WRTC2002 Press release #2

Finances Of WRTC2002 and Great Success at Dayton Hamvention 2001

The World Radiosport Team Championship, WRTC, the "Olympics" of international Amateur Radio contesting, will take place in Finland in July 2002. WRTC 2002 is being organized jointly by Contest Club Finland (CCF) and The Finnish Amateur Radio League (SRAL).

These periodic WRTC events bringing together over fifty (50) teams comprised of the "Best of the Best" contest operators from around the world for a week of super-charged operating skills competitions. The WRTC is organized around an on-the-air competition among two-person teams. By bringing the competitors together in one geographical area and providing equal operating conditions (antennas, power etc), the variables normally associated with a radio contest are neutralized, thus the operating skills are emphasized.

Finland, arguably the world's leading communications technology powerhouse, has several unique and innovative technical projects underway. These projects will result in technology being employed during the games that virtually insure that a worldwide Amateur Radio audience can participate "on the air" with the WRTC competitors during this exciting 24-hour operating event while they also watch the results on the world-web almost on a real-time basis.

Financing an undertaking as large as a World Radiosport Team Championship is a tremendous challenge. These competitions are expensive to put on and are totally dependent upon financial support from thousands of individual contributors and a limited number of commercial sources. WRTC2002 will be more expensive than any precious competition since modern Finland is a rather expensive country. The Amateur Radio operators in Finland, naturally, have assumed that a great deal of support will be forthcoming from the Amateur Radio community throughout the world.

The WRTC2002 budget is calculated to be USD 200K. The Organizing Committee was able to raise USD 100K before committing to the event. Dedicated efforts to raise the remaining USD 100K are now underway.

One of the first such efforts took place May 17-20 at the Dayton Hamvention 2001. The renowned Dayton Ohio event regularly brings together about 25,000 Amateur Radio operators from all over the world with interests in all aspects of the hobby. Large number of those in attendance are always Contesters and DXers, without a doubt some of the most active and energetic individuals in the hobby.

Many of these Contesters and DXers, some previous competitors in past WRTC events, volunteered to work along side the WRTC 2002 USA Representatives manning various fund raising activities this year. We are pleased to announce that the Contesters and DXers who came together in Dayton took time out of their socializing to dig into their wallets and made generous financial contributions totaling over USD 5000. Those dollars provide a great start down the path to obtaining the tens of thousands of dollars still needed for the competition in Finland just a little over a year away.

We would like to thank the following individuals who worked hard making the Dayton fund raising effort a success: John K1AR, Doug K1DG, Len K1NU, Ted KR1G, Al KD1EA, George W1ZT, John W2GD, Bud WF2B, Mike N2MG, Bob K3EST, Tim K3LR, Eric K3NA, Al N3AD, Jim N3BB, Steve W3SM, Jim K4OJ, Doug N6TQS, Bruce W6OSP, Ron K8NZ, Steve N8BJQ.

The Organizing Committee would like to use this opportunity to make a call for further support from all interested corporations, clubs or individuals. Official letterhead documents from the Organizing Committee can be provided to assist commercial enterprises with the documentation they may require to make a donation. The Northern California DX Foundation, 'NCDXF', has kindly agreed to assist by processing USA donations. Checks or Charge Card donations that are made out to NCDXF (for WRTC Project) are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law for USA taxpayers. All cash, check and VISA/MC/AMEX donations from the USA can be sent direct to:

NCDXF, c/o Rusty Epps, W6OAT 651 Handley Trail Redwood City, CA 94062 USA

Our WRTC2002 USA representatives will also gladly help facilitate the processing of your donation. They are also available to take part in activities that are intended to support WRTC 2002. Please feel free to contact our USA representatives for assistance.

Your contacts are:

Jeff, Briggs K1ZM USA East [email protected] Bob Allphin, K4UEE USA South [email protected] Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV USA West [email protected].

All donations from outside the United States can be sent directly to a WRTC2002 bank account as indicated on the official WRTC2002 website http://www.wrtc2002.org/support.htm.

An entertaining and informative video produced by Dave Bell W6AQ vividly projects the excitement and intensity of a WRTC event. His professional video report on WRTC 2000, which was held in Slovenia, will be available soon through the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org.

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