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IARU 2013 Contest Features “HQ” Stations, WRTC-2014 Station Test

07/01/2013

Participants in the 2013 the IARU HF World Championship, July 13-14, not only will be looking to work “HQ” or headquarters station this year but WRTC-2014 test stations. The contest starts at 1200 UTC and ends 24 hours later. The Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC) will field “headquarters” stations W1AW and NU1AW on behalf of the ARRL and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), respectively. Working headquarters stations of IARU member-societies around the world provide additional scoring multipliers. Steve Bookout, NR4M, heads the W1AW/4 team, while Frank Donovan, W3LPL, leads the NU1AW/3 team.

“Both have finalized their station assignments, and things appear to be progressing nicely,” the PVRC says in its June newsletter. A list of station assignments is pending, but operations will be spread across more than a dozen stations in the club’s coverage area, all staffed by PVRC members.

Active IARU member-society HQ stations will send signal report and official IARU member-society abbreviation, such as “ARRL” or “IARU.” Participating members of the IARU Administrative Council will send “AC,” while members of the three IARU regional executive committees will send “R1,” “R2” or “R3” as appropriate. All other participants will send signal report and ITU zone. ARRL Contest Branch Manager Mike DeChristopher, N1TA, points out that the IARU contest is the only one to use ITU zones in the exchange, and the only event to count IARU member-society stations and IARU officials as multipliers. Bernie McClenny, editor of The Daily DX, has posted a list of headquarters stations that are expected to be on the air for the IARU contest.

As part of the run-up to World Radio Team Championship 2014 (WRTC-2014), the international event’s organizing committee will have 25 “future WRTC” stations on the air during the IARU contest for a capability and training test. The periodic WRTCs run concurrently with the IARU HF World Championship, and the 2014 event will see 65 stations on the air from various locations in New England. According to organizers, the goals of the 2013 station test are to expand the pool of experienced teams for station setup, evaluate proposed site locations, confirm logistics and procedures and gather log data under competition conditions. A similar test was conducted in 2012.

“This will be the final test before the full running of the WRTC-2014 competition in July 2014,” the WRTC-2014 Organizing Committee said in a news release.

The WRTC test stations will be active on 80 through 10 meters, CW and SSB, and many will use WRTC-2014 equipment configuration and scoring rules. “This will allow us to provide valuable log and propagation information to the WRTC-2014 competitors,” the event’s organizers explained. To promote activity, WRTC2014 organizers are offering awards to encourage people to work the test stations.

WRTC-2014 organizers point out that anyone operating from one of the 2013 test station sites will be ineligible to compete in WRTC-2014. “This is designed to prevent 2014 competitors from gaining any advantage,” the WRTC-2014 organizers said.

DeChristopher says the IARU is a fun contest for the beginners and veterans alike. “The short format of the contest means a fast-paced weekend,” he adds. — Thanks to PVRC, The Daily DX and WRTC-2014

 



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