WRTC Qualifying Drives 2008 WAE SSB Contest; UA9CLB Grabs Early Lead; K1DG Tops In USA

By Jamie Dupree NS3T radio-sport.net
Posted September 15, 2008

While 10 and 15 meters remained mainly an afterthought for most contesters, the 54th running of the Worked All Europe Contest was a very active battle, as top line calls battled for World Radiosport Team Championship qualifying points as well.
The early leader was Vadim Ovsiannikov UA9CLB, who ran up over two thousand contacts from Asiatic Russia on his way to just over two million claimed points.
In the US, the top score publicly posted comes from Doug Grand K1DG, who again put the N1LI station to its paces for 2241 QSO's and 1.7 million points.
"Lots of fun working Europe!" Grant reported in his 3830. He will likely be challenged by scores from Jeff Briggs K1ZM and Krassy Petrov K1LZ, two of the contenders for a spot in the WRTC 2010.
WRTC qualifying is now down to just three events for most of the world, as the pair of CQ WW DX Contests in October and November, plus the 2009 Russian DX contest are all that is left for those outside the US and Canada.
US and Canadian hams have two extra qualifying contests left, for a total of five, as they get to compete in the CW and SSB legs of the ARRL November Sweepstakes.
(WRTC scores for the 2007 CQ WW DX SSB and CW contests should be posted in coming weeks as well.)

Double WRTC Qualifying For NA

For four hours over the weekend, North American hams had two different WRTC events to choose from, as the NA Sprint SSB test ran at the same time as WAE SSB.
The clubhouse leader is Dan Eskenazi K7SS, who once again trekked to the K7RI station in Washington State and put up 15,700 points.
"Thanks again to K7RI for the use of the best city lot station in the country," said Eskenazi in his 3830.
In second place is Bill Kollenbaum K4XS, who continues to make noise from his new contest QTH in Hawaii as KH7XS.
While KH6 isn't even a multiplier in this "North American" Sprint, Kollenbaum was still able to make 336 contacts for a score of 15,120 points.

UPCOMING WRTC QUALIFIERS

CQ World Wide DX SSB

0000z October 25 - 2359z October 26; more at the NCJ web site. WRTC weight value of 950 points.

November Sweepstakes CW
2100 November 1 - 0300z November 5; more at the ARRL web site. WRTC weight value of 700 points for W/VE stations only.

November Sweepstakes SSB
2100 November 17 - 0300z November 19; more at the ARRL web site. WRTC weight value of 700 points for W/VE stations only.

CQ World Wide DX CW
0000z November 29 - 2359z November 30; more on the rules at the CQ WW web site. WRTC weight value of 950 points.

2009 Russian DX Contest
1200z March 21 - 1200z March 22; more on the rules at the RDXC web site. WRTC weight value of 910 points. This is the final qualifying event for the 2010 WRTC.

WRTC Qualifying Update

Updated WRTC numbers from the 2007 CQ WW DX Contests should be available from radio-sport.net in coming weeks.
Real life work has kept me from crunching the numbers as fast as I had hoped, but they will certainly be finished before the CQ WW DX SSB contest in late October.
You can download all the rules from the Russian sponsors of WRTC 2010.