contester, and champion of the first 
WRTC in 1990. Not only
did he do an outstanding job in Boston. By offering a Wild Card to him 
we also wanted to express
our appreciation and thanks to all of the many fine people making WRTC 
2014 in Boston such a
great success. His Team Mate will be N2NT - 2014 Competition Director 
and number five in
NA#1 with 10.6 k points.

The complete list of competitors is available on our website:
   http://wrtc2018.de/index.php/en/competition/participants

When making the announcement, WRTC 2018 President Christian Janssen, 
DL1MGB, stated:
“We are pleased to see a mix of veterans of previous WRTC events and 
first-time participants
among the competitors. The teams represent over 35 countries and a wide 
range of personal
backgrounds. While the focus will be on the competition, we are looking 
forward to hosting the
teams and celebrating a week of ham spirit together with competitors, 
organizers, volunteers
and sponsors during the WRTC week.”
-- 

Michael Höding, DL6MHW
Vice-President, Fundraising, PR
Phone: +49 39201 20779
E-Mail: dl6mhw at wrtc2018.de
http://www.wrtc2018.de