The WRTC2014 organizers conducted a first test of volunteers, equipment, and sites during the IARU HF Championship 2012. Beam team captains collected gear from the storage point and fanned out to set up 13 identical stations. Site teams attended each location and set up the tent and kept the generators running. Teams of operators brought their own equipment and kept the stations on air for the full 24 hours.
Participants took pictures throughout the weekend. Follow the links below to share the experience and get a taste of what WRTC2014 may be like.
K1RX takes you on a photo tour of some of the WRTC test stations.
http://photobucket.com/2012test_k1rx
Randy, K5ZD, shares his visit to 7 WRTC test sites.
http://photobucket.com/2012test_k5zd
Want to experience what it was like to be part of a WRTC Beam Team? Allen, N2KW, provides the photos that let you live the dream.
http://photobucket.com/2012test_n2kw
Jay, W1UJ, shares his photos of station setup and operation at the WDC site in Wrentham.
http://w1uj.net/wrtc-test2012/
Will, K6ND, was involved in setting up two sites.
http://photobucket.com/2012test_k6nd
Rich, K1CC, has prepared photos and writeup of his experience operating one of the WRTC test stations.
http://konecc.wix.com/
Gerry, W1VE, wrote a nice story about operating a WRTC test station and battling the heat.
http://www.w1ve.com/?p=1
Les, N1SV, provides his photos of the weekend.
http://home.comcast.net/~lespeters/yccc/WRTC2014_2012/WRTC2012_2012.htm
Tom, K1KI, the man responsible for finding WRTC station sites, shares his photos from the WRTC station test.
http://photobucket.com/2012test_K1KI
Local radio clubs are key to future success of WRTC2014. Here are some reports about the 2012 Station Test from club newsletters.
- Montachusett Amateur Radio Association (see page 6): http://www.w1gz.org/news%20letters/1205news.pdf
- Billerica Amateur Radio Society (see page 1): http://www.w1hh.org/joomla/newsletters/BARS%20Newsletter%20201209.pdf
- Radio Amateurs of Northern Vermont (see page 1): http://www.hamclass.net/ranv/news/ranv1208.pdf
We will be doing another practice in 2013 with even more stations. The big event is 2014 when there will be 59 stations and teams of operators going for the honor of WRTC Champion! If you want to help, visit the volunteer page and sign up.
Station Test Hunters
To help generate more activity and data, WRTC2014 offered awards to encourage people to work the test stations. The awards were:
- A WRTC T-shirt will be awarded to the 5 callsigns (outside W1) that work the WRTC test stations on the most band-modes.
- A WRTC T-shirt will be awarded to the 3 callsigns outside North America that work the WRTC test stations on the most band-modes.
- Everyone who works the WRTC test stations on 4 or more band-modes will be entered into a drawing to win a WRTC mouse pad or hat. Ten winners will be drawn.
Top Ten non-W1 (top 5 win T-shirts)
N5DX 52 N2IC 47 K0EJ 45 N8OO 44 W4IX 44 K5KG 43 NR3X 43 W4NZ 41 WW4LL 41 NP4Z 40 WD4AHZ 40
Top Three non-NA
EI/W5GN 42 DJ2YA 41 CR6K 38
1189 stations worked WRTC stations on at least 4 band-modes!
Drawing Winners
K6JAT N4ZI W5KI W5WMU KH6LC K0PK FP/KV1J HK3TU E720RS AI3G
Some other stats just for fun.
Top 5 Zone 6
N9RV 37 NK7U 33 K6NA 28 W6SX 28 N6TV 27 W6NV 27 W7CT 27
Top Five W1
K1LZ 41 NN1N 41 WA1Z 37 K0DQ 36 N1YX 35
Top Ten HQ
NU1AW/9 88 W1AW/7 83 TM0HQ 80 OL2HQ 79 DA0HQ 73 IOxHQ 72 GO2HQ 70 S50HQ 67 YT0HQ 64 9A20HQ 58 SN0HQ 55
Top WRTC (working other WRTC)
K1ZD 50 W1UJ 44 N9NB 43 W1UE 43 W1MJ 42 W1MA 41 WB1Z 39 K1GQ 37 K1RQ 32 W1HH 30 W1SJ 29 N2KW 27 NI1L 17
WRTC Test Stations
The test stations made 18,373 QSOs (including dupes). 5949 are from Zone 8 (2 pts), 4199 are from other NA zones (3 pts), 2053 are from HQ stations (2 pts), and 6172 are 5-pointers, mostly Europe (less than 10 JA QSOs).
Claimed Scores before Checking (using WRTC2014 scoring rules)
| Call | Category | Score | QSOs | CW | SSB | Cty | HQ |
| K1ZD | 2O2R | 2,249,744 | 1,798 | 1361 | 437 | 215 | 164 |
| W1UE | 2O2R | 2,183,797 | 1,846 | 1507 | 339 | 213 | 146 |
| W1UJ | 2O2R | 2,010,396 | 1,976 | 1540 | 436 | 186 | 132 |
| N9NB | 2O2R | 1,999,275 | 1,757 | 1393 | 364 | 203 | 142 |
| K1RQ | 2O2R | 1,439,360 | 1,473 | 1350 | 122 | 168 | 99 |
| WB1Z | 2O2R | 1,180,980 | 1,407 | 999 | 408 | 150 | 110 |
| W1MJ | 2O2R | 1,012,254 | 1,508 | 1115 | 393 | 134 | 89 |
| W1SJ | 2O2R | 791,252 | 1,373 | 789 | 584 | 118 | 78 |
| W1HH | MS | 954,827 | 1,145 | 863 | 282 | 143 | 118 |
| K1GQ | MS | 951,936 | 1,279 | 1271 | 8 | 145 | 82 |
| NI1L | MS | 757,253 | 917 | 700 | 217 | 137 | 107 |
| W1MA | MS | 576,241 | 847 | 666 | 181 | 126 | 85 |
| N2KW | SO | 665,632 | 833 | 596 | 237 | 136 | 108 |
| Totals | 18,159 | 14,150 | 4,008 | 2,074 | 1,460 |
Excel file with complete results. WRTC_Station_Test_2012_Results
| Call | Operators |
| K1GQ | + W2RU K1AR |
| K1RQ | + K1IR KB1W NJ1F W1VE |
| K1ZD | K1ZZ KA1ZD K1CC |
| N2KW | |
| N9NB | + N9NC K5GO |
| NI1L | + K5ZD K1KI |
| W1HH | N1IW WO1N W1STT |
| W1MA | + K1RX K5ZD N1TQ |
| W1MJ | + K1IB K9HI N1SV NB1N |
| W1SJ | + KM1P |
| W1UE | + W1KM |
| W1UJ | + N1WK K1EBY KB1H NB1U NR1X |
| WB1Z | W1MSW AA1YW KK1W W3SM W1EQO K5ZD K1DNX KX1X |
Online Logs
K1GQ
K1RQ
K1ZD
N2KW
N9NB
NI1L
W1HH
W1MA
W1MJ
W1SJ
W1UE
W1UJ
WB1Z
All Logs in zip file