Amateur Radio World Championship: Germany wants hat trick

There are other things in the shadow of football. Traditionally, thousands of radio amateurs meet every year on the second weekend of July for the World Radio Championship on the shortwave bands. Co-organiser Björn Bischke explained to the daily newspaper “Friese Wort”: “For Germany, more than 50 radio amateurs will be active in the World Cup team and will broadcast our call sign DA0HQ and our association identifier “DARC” in radio and telegraphy to all regions of the world.” DARC stands for German Amateur Radio Club, an amateur radio association with 32,000 members.

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The central German radio station for the radio world championships has been in Ilmenau, Thuringia since pre-unification times. As Y61HQ, it was the hub for the German national team and later traded as DA0HQ. For the World Cup, this now consists of twelve radio stations in eight locations: Immenau and Jessen, Kerpen and Mühldorf am Inn as well as Schöppingen, Wetzen, Wetzstein and Witzenborn.

Good chances to defend the title

The radio amateurs of the DARC team have a great chance to defend their world championship title again. Germany can achieve a hat-trick after 2022 and 2023. In total, Germany has already won 16 World Cup titles in 39 competitions. After a comprehensive evaluation, the results of the current World Championship will be known only a few days after the competition.

The aim of the World Radio Championships from Saturday to Sunday is to process as many radio connections as possible in as many countries as possible in a non-stop operation within 24 hours. To do this, radio amateurs must recognize the sometimes rapidly changing radio conditions in order to exploit every possible connection to certain areas in all six available frequency ranges. For example, connections from Australia are only possible for a short time on certain frequency ranges, and then the directional antenna must be aimed there.

This requires a lot of knowledge about the ionospheric processes involved in radio wave propagation as well as a sense of so-called openings in certain areas. To make good use of even short connection options, radio operators must be highly trained in both Morse telegraphy and voice radio and be able to quickly exchange control digits for proof of connection and confirmation even in the event of severe interference.

But there is also some strategy involved when it comes to radio communications: Radio connections count differently: connections with your own country are worth 1 point, connections with your own continent are worth 3 points and connections with other continents are worth 5 points. In addition, each country acts as a multiplier on each radio frequency range, doubling if you reach into Morse telegraphy and voice radio.

Last year almost half of the connections were from German stations. In addition, the association does a lot of advertising and every year more than 3,000 different stations in Germany support the world champion station with one or more radio connections.

The radio stations of the amateur radio associations of different countries, which are simultaneously active on all radio bands, are considered particularly attractive by individual participants. For example, in a sprint competition during the World Cup, participants try to reach all twelve stations of DA0HQ. In the past, some people have done this within five minutes of the start of the competition.

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Last year there were about 22,000 radio connections worldwide. This was due, among other things, to excellent radio propagation conditions due to the high relative sunspot number and only a low level of interference. The number of possible connections can fluctuate considerably depending on the intensity of the particle radiation caused by solar activity, and even during times of strong activity the interference can result in significant losses. In addition, it does not affect all participants equally, so there is a bit of luck involved.

Tactics, technology, torture

It is no longer enough to simply install high antennas and powerful transmitters to win the World Cup; you also have to keep an eye on the competition from other countries. An important support is the evaluation of the log containing all radio connections from the previous year. Every year, the team around DA0HQ refines the radio technology, the antennas as well as the reception technology and the computer network, which are particularly important for connecting and coordinating from outdoor locations. Automatic monitoring by receiving stations also helps to assess how well you can be heard in different areas of the world and to detect disruptions during ongoing operations, for example due to antenna or cable damage. The hustle and bustle of calling several stations, sometimes at the same time, and sometimes going for hours without a call, requires a high level of stress resistance. Given the 24-hour period, this is not even possible without shift work.

The competition demands a lot of energy even before the actual start. Radio amateurs are setting up additional antennas especially for the competition so that they can record even very quiet signals. Repairs to existing antenna systems also have to be completed in good time and are often carried out without any improvements. If not a World Cup, a slightly smaller event is also possible: Thuringia Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) has already visited the station in Ilmenau and particularly stressed that radio amateurs can restore local and worldwide communications using simple methods and improvisation.

(Mill)