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I have just returned from a trip that included a visit to the HAM RADIO convention at Friedrichshafen, Germany.

This is the “Dayton of Europe”, and it was my first time there. It is held in a wonderful facility…the flea market is indoors in a few of the exhibition halls, the entire facility is air-conditioned and spotless. The town itself is beautiful, on the shore of Lake Constance (known in German as the Bodensee). You can see the Swiss Alps across the lake…very picturesque.

I had a chance to meet a lot of European (and other) contesters there, and talked a lot about the WWROF and its goals. We have not done much promotion of the organization there, and need to improve.

The first Friedrichshafen Contest University program was held during the convention, co-sponsored by the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club, the Bavarian Contest Club, and the Rhein-Ruhr DX Association. I was privileged to be one of the speakers. Over 100 people attended, and even though English is a second language for nearly all of the students, they seemed to understand my presentation, laughing at the right times, and asking good questions.

The North American Sprint contest is one of the most challenging events in amateur radio. A short four hours in length, it includes a unique “QSY rule”, that requires a station to move at least 1 kHz after making one QSO in response to having called CQ. The log-checking is quite stringent, and with an exchange that contains a serial number, name, and location, accuracy is critical. Many of the top CW operators consider this their favorite event. Top scorers have surpassed 400 QSOs in four hours. Error-free logs are acknowledged as “Golden Logs”, and some operators have exceeded 350 QSOs without a single copying error.

Curiously, no plaques are offered for this event. Plaques and certificates were awarded in the past, but that practice vanished at least ten years ago.

A few years ago, Ken Adams, K5KA, quietly began awarding medals to the top scorer in the CW Sprint. Some of the winners consider these medals their most-prized radio contest award.

In 2009, K5KA became a Silent Key. Larry “Tree” Tyree, N6TR, who does the log checking for the Sprint, approached the WWROF to see if there was interest in funding the medal program so that it can continue. The WWROF Board has approved this funding request, and the CW Sprint medal program will continue.

I’ve gotten a lot of emails in the past couple of weeks from people asking this question. And now I can answer it!

The Board has established several levels of supporter: Bronze ($1 – 49); Silver ($50+); Gold ($250+): and Platinum ($1000+). Supporters, both individual and club/corporate, will be listed on the WWROF Web site.

We now have supporters from all over the world, including Zones 3, 4, 5, 7, 13, 14, and 32. We are of course hoping for WAZ-Supporters. DXCC would also be nice!

Take a look at the “How to Get Involved” page for details on, well, how to get involved!

Aside from our thanks, your support will entitle you to some “members-only” content as we post it. We have some specific items planned, and are open to suggestions. What would you like to see available that is not currently in the contest results articles and writeups?

This is a new organization, by and for active amateur radio operators. We are a non-profit corporation, and our goal is to provide support and funding for activities that support our mission of improving the skills of radio operators worldwide.

You’ll be hearing more from us as time goes on.