[SFDXA] Sponsored Teams Announced for WRTC2014

[Bill]

*Sponsored Teams Announced for WRTC2014
http://www.wrtc2014.org/sponsored-teams-announced-for-wrtc2014/
*

WRTC2014, Inc., host of the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship 
(WRTC) is pleased to announce three of the four Sponsored Teams that 
will compete at WRTC2014.The Sponsors are from the USA, Azores, 
Brazil/Bulgaria.

The WRTC2014 Steering Committee permits each WRTC organizer to offer the 
opportunity for sponsors to name teams outside the normal qualification 
process as a fund raising mechanism. For WRTC2014, the first 3 
sponsorships were available on a first-come first-served basis. A fourth 
Sponsored Team will be made available by auction.

The "*Latitude 13*" team is so named because the locations where the two 
operators usually compete are both at 13 degrees latitude. The sponsor 
has named Tom Georgens, W2SC and Dave Mueller, N2NL, as the team. Tom is 
well-known in the radiosport community as the operator of station 
8P1A/8P5A in Barbados. He was a competitor in WRTC2006 (PT5Q, 10th 
place) and WRTC2010 (R34P, 5th place). Dave often operates as NH2T in 
contests and currently holds the Oceania record in both modes of the 
CQWW DX Contest. Overall, he has held 9 USA or continental records in 
major contests. He won the silver medal at WRTC2006 as PW5C with partner 
N6MJ.

"*RadioTeam Azores*" is sponsored by Azores Tourism Association 
(www.visitazores.com). They have appointed Martti Lane, OH2BH, and Ville 
Hiilesmaa, OH2MM, as their team. Martti's operating achievements are 
well-known. He has won the CQWW DX contest multiple times on both modes 
in both single-operator and multi-operator categories. Equally important 
are his efforts to conduct operations and demonstrations of amateur 
radio for governments seeking to develop amateur radio in their 
countries. He was the contest chairman of the first WRTC in 1990 and 
co-chair of WRTC2002 in Finland.  Ville is a world-class operator, 
having held 11 World Records in the CQWW DX Contest in the 
single-operator-all-band, single-band, and multi-operator categories 
from a variety of stations on both phone and CW. Currently residing in 
Brazil, he served on the organizing committee for WRTC2006, and was a 
referee at WRTC1990 and a judge at WRTC2002.

The "*Brazil-Bulgaria Friendship Team*" is sponsored by a consortium 
including The Araucaria DX Group, Triumph IESA Infrastructure AS, the 
Sao Paulo section of LABRE, K1LZ, and the Bulgarian Federation of Radio 
Amateurs (BFRA). They have appointed Soni Leite, PY1NX, and Atasnas 
"Nasko" Koitchev, LZ3YY/LZ9R, as their team. Soni is an experienced and 
successful operator with numerous high scores in the single-op all band, 
single band, Multi-single and Multi-two categories, with several 
world-high scores from ZY7C, PW7T, PS2T, and ZW5B. In the 2012 CQWW 
Contest, he scored World-High and set World Records on both modes in the 
10M Single-band Low Power category. Nasko has been contesting since 1986 
when he was 13 years old. He has a total of 12 World-high finishes in a 
wide variety of contests in single-op and multi-op categories, including 
the 2013 IARU HF Championship in the Low Power CW category.

The fourth and final Team Sponsorship will be made available through an 
auction to be conducted March 8, 2014. Anyone interested in 
participating in the auction should contact WRTC Chairman, Doug Grant, 
K1DG, (k1dg at wrtc2014.org <mailto:k1dg at wrtc2014.org>) as quickly as 
possible to register.

*About WRTC2014*

The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) is held every four years 
and consists of 50+ two-person teams of amateur radio operators from 
around the world competing in a test of operating skill.  Unlike most 
on-the-air competitions, all stations are required to use identical 
antennas from the same geographic region, eliminating all variables 
except operating ability.  Previous WRTCs have been held in Seattle 
(1990), San Francisco (1996), Slovenia (2000), Finland (2002), Brazil 
(2006), and Russia (2010).  More information is available at 
www.wrtc2014.org <http://www.wrtc2014.org/>or contact WRTC Chairman Doug 
Grant, K1DG, via e-mail at k1dg at wrtc2014.org <mailto:k1dg at wrtc2014.org>.