My last blog, dated way back on the Fourth of July (which seems ages ago) announced a publishing contract for an international competition. Much has happened since then, and to the mega (okay, I exaggerate a bit) dedicated readers of this esteemed chronicle, here's an update. As I mentioned "way back then," a publishing house here in Austin loved the idea of a unique, but a bit quirky event involving two-person teams ("two-person," not "two-man" since one team consisted of two German women) who would battle it out for the title of the best ... hmmm, how should I say this ... amateur radio contesting team on the planet. Actually, I prefer radiosporting, a competitive and demanding international activity enjoyed by tens if not hundreds of thousands of licensed amateur radio aficionados, or "ham radio operators." These folks, of all walks of life, like the the excitement of trying to make the most contacts with other "hams" in as many different locations as possible, all within a prescribed time frame. Some of these events incorporate a few hundred, others thousands, and the most popular up to ten thousand partipants. Some are based on voice, others on Morse code, a few with both "modes," as well as new varieties using various digital data. Ah, pick your poison, as they say, for your preferred version of radiosporting.
The epitome of all these events is a quadrennial radiosporting Olympiad, held in various host countries where national groups bid to host the competition. After a somewhat modest start as a spin-off of Ted Turner's Goodwill Games in 1990 in Seattle, which was focused on bringing together the former U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A., the radio games resulted in a unusually positive exchange of people who found great common ground in their hobby along with much social conviviality. It seemed beer is an international bonding medium in addition to interest in radio. This initial gathering was followed in 1996 in the San Francisco Bay Area, in 2000 in Slovenia, two years afterward in 2002 in Finland, and back to a four year cycle of 2006 in southern Brazil and in Moscow, Russia in 2010.
The basic theme has remained the same, with elite radiosporting enthusiasts entering a pre-set qualifying process for three years, and then competing over a 24 hour period at the end of the fourth year. Unlike other world-class events of world class athletes and competitors, this contest requires that the contest teams make nearly all their contacts (voice and Morse) with everyday hams. Yes, the competition teams do contact one another, but the vast majority of communications are with "regular Joes" (or Janes) who are operating from their home stations. The 2014 World Radiosport team Championship was held in mid-July in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area in sites very carefully scoped out and tested both with software predictive analyses as well as with two years of experimental test results to be equal in terms of signals connecting the world's population centers including Europe and North America. Over 60 sites were accepted, a few more than the 59 teams in order to provide backup locations if needed. Naturally, there were some "your site was better than my site" grouses before and after the competition, but overall, to the best extent humanly possible, they were close, very close. I spent a full week in New England, and came back with a black notebook crammed full with stories one would expect to find, in addition to numerous back-channel tales and findings that are wonderful gist for a non-fiction book. I've had my first meeting with my editor, an impressive young man of thirty-ish. He loves the project, and helped me with the outline. We agreed on a schedule, challenging but doable, of 10K to 15K words a month, with a plan to reach a completed 70,000 word manuscript, with all the editorial review and polish, in six or seven months. After two weeks, I have completed 8,000 words, and am pleased both with the rate and the quality of the writing. The theme is exciting and interesting, and the book will be aimed at those who are completely unaware of amateur radio in any way, but who enjoy reading about interesting people from various places and walks of life who do interesting and fascinating things.
Press coverage in New England was extensive, and national media organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, were represented. Here's a link to both the written version and the on-air program from NPR.
http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2014/08/09/wrtc-radiosport-ham-radio
I hope to do justice to this event, so well organized and conducted, and to the unique people of so many different backgrounds and cultures who made it all possible. Bottom line, the first three teams in order of scoring were from the U.S., Slovakia, and Germany, with a razor-close finish between the Germans and another American team. The drama and classic human interest behind the scenes was more than I could have dreamed of. I'll try to post some updates as this writing journey into the world of international shortwave radiosporting continues. For now, here is one photo of the team I followed as their driver and observer.
Please comment from time to time on the blog as you see fit, and wish me well to do justice to an amazing modern challenge involving stamina, concentration, and technical ability in order to dance along the unseen but very real electromagnet waves of our planet.
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