WRTC UK 2026 – News Release
With 2025 drawing to a close, I am happy to provide a summary of the year from
the Organising Committee. Efforts had to be ‘stepped up’ several gears on the
journey since being awarded the hosting rights in July 2023. This is mainly due
to the fact that the timeframe between WRTC events this time is just 3 years.
This presented the team with demanding deadlines without the opportunity for
falling behind schedule.
Progress of the main work packages are as follows.
Rules and Qualification
This area is headed up by Lee G0MTN, who has worked hard in providing quality
rule proposals to the OC and leading the operator and referee topics. The final
qualifying event was ARRL DX SSB in March. The results were issued in July,
which allowed identification of the final qualifying standings to determine the
team leaders. Invitations were issued to all 47 of these individuals, who
responded and identified their chosen team mate. Slots were already secure for
the two sponsored teams. The Wildcard slow was carefully considered by the OC
and we decided on Diego LW5HR, who quickly accepted. His chosen team mate is
Manu LU9ESD. All 4 youth teams are locked in and confirmed as below:
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Youth #1
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RA9P
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Aleks
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R2BFL
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Maxim
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Youth #2
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W0AAE
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Kees
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W4IPC
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Connor
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Youth #3
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W7WLW
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Willow
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N4ML
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Max
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Youth #4
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DL3ON
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Leon
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EI5LA
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Megan
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Representing the United Kingdom ‘at home’ at WRTC 2026 is Team Leader Martin
GW4XUM with Team Mate John G4IRN.
Upon finalising the operator teams, we were able to launch the Referee
application process. We had an excellent response with close to 100
applications. All 50 referees were carefully selected and all are confirmed.
There has been little need to make additions or changes to the WRTC competition
rules since they were issued. We recently issued a clarification permitting the
use of spectrum displays in controlling radios. The majority of the rule format
remains unchanged from WRTC 2022 (held in 2023).
Sites & Stations
Andy M0NKR and Andy G4PIQ have been working hard in finding 55 suitable sites
for the stations, which is no minor task. They have been successful in securing
a sufficient number of sites in the target area of Norfolk and Suffolk. The
majority of the sites will be located within the grounds of estates which
surround the town of Thetford. The team operated from 5 locations within the
Euston Estate for the IARU 2025 Contest, which was the main trial event for
2026. This was invaluable – not only did we learn how to assemble stations but
our wonderful volunteers had that opportunity too and they proved to be very
resourceful helpers. Chris G4FZN joined the committee shortly after this event,
supported by Pauline G8HQW, with his prime area of responsibility being station
assembly and volunteer coordination in the field.
The hardware acquisition continues to make good progress. Most equipment is
already in our possession. The sale of antenna kits have started and many have
already been allocated to new owners which will be taken by them after the WRTC
2026 contest.
Hospitality
Georgina M6YGL has developed details of the week long programme with our HQ
venue Wyboston Lakes. All competitors and referees have confirmed their
accommodation and specific requests. Spectators are making bookings and we have
an ever evolving list of attendees. Entertainment during the event has been
carefully selected and the itinerary is taking shape. The WRTC UK Organising
Committee want the event to be something to remember. This is why we have
chosen to select a very nice venue, which offers the facilities we need. Some
of the important criteria when selecting an HQ venue included having on site
accommodation, being able to hold the number of people we expect and offering a
good quality venue with service standards in line with what would be expected
for such a high profile event. Wyboston Lakes are very excited about WRTC UK
and are working with us to ensure it runs smoothly.
Volunteers
Steve M1ACB heads up the area of volunteers and has been maintaining a
comprehensive list of those that have offered their help and to be part of WRTC
UK. The list has been divided by role for Drivers, Site Managers, Station
Builders and HQ Staff. Communication with volunteers to confirm their role has
been taking place over the past 2 months. We are extremely grateful to those
that have offered their help. We still need to find more volunteers, so if you
are able, please contact us.
Fundraising
We knew that this area was going to be challenging given that we only have a 3
year timeframe as opposed to the usual 4 years. The overall funds required to
execute WRTC in the UK next year is high and made more challenging given
inflation and particularly high prices in the UK. We have a large number of
radio clubs, corporate organisations and individuals that have come forward to
help and Keith G3WRO has been working to maximise this outreach. Mark K1RX came
on board to help with fundraising in North America and is spending time
promoting by performing presentations to radio clubs in the USA. WRTC would not
be possible without donations and we thank every one for their help. All donors
are displayed on our website. Those individuals that donated at least £100 in
2024 qualified for a unique Bronze WRTC UK Coin and for the same donation in
2025 obtained a Silver variant. The Gold Coin will become available on 1st
January 2026. We welcomed some high value donors as VIPs and Super VIPs, who in
return will benefit for some special treatment next July.
In August we were very pleased to bring on board Yaesu as our Prime Sponsor.
Finance Director Fred G4BWP had a very good meeting with the President of the
radio manufacturer in Tokyo, and we are delighted with their commitment to WRTC.
We have tent sponsors now for 46 of the 50 teams.
Overall, we are broadly on track with our fundraising targets. We still have
work to do in 2026 to close the final gap of around £30,000.
We need to recognise WWROF (World Wide Radio Operators Foundation) for their
ongoing support in facilitating donations from the USA.
IT
We developed our Information Technology team who are working ahead of the event
and lining up plans for the event itself. This includes excellent support from
our webmaster Stuart M1SMH and ongoing help from our previous webmaster and
website host Peter MM9SQL. More recently, our media and AV team has been
confirmed and they are having meetings to develop the plans. This team consists
of David G7URP, Tammy M0TC, John G3WGV, Robert M0VFC, Dom M0BLF, Lawrence
M0LCM, Kevin M0UJD, Kevin W1DED. James N0WRL, founder of World Radio League,
and his team consisting of Brad and others, are providing the live platform for
WRTC UK. The WRL WRTC platform was successfully trialled in July 2025 and again
in CQWW 2025 at the M6T station. We have a milestone plan with WRL to ensure
the solution is tweaked to be just right for the event. We will be integrating
our onsite media with this aspect to ensure a joined up and synchronised
solution.
Youth
As we have previously announced, involving young people is very important to
the UK OC. To that end, we have ensured 4 teams (8 operators) will be part of
the competing teams. Additionally, we are developing an initiative for YOTA
operators to attend the UK to benefit from the experience. This is an effort to
ultimately fuel interest for the future of our hobby and hopefully initiate the
journey for future WRTC competitors. We recognise that we need to try and
target an audience outside of amateur radio, too. Philipp DK6SP is working with
Headmaster Alan G4DJX to organise a school trip visit to WRTC UK HQ before the
contest, where the students will get to meet world class contesters and get the
opportunity to operate a station at Wyboston.
Thanks go to our Advisory Committee (G0CKV, G3NSM, MD0CCE, N3KS, K1AR, K3LR,
DL1MGB) for their continuing support. We are also thankful to the Sanctioning
Committee for assisting with various progression gates along the way. Our SC
interface is Doug K1DG who has been there since day 1 and still offers solid
support.
Our activity goes well beyond what I’ve outlined here, but this helps to give a
flavour of the main tasks of the year. We will continue our work over the next
7 months and strive for a successful WRTC event. Thank you for all the support.
This is a once in a lifetime event so if you can, do please get involved.
73,
Mark M0DXR
Chairman WRTC UK Organising Committee
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