WRTC Battle Revs Up With CQ WW DX SSB; 4 Events in One Month for W/VE Contesters

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted October 22, 2011

Not only is the CQ WW DX SSB Contest the biggest ham radio test of the year, but it's also the kick off of a very difficult one month stretch for hams around the world - and especially in the US and Canada - on the road to qualifying for the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship.

For hams outside the US and Canada, the two CQ WW DX tests will go a long ways to establishing the favorites to qualify for the 2014 WRTC, mainly because CQ WW again gets you the most qualifying points, with a max of 1,000 for both SSB and CW.

The 2014 WRTC qualifying rules allow for scores from three years of CQ WW in 2010, 2011 and 2012. So if you didn't fare well last year, it is almost imperative to toss in a good score this time around.

The value of the WRTC qualifying contests is this:

CQ WW DX SSB - 1,000

CQ WW DX CW - 1,000

CQ WPX SSB - 950

CQ WPX CW - 950

IARU - 900

Russian DX - 900

ARRL SS CW - 900 (W/VE only)

ARRL SS SSB - 900 (W/VE only)

ARRL DX - 900 (NA only)

ARRL DX - 800 (outside NA)

WAE CW/SSB - 800

AA DX - 800

EUHFC - 800

NAQP - 800 (NA only)

NA Sprint CW - 800 (NA only)

Oceania DX - 800 (OC only)

As for information about WRTC 2014 qualifying, the organizers have upgraded their internet presence in just the past few weeks.

"Thanks to the hard work of Rudy Bakalov, N2WQ, the web site has been completely redesigned to look more professional and contain more information that will help competitors, visitors, and others as the preparations for WRTC 2014 continue," said Randy Thompson K5ZD.

On the site, you can find a link to the current WRTC standings as calculated by Thompson's colleague Dan Street K1TO.

You can also find out more about the WRTC qualifying standings at a web site run by Marek Garwolinski SQ2GXO, who is also tracking scores at wrtc-rank.com.

The standings show the following leaders at this point (if both web sites agree, one call is listed; if they differ, the official WRTC leader is first, followed by the SQ2GXO leader):

NA1 - K1LZ

NA2 - N1NC

NA3 - AA3B

NA4E - N4AF

NA4W - K4BAI

NA5 - N2IC/N5AW

NA6 - K6XX

NA7 - K7RL

NA8 - N8BJQ

NA9 - W9RE

NA10 - W0ETT/W0UA

NA11 - VE3DZ/VY2ZM

NA12 - VE5ZX/VE7CC

NA13 - NP2X/FM5CD

EU1 - F1AKK/M0FCW

EU2 - IK2NCJ/DK6XZ

EU3 - LY9A

EU4 - OE3DIA/OM2VL

EU5 - LZ4AX/E77DX

EU6 - RL3FT

AF - EA8CAC/KF5EYY(3V)

AS1 - R9DX/UN9LW

AS2 - RW0CF/R9DX

AS3 - 5B4WN/5B4AIE

AS4 - XU7ACY/VU2PTT

AS5 - JH4UYB

OC - KH6SH/VK4EMM

SA1 - PY2NDX/PY2SEX

SA2 - CX6VM/LU1FAM