• WRTC 2018 Reports All Sites “Perfect”

    From ARRL de WD1CKS@VERT/WLARB to QST on Thursday, May 31, 2018 15:29:23
    05/31/2018

    The World Radiosport Team Championship 2018 (WRTC 2018[1]) Organizing Committee reports that all of the station sites it's selected for the July event in Germany "are perfect for the competition."

    "After the final check, all sites for WRTC 2018 are now confirmed," a WRTC 2018 news release said this week. "The inspections proved that there are enough very well-suited sites with no topographical or interference problems." The aim of the exercise is to ensure a level playing field for all competing teams in terms of location.

    Ulrich Weiss, DJ2YA, and Frank Neumann, DM5WF, carefully inspected more than 80 possible WRTC 2018 sites in the region around Muehlberg, Jessen, and Jueterbog. "When measuring the angles to the horizon in all directions with a theodolite, we didn't detect a single ground elevation of more than 1 among the occasional rises at the horizon," Weiss recounted. "Furthermore, we paid special attention to make sure that the Fresnel zones around the antenna locations are plain and clear of obstructions."

    Neumann noted that five sites did not meet their criteria and will be replaced with back-up sites that they also inspected. "Of special interest was the North America direction with its great number of potential DX contacts," he added.

    Supporting the inspection team were Andreas Thron, DL8UAT; Wolfgang Tretschock, DL2RSF, and Andreas Winter, DK4WA.

    In addition to the topographical evaluation, all sites were checked for possible interference issues, from such sources as high-voltage power lines, wind energy facilities, or railway lines. Using an Icom IC-7300 equipped with an active antenna specially designed for noise floor measurements, the team checked all sites for any kind of interfering noise. The individual sites are separated from one another by at least 1 kilometer.

    "Doing these checks in temperatures of well over 90 F was quite a feat," Weiss commented, "and occasional bypassers shook their heads when observing a car with a strange number plate and an unusual contraption mounted on its roof parked on the side of the road." He said that driving to all 80 sites in 3 days covered more than 600 kilometers (approximately 370 miles).




    [1] http://www.wrtc2018.de/en/

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