Contesting From a War Zone; Russia-Georgia Fighting Can't Stop WAE Record Multi Claim

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted August 18, 2008

For Andy Kotovsky UU4JMG and Andi Kazantsev UU0JM, the Worked All Europe CW contest was supposed to be a weekend of fun in the Republic of Georgia, as they set out to win the Multi-op section of the WAE CW Contest from the QTH of 4L4WW.

While the Ukranian duo may have accomplished their goal, claiming a top score of 3.4 million points, their contest weekend certainly didn't focus entirely on ham radio.

Instead, as Russian and Georgian military units battled in the breakaway province of South Ossetia and in Georgia proper, Kotovsky and Kazantsev suddenly had to deal with more than just their 4L0A contest strategy.

"Yes sometimes we worried about our safety during the contest," Kotovsky told radio-sport.net, after finally getting back to his home in Ukraine.

"The main scene was about 100km away from my village," said Gia Gvaladze 4L4WW, who hosted both men at his home in Obcha, Georgia.

"It was quiet in my village but tension was everywere because it was unpredictable how things could develop."

Gvaladze said UU4JMG and UU0JM did encounter some jamming by a few Russian stations during the WAE test, "though most followed the spirit of the competition and the hobby."

The two contesters were able to leave Georgia the day after the contest ended, even as the conflict raged on.

"We were not sure everything would be OK with our flight on Monday to Kiev or not," said Kotovsky.

"They had return tickets and fortunately at that time there was no threat to the flights from Tbilisi International Airport," Gvaladze said.

A day earlier though, Russian jets had bombed a nearby military airfield, initially prompting press reports that the airport in Georgia's capital city had been targeted.

"My family is fine physically, but destroyed otherwise by this unprecedented invasion," Gvaladze said, adding that one Russian attack came at an airfield just thirty kilometers from his home.

DL1IAO, C4I Lead WAE CW Single Ops

While 4L0A and D4C top the Multi Operator category in WAE, the Single Op battle for now in Europe is led by Stefan Von Baltz DL1IAO, who claimed 1.82 million points. In second is Matteo Marzilli IZ3EYZ, who took IO4T to 1.64 million.

Outside of Europe, there are at least a half dozen single op scores over the two million mark. Andrey Sachkov LZ2HM operated as C4I in Cyprus and leads with 2.24 million.

Meanwhile, last year's European high power winner Vladimir Askenov went East to Asiatic Russia, and took RZ9OZO to 2.16 million for second best claimed score.

In the US and Canada, the further north and east you were, the more chance you have to do well in this contest, and that was obvious from the scores.

Doug Grant K1DG went to the coast of Maine and took N1LI to the top US SOHP score with 2.05 million, giving him the edge in WRTC points from the East Coast.

Americans also led the way in Canada's NA #5 region, as Mark Speck K0EJ operated from VY2ZM and claimed 2.12 million. Mark Bailey VY2MT/KD4D wasn't far behind at 1.99 million points from VY2TT's QTH.

Scott Robbins W4PA seems to have helped his drive for a WRTC slot with a 1.03 million score from K8AZ in NA #2.

NA #3's top score may have come from Kevin Stockton N5DX, even though he wasn't able to operate the second half of the contest. He finished with just over half a million points.

"He was hearing and working people I simply could not hear," said Jim George N3BB. N5DX "is right on the Arkansas/Missouri state line...and with the great location and hardware, I simply could not compete with him."

George is currently in second place in NA #3 behind K5NA, who did not operate WAE CW again this year.