The 8th World Radiosport Team Championship, WRTC 2018 in Germany next July, will offer seats on three teams for contesters who are 25 or younger at the time of the event. Prospective participants need only to apply. The international event July 12-16, 2018, will feature 42 competing teams. This will mark Germany’s first time hosting a WRTC, which takes place in conjunction with the IARU HF Championship event, July 15-16, 2018. The IARU contest provides a framework for the WRTC; the rules for each event differ. Contester Sandy Raeker, DL1QQ, who handles WRTC 2018 US fundraising, spoke recently with Tim Duffy, K3LR, for a DX Engineering video.

“I think we’re making real good progress,” Raeker said. She noted that WRTC 2014 in New England had one youth team. “We decided to have three youth teams this time, because it’s so important to involve more young people in this great contesting hobby,” she said.

Managing preparations for WRTC 2018 is a 12-member organizing committee, headed by Chris Janssen, DL1MGB. Raeker said the sites, all in the relatively flat Jessen-Wittenberg region, south of Berlin in the former East Germany, have yet to be evaluated, but that organizers are aiming to offer comparable operating sites for all WRTC 2018 participants.

Among other things, WRTC 2018 has wrapped up its qualification process, drafted official rules for the competition, selected 160 possible station sites, picked and tested antennas and antenna-related gear, completed an initial round of testing, and signed several major sponsorship contracts. In March, WRTC 2018 began accepting applications for referees.

Raeker said some 39% of contributions for WRTC 2018 to date have come from the US, with 56% from Germany. US supporters may donate to WRTC 2018 via the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) website.

Onlookers are welcome, Raeker said. The popular Ham Radio show in Friedrichshafen, Germany in late June is approximately 420 miles from the Jessen-Wittenberg area, where WRTC 2018 will take place. WRTC 2018 will have a booth at Ham Radio 2017.