Finances Of WRTC2002 and Great Success at Dayton Hamvention 2001.
The World Radiosport Team Championship, WRTC, the "Olympics" of international
Amateur Radio
contesting, will take place in Finland in July 2002. WRTC 2002 is being
organized jointly by Contest Club
Finland (CCF) and The Finnish Amateur Radio League (SRAL).
These periodic WRTC events bringing together over fifty (50) teams comprised of
the "Best of the Best" contest
operators from around the world for a week of super-charged operating skills
competitions. The WRTC is
organized around an on-the-air competition among two-person teams. By bringing
the competitors
together in one geographical area and providing equal operating conditions
(antennas, power etc), the
variables normally associated with a radio contest are neutralized, thus the
operating skills are
emphasized.
Finland, arguably the world?s leading communications technology powerhouse, has
several unique and innovative
technical projects underway. These projects will result in technology being
employed during the games that virtually
insure that a worldwide Amateur Radio audience can participate "on the air"
with the WRTC competitors during this
exciting 24-hour operating event while they also watch the results on the
world-web almost on a real-time basis.
Financing an undertaking as large as a World Radiosport Team Championship is a
tremendous challenge. These
competitions are expensive to put on and are totally dependent upon financial
support from thousands of individual
contributors and a limited number of commercial sources. WRTC2002 will be more
expensive than any precious
competition since modern Finland is a rather expensive country. The Amateur
Radio operators in Finland, naturally,
have assumed that a great deal of support will be forthcoming from the Amateur
Radio community throughout the
world.
The WRTC2002 budget is calculated to be USD 200K. The Organizing Committee was
able to raise USD 100K before
committing to the event. Dedicated efforts to raise the remaining USD 100K are
now underway.
One of the first such efforts took place May 17-20 at the Dayton Hamvention
2001. The renowned Dayton Ohio event
regularly brings together about 25,000 Amateur Radio operators from all over
the world with interests in all aspects of
the hobby. Large number of those in attendance are always Contesters and DXers,
without
a doubt some of the most active and energetic individuals in the hobby.
Many of these Contesters and DXers, some previous competitors in past WRTC
events, volunteered to work along
side the WRTC 2002 USA Representatives manning various fund raising activities
this year. We are pleased to
announce that the Contesters and DXers who came together in Dayton took time
out of their socializing to dig into
their wallets and made generous financial contributions totaling over USD 5000.
Those dollars provide a great start
down the path to obtaining the tens of thousands of dollars still needed for
the competition in Finland just a little
over a year away.
We would like to thank the following individuals who worked hard making the
Dayton fund raising effort a success:
John K1AR, Doug K1DG, Len K1NU, Ted KR1G, Al KD1EA, George W1ZT, John W2GD, Bud
WF2B, Mike N2MG,
Bob K3EST, Tim K3LR, Eric K3NA, Al N3AD, Jim N3BB, Steve W3SM, Jim K4OJ, Doug
N6TQS, Bruce W6OSP, Ron
K8NZ, Steve N8BJQ.
The Organizing Committee would like to use this opportunity to make a call for
further support from all interested
corporations, clubs or individuals. Official letterhead documents from the
Organizing Committee can be provided to
assist commercial enterprises with the documentation they may require to make a
donation.
The Northern California DX Foundation, ?NCDXF?, has kindly agreed to assist by
processing USA donations.
Checks or Charge Card donations that are made out to NCDXF (for WRTC Project)
are tax deductible to the extent
permitted by law for USA taxpayers. All cash, check and VISA/MC/AMEX donations
from the USA can be sent
direct to:
NCDXF, c/o Rusty Epps, W6OAT
651 Handley Trail
Redwood City, CA 94062
USA
Our WRTC2002 USA representatives will also gladly help facilitate the
processing of your donation. They are also
available to take part in activities that are intended to support WRTC 2002.
Please feel free to contact our USA
representatives for assistance.
Your contacts are:
Jeff, Briggs K1ZM USA East K1ZM@aol.com
Bob Allphin, K4UEE USA South MAllphin@aol.com
Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV USA West K7BV@aol.com.
All donations from outside the United States can be sent directly to a WRTC2002
bank account as indicated on the
official WRTC2002 website http://www.wrtc2002.org.
An entertaining and informative video produced by Dave Bell W6AQ vividly
projects the excitement and intensity of
a WRTC event. His professional video report on WRTC 2000, which was held in
Slovenia, will be available soon
through the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org.
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