2013 Station Test

The WRTC2014 Organizing Committee conducted a capability and training test for the WRTC stations and volunteers during the July 2013 running of the IARU HF Championship (1200z July 13 – 1159z July 14). The goals of the 2013 Station Test were to:

  • Expand the pool of experienced teams for station set up
  • Evaluate proposed site locations for radio quietness and equality
  • Confirm logistics and procedures to set up and tear down a large number of stations
  • Gather log data under competition conditions to share with WRTC 2014 competitors

The WRTC test stations were active in the contest on 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters both CW and SSB. Many of the stations followed the equipment configuration and scoring rules that will be used for WRTC 2014. Conditions were not the best, but these operations will provide valuable log and propagation information to the WRTC 2014 competitors.

We were able to construct, operate, and take down 25 complete stations over the 3 day test period. Valuable experience was gained by the organizers and the 100+ volunteers that made it all possible.

Ken, K1RAX, put together this video of the “KB1H Beam Team” in action building one of their two sites. Watch all the way to the end for a unique perspective of antenna raising! The team included KB1H, W1UJ, N1WK, K1ZE, K1EBY, NR1X, NB1U, and K1RAX.

A beta test of the real-time score board system was also successfully conducted. Ten of the test stations were reporting their scores on a near QSO-by-QSO basis. Others were texting their scores by SMS. The real-time score board will be an exciting way for friends and family to follow the competition as it unfolds.

Stories and Photos

The WRTC Station Test was featured in one of the local newspapers – the Lowell Sun.

You can get a feel for the effort that went into the station test by viewing some of the photo albums.

K6ND Friday Equipment Loading and Station Building

K6ND Saturday Station Operation

K5ZD Station Tour

KM3T Station Tour

K1TH Fly Over Tour

N1UEC Photos of Mansfield Airport Stations

K1ZO Photos of AD1T Site Construction and Operation

WW1M Twin Valley Farms Site

N1NS Photos of “Equestrian Site” Setup

K1DG Video of Tower Raising – Part 2

WB1Z – Aerial drone video

More stories and follow up here.

Results – WRTC Test Stations

Scores were calculated using the WRTC2014 scoring rules. Band breakdowns show QSOs/HQ/Countries.

CALLSIGN SCORE QSOs HQ DX 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M
W1UE 2,169,035 1959 157 192 255/22/25 454/38/41 754/48/71 401/37/45 95/12/10
N2NT 2,115,954 2032 150 192 269/25/21 446/35/44 757/45/69 400/31/48 160/14/10
AK1W 1,538,226 1708 125 166 259/19/20 378/32/38 714/36/64 284/30/37 73/ 8/ 7
W1SJ 1,370,958 1929 99 147 286/14/25 373/32/31 778/30/57 443/20/31  49/ 3/ 3
K1BG 1,308,528 1332 136 176  106/18/15 369/36/45 579/45/70 239/33/40  39/ 4/ 6
K1ZD 1,302,125 1528 121 154  219/20/21 490/29/39 534/39/61 230/22/25  55/11/ 8
K6ND 1,228,568 1632 110 143  191/16/10 443/30/34 668/37/63 300/22/31  30/ 5/ 5
K1GQ 1,172,888 1449 121 150  246/19/15 373/32/39 472/39/52 294/24/37  64/ 7/ 7
W1UJ 1,169,805 1406 129 144  195/19/13 328/31/32 611/44/63 224/29/31  48/ 6/ 5
N3AD 1,130,002 1536 109 142  217/17/15 415/30/38 606/36/55 260/23/29  38/ 3/ 5
KE1J 1,029,436 1399 100 144  189/16/19 407/31/39 538/34/60 225/16/21  40/ 3/ 5
K1RX* 1,010,786 1355 93 145  190/16/21 285/23/34 623/36/62 219/17/25  38/ 1/ 3
N1SV 982,146 1419 122 131  178/18/18 338/34/35 494/35/41 349/28/33  60/ 7/ 4
AD1T 946,080 1459 86 130  222/13/16 380/25/29 556/24/51 267/20/32  34/ 4/ 2
W1EQ 918,537 1432 97 126  185/12/ 9 375/21/27 564/36/52 278/26/34  30/ 2/ 4
NJ1F 911,212 1519 90 124  220/13/18 354/24/31 538/30/43 310/17/23  97/ 6/ 9
K9ES 837,536 1323 103 121  241/17/19 349/30/29 444/34/46 259/20/24  30/ 2/ 3
NI1L 703,120 1079 101 119  148/15/ 8 294/30/30 360/30/49 248/20/30  29/ 6/ 2
W1MA 671,008 1081 95 113  160/19/10 277/24/27 372/30/45 215/15/23  57/ 7/ 8
NB1N 653,045 1103 96 115  211/16/17 344/27/36 298/31/31 184/17/26  66/ 5/ 5
WB1Z 617,874 1064 89 112  191/ 8/ 9 257/24/26 388/34/41 207/21/33  21/ 2/ 3
AA3K 403,684 830 74 98  101/14/ 8 228/25/28 363/22/42 112/13/17  26/ 0/ 3
W1CLA* 294,038 639 67 91   43/ 4/ 6 142/18/23 246/31/41 198/14/18  10/ 0/ 3
W1HH* 163,149 493 51 68   80/ 5/ 8 204/13/22 179/24/30  30/ 9/ 8   0/ 0/ 0
N1JD* 134,691 328 68 71   38/ 6/ 2 102/23/18 116/23/31  57/12/18  15/ 4/ 2

