The days are dwindling down to a precious few: Following 4 years of preparation, World Radiosport Team Championship 2018 (WRTC 2018) is primed to start, and excitement is building to see how the 63 competing teams fare in the 24-hour event, July 14 – 15 in Germany. Fourteen North American teams are on the roster, including the defending champion team of WRTC 2014, Daniel Craig, N6MJ, and Chris Hurlbut, KL9A. Several well-known US contesting personalities are among those serving as referees at each site. As the July 12 opening ceremonies neared, WRTC 2018 organizers were searching for a last-minute replacement for a team leader who had to drop out.

WRTC 2018 takes place in conjunction with the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) HF Championship, although with different or additional rules. Both events get under way on Saturday at 1200 UTC and conclude on Sunday at 1159 UTC, and all radio amateurs may take part in the IARU event. The object of the IARU is to contact as many other stations on phone and CW, especially IARU member society headquarters stations, on 160 through 10 meters, except for 30, 17, and 12 meters.

WRTC 2018 organizers have set up a program of awards and activities intended to “create big pileups for the WRTC stations” from those who will be on the IARU HF Championship side of the competition. Awards for outside participants include:

Worked All WRTC Stations (WAWRTC)

• Minimum one QSO with each WRTC station.
• No need to send in your log.
• Award will automatically be generated from competitors' logs.

(Even if you are not sure that the WRTC 2018 team got your call sign correct, organizers say to send in your log anyway, and they will follow up.)

WRTC Sprint

• Work all 63 WRTC stations as quickly as possible on any band or mode.
• Separate scoring applies for each of the 29 WRTC 2018 qualification regions.
• Pick any time frame during the 24-hour contest.
• The winner of each region will receive a special prize.

WRTC Most QSOs (MQ)

• Complete as many contacts with WRTC 2018 competitors as possible (63 stations/5 bands/2 modes = up to 630 possible contacts).
• Separate scoring applies for each of the 29 WRTC 2018 qualification regions.
• The winner of each region will receive a special prize.

Assistant Judge

Special prizes will be raffled among all operators sending in theirs logs until Sunday, July 15, 2018, at 1800 UTC.

WRTC 2018 Distance Challenge

• This award is independent of geographic region.
• The distance in kilometers between you and the WRTC stations will be summed for all contacts.
• For a precise calculation, enter your grid locator in the Cabrillo log location field. WRTC 2018 will take place in grid square JO61ls.

Propagation conditions could be a big factor, and to that end, Jari Perkiömäki, OH6BG/OG6G, has prepared what he calls “a propagation starter kit” for WRTC 2018.

“It will give you valuable insights into making propagation predictions in general, and a set of pre-calculated, point-to-point, band-by-band prediction tables, together with an extensive set of coverage area maps,” he said. All predictions are for short-path propagation. For other projections, he suggested that WRTC 2018 visitors visit the VOACAP Online HF Predictions page, using the input values on the WRTC 2018 page. 

Another mystery as the event approaches is the call signs that the competing teams will use. Some contesters had hoped that WRTC 2018 organizers would release either the call sign format or the actual call signs early enough for circulation to skimmers feeding the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) and in logging software “pre-fill” databases. WRTC 2018 will announce the actual call signs on July 12, during the opening ceremonies.