Clubmates,
This forwarded email describes and announces a contest that is often called “the Olympics of ham radio”. As Mark describes in his email, the host country sets up 50 nearly identical stations which are then randomly assigned to the 50 two-person teams who qualified. The callsigns to be used are also randomly assigned just before the contest begins, but the public does not know which team has which callsign. You might want to spend a little time playing in this one.
73,
George K2DM

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mark Pride <[email protected]>
Date: July 3, 2026 at 7:43:09 AM EDT
To: George <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: WRTC 2026
Reply-To: Mark Pride <[email protected]>



WRTC is almost here! 🌍

 

WRTC is essentially the Olympics of Amateur Radio Contesting - and is almost upon us! On 8th July 2026, competitors that have qualified to represent their Qualification Area (unlike the Olympics, which has participants competing for their country) will arrive in the United Kingdom to prepare for this once every 4 year event. The host nation changes each time and, this time, for the 10th WRTC, it’s being held in the UK! There will be 50 teams of two, each with an assigned referee. Each will be allocated an HF operating site in South East England, where they will take part in a 24 hour SSB/CW contest (the IARU HF Championship) over the weekend of 11th/12th July. So, WRTC is kind of a contest within an existing contest.

 

This is your opportunity to work these special stations and apply for your award!

 

The WRTC contest will be live on a dedicated online platform provided by World Radio League. This is a live scoreboard where you can track your favourite team in real time. Also, when you contact one of the special WRTC stations, you can see it on the WRL platform. What’s more, you can check which of the 50 WRTC stations you still need to contact. Can you work all 50 of them? If you’re an SSB operator, there are 250 possible QSOs across 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m. Similarly, there are 250 possible QSOs if you are a CW operator. If you are both an SSB and CW operator, 500 QSOs are possible with WRTC stations alone!

 

Certificates will be downloadable after the contest, which will display your total number of QSOs made with these special callsigns. There are different award tiers depending on how many you contact. Check out the following webpage for full details of the award programme: www.wrtc2026.org/wrtc-2026-competition-awards

So, what are the special callsigns? Well, we can’t say just yet! These will be announced on Thursday 9th July. You will find this on the WRTC website – www.wrtc2026.org – and also on our social media platforms by searching WRTC2026. You can be sure that these 50 callsigns will be all over the bands during this contest! See how many you can find!

A look at the World Radio League platform is a must. Visit www.WorldRadioLeague.com and sign up early for free to stay tuned when the live scoreboard page for WRTC goes live!

 

So, if you have the capability to be on the HF bands over the weekend of 11/12th July (from 12:00Z Sat – 12:00Z Sun), why not try to work as many of these special stations as you can! Many of the WRTC sites should be easy to work on the HF bands. The teams will be using yagi antennas on 10/15/20 meters and dipoles on 40 and 80 meters. They will run just 100 watts of output power, so they may not always be really loud… but, hopefully the propagation will be favourable. The exchange is signal report and ITU zone (so, if calling from the east of the USA, for example, “59, 8” on SSB and “599, 8” on CW would work).

 

We also want to promote the YouTube daily TV shows at 16.30z (17.30 BST) daily from 8th July, plus the contest livestream. This is the link to follow. Ask to subscribe to the channel.

WRTC 2026




 

Please share for maximum exposure! 👍

 

73,

The WRTC 2026 Team



Regards,

Mark, K1RX

           



On Monday, August 11, 2025 at 12:11:44 PM EDT, George <[email protected]> wrote:


Fellow TVARC contesters,
Mark, K1RX, long-ago fellow clubmate and friend from my New England days, is raising funds for WRTC 2026 within North America. WRTC, the Olympics of amateur radio, will be held in England in 2026. I am continuing my long tradition of not having qualified to compete.😁
Please read Mark’s email below and click the link if you would like to donate.
73,
George K2DM

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mpridesti <[email protected]>
Date: August 11, 2025 at 9:32:25 AM CDT
To: [email protected]
Subject: WRTC 2026



Hi George

Been looking for a way to reach out to the Villages to help in my mission of fund raising for the WRTC 2026 for North America. Found my very old contact (you!) and the Brigg’s brothers!

I have recently been asked to help with Fund Raising in North America for the WRTC 2026 UK event which coincides with this past IARU contest (a contest within a contest) for those that been selected after a few years of qualifying. This time it will be held in England as you are aware.

Am reaching out to see if you might wish to donate to this very worthy cause that will be on full display next year. And if you would like, be happy to provide the TVARC  a presentation on WRTC as a whole and specially the activity around the 2026 event via Zoom. Probably 30 minutes in duration.

More details can be found at the WRTC 2026 UK web site. Be sure to check the Donation box to give us all an assist. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly.

Thanks!

www.wrtc2026.org


Regards,

Mark, K1RX