* Used only one radio.

Operators:

W1UE W1UE W1KM
N2NT N2NT N2NC
AK1W VA2WA VE2TZT
W1SJ W1SJ K1LI
K1BG K1BG NM1C KB1YJI NR1G
K1ZD K1ZZ K1CC K0TG
K6ND K3JO K6ND K1VR NB1U K6NDV
K1GQ K1GQ W2RU W2CS K1AR WA1Z
W1UJ KB1H W1UJ K1RAX K1EBY N1WK K1ZE NR1X NB1U
N3AD N3AD W1GD
KE1J KE1J W1VE
K1RX K1RX W1CU
N1SV N1SV KM1P N2KW
AD1T AE1P K1QX K1ZO N1KWF W1WWW
W1EQ W1EQ K1ZE N3XF K1RAX
NJ1F NJ1F K1RQ WC2L K1EP KB1W WA1ZAM
K9ES K9ES AD4ES K1ST
NI1L NI1L N2MG K3ZJ
W1MA W1MA N2MM
NB1N NB1N K9HI K1IB N2JFS
WB1Z AA1YW KK1W W1EQO W1MSW W3SM N1SR NV1Q
AA3K AA3K K3FT WI3Y
W1CLA K1MBO K1VR K5ZD KB1REQ N1QD
W1HH W1STT WO1N WC1M KB1ST
N1JD N1JD N1OXA

Note: The WRTC2014 Board has voted unanimously that anyone who operated from one of the 2013 Station Test sites will not be eligible to be a competitor in 2014. This is intended to prevent 2014 competitors from gaining any advantage.

Station Test Hunters

The WRTC2014 organizers offered awards to encourage people to work the test stations.

  • 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 5 or more band-modes will be entered into a drawing to win a WRTC mouse pad or hat. Five winners will be drawn.

Top 5 Outside W1

WK5T  132
VY2ZM 110
DJ2YA 105
K4BAI 101
WW4LL 97 
VE3EJ 95 
NK7U  95

Top 3 Outside USA

DJ2YA   105
LZ0M     63 
P3N      55
S50A     53
ED3X     50
OK2PAY   49
IR4X     48
OQ5M     47
EF8S     47

Drawing Winners

N5AN
R7MM
W4SJT
VE3OI
DL8SCG

Stations that worked all 25 Test Stations (no award, just good feelings)

WK5T 
K2SX 
W9RE 
NF4A 
K5KG 
K4RO 
N4BP 
WA2VYA
W3UA 
W0EWD 
W4SVO 
N4UU 
W5WMU 
K5TR 
K6XX

Test Station Logs

Logs of the top scorers are provided to help 2014 competitors study the propagation they can expect.

W1UE
N2NT
AK1W
W1SJ
K1BG
K1ZD
K6ND
K1GQ
W1UJ
W1SJ
W1UE
W1UJ
WB1Z
All Logs in zip file

Audio

W1UE/W1KM recorded their operation and have shared it with competitors preparing for 2014. The audio is available in a single zip file containing 48 mp3 files, 24 for each station, each 1 hour long. Each file is about 14Mb. Dennis, W1UE, reports, “Station 1 was used on 80/20/10m, Station 2 was used on 40/15m. The audio on Station 1 is very good, but the audio input on Station 2 was too high and there is some distortion on it.”

W1UE_audio_2013.zip  (640Mb)