K1TO, WC4E and myself were approached several times in
Finland about the possibility of having the next WRTC
in Florida. Although it would be easy to have
identical stations due to the flat terrain, the
biggest problem in July is the weather. Not only can
it be oppressivly hot to some of the competitors,
there are the thunderstorms which are a daily
occurance this time of year. The percent chance of
having a thunderstorm during the contest probably
exceeds 75%. Required off time could be an option,
however there are times these storms last for hours
and hours which could wipe out a team's chances.
The word from K7LXC at the award dinner were that
there were possible hosts from 4 continents (didn't
specify beyond that) for the next one which most
likely will be held in 2006.
73, Dave N2NL
--- "Kenneth E. Harker" <kharker@cs.utexas.edu> wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 16, 2002 at 06:10:19PM +0100, Bill
> Tippett wrote:
> > In thinking about the WRTC 2002, the Finns
> certainly
> > deserve our thanks for making the playing field as
> level as
> > it has ever been by using identical antennas at
> the same height
> > over flat terrain within a limited area of
> Finland. From what
> > I understand of prior WRTC's, the 2002 edition was
> a major advance.
> >
> > However, I've heard of at least one
> instance of severe
> > antenna interaction and problems with local power
> line QRN. Noticing
> > how poorly some of the excellent teams did in the
> standings, I cannot
> > help but believe that there may have been more
> than one case of
> > antenna interaction problems at specific sites.
> >
> > Here are a few thoughts for the 2004
> sponsor assuming
> > someone steps up to the plate. First, repeat the
> Finns' excellent
> > idea of identical antennas over flat terrain at
> the same height within
> > a limited geographic area, but remove antenna
> interaction and local
> > line noise problems from the equation.
> >
> > How to do this?
> >
> > 1. Locate 50 stations along a remote flat
> seacoast a set distance
> > from high tide levels every mile along a 50 mile
> stretch of isolated
> > beach. During the summertime, comfort should not
> be much of a
> > problem due to temperature. Tents, generators,
> porta-potties and
> > coolers could provide what most of us need to
> survive a 24 hour contest.
> > We do it all the time in Field Day don't we?
> >
> > 2. Use identical multiband verticals with
> identical radial systems.
> > These are simple, inexpensive, easy to erect, and
> should work very
> > well near salt water.
> >
> > 3. Use small <1KW generators like the
> VP8THU/VP8GEO team used...
> > possibly backed up by UPS in case a referee
> temporarily forgets to
> > refuel.
>
> Some of us at W1AW/5 tossed around very similar
> ideas while we were on
> standby to operate. One place this could be done is
> Padre Island
> National Seashore on the Gulf coast of Texas. I'm
> sure there are
> places in Florida and the barrier islands of North
> Carolina that
> would work, too.
>
> Drawbacks:
>
> * Random beach-goers walking into RF fields,
> touching the antennas, etc.
> * At least on Padre, there's a lot of vehicle
> traffic on the beach -
> which means ignition noise.
> * Texas, Florida, and the Carolinas are all subject
> to summer thunderstorms
> and tropical rains.
> * There would be concern about the heat giving the
> USA and SA operators
> an unfair advantage over EU operators.
>
>
> In any event, I think Florida would make a great
> host site - the terrain
> across the state is very flat, you could robably
> find enough air-conditioned
> operating sites in a 50 kilometer radius, and the
> Florida Contest Group is
> fairly active and involved.
>
> Other places that I think would be great:
>
> * Japan (although, the way things are going, it
> wouldn't surprise me if
> next year there were no Japanese teams
> invited at all.)
>
> * Australia
>
> * SMC country
>
> --
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Kenneth E. Harker "Vox Clamantis in Deserto"
> kharker@cs.utexas.edu
> University of Texas at Austin
> Amateur Radio Callsign: WM5R
> Department of the Computer Sciences VP, Central
> Texas DX & Contest Club
> Taylor Hall TAY 2.124
> Maintainer of Linux on Laptops
> Austin, TX 78712-1188 USA
> http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/
>
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