Tim Duffy, K3LR, Chair, Founding Director. Tim was first licensed in 1972 as WN3SZX (age 12). He has been involved in most facets of amateur radio, from building and operating an extensive VHF repeater network to emergency communications to competitive contesting. Tim has operated most of the major contests as a single operator in the past, and since 1992 has grown his Western Pennsylvania mega station (14 towers) and team of operators to become one of the top multi-multi stations in the world. He has competed in the World Radiosport Team Championship five times, including WRTC 2018 in Germany, is a member of the CQWW Contest Committee, past Chairman of the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee, is Chairman of Contest University, Inc. K3LR was inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 2006, and is a member of the prestigious First Class CW Operators Club (FOC). K3LR is the President of the North Coast Contesters. Tim is the Chief Executive Officer for DX Engineering. He is a past multiyear President of the Radio Club of America, the oldest wireless club in the world.
Doug Grant, K1DG, Vice-Chair, Founding Director. Doug has been licensed since 1967. He has been active in most areas of amateur radio, from contesting to EME. He represented the United States six times in the World Radiosport Team Championship
(WRTC) and was Chairman of the WRTC2014 Organizing Committee. He holds several contest records, both as a single operator and as a member of numerous multi-operator teams. Doug is a member of the ARRL A-1 Operators Club, First-Class CW Operators Club (FOC), CW Operators Club (CWOps) and was inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 2015. He has served as a member and Chairman of the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee, past President of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club, member of the CQWW Contest Committee, a Director of Contest University, and Secretary of the WRTC
Sanctioning Committee. He was the editor of CQ Amateur Radio Almanac, author of A
Beginner’s Guide to Contesting, published by ARRL, and a contributor to the ARRL
Handbook, ARRL Antenna Book, and Amateur Radio Operating Manual.
Professionally, Doug retired after a lengthy career in the semiconductor industry.
Ralph Bowen, N5RZ, Treasurer, Founding Director. Better known in the contesting world as “Gator”, he has been active in amateur radio since 1969. Proficient on both SSB and CW, he has won numerous contests from U.S. and DX locations, in both single-operator and multi-operator categories. He has competed in the World Radiosport Team championship and had a noteworthy win in the September 2009 NA CW Sprint contest with a Golden Log (zero errors in 352 QSOs). Ralph is a Certified Public Accountant and is retired from the oil industry. He is now living in the Texas Hill Country west of Austin.
Tom Lee, K8AZ, Secretary, Founding Director. Tom is an active contester, operating from his home station, located in Ohio. He has won regional and national single-operator, multi-single and multi-two categories in the major DX contests, overcoming what some consider a significant geographical disadvantage. He maintains a competitive multi-operator station and has hosted and mentored many of the contesters in the Midwest region. Tom is a founder and past President of the North Coast Contesters, is a member of the ARRL A-1 Operators Club, and has been a Referee at the World Radiosport Team Championship. When he is not on the radio or maintaining his station, Tom is a litigation partner and Assistant General Counsel of a large Midwest law firm.
John Dorr, K1AR, Founding Director.
John has been licensed since 1969. For over 20 years, he served as Contest Editor for CQ magazine and has been a member of the CQWW Contest Committee, including his current role as the contest’s director. An active contest operator, John has won most of the major contests, including a dynasty-like streak in the CQWW DX Contest. He is a member of the ARRL A-1 Operators Club, First-Class CW Operators Club (FOC), a Director of Contest University, and was a competitor in four WRTC events. John is also a member of the CQ Contest Hall of Fame. John retired in 2017 after concluding a successful 40-year career serving in a variety of high-technology sales and marketing management positions.
Mark Beckwith, N5OT, Founding Director. Mark was first licensed in 1971 as WN6OTU. He has been both a successful single-operator at HC8U, K6RR, W6AQ, W8JI, W6UE and his own contest station, and a recurring multi-operator team member at such stations as HC8N, PJ2T, TI5N and PJ4R. N5OT and W9RE competed together in Boston for WRTC 2014. Mark prefers CW to SSB, and enjoys the low bands. In Real Life™, Mark is a patient advocate for people with rare diseases, a fundraiser, a non-profit consultant, and a career musician conducting choirs and orchestras. He currently serves as President of the Caribbean Contesting Consortium (PJ2T).
Bob Cox, K3EST, Founding Director. Bob was the Director of the CQ World Wide DX contest for over 34 years, retiring from that role in 2012. He is an accomplished operator, having won many single operator awards. He has been a member of numerous multi-operator teams, including W3AU, K2GL, K3LR, KC1XX, W3LPL, PJ4B, N6RO, and many others. He is a member of the CQ Contest Hall of Fame and serves as Director of the Contest Hall of Fame Selection Committee. Dr. Cox, a neurophysiologist, is retired from a position in the medical industry.
John Sluymer, VE3EJ, Director. John was first licensed as VE3AKG in 1972 and has subsequently held Canadian calls VE6OU and VE3EJ. Active in CW and SSB contesting since 1973, he has participated in multi-operator contests from HC8N, A61AJ, VP2E, K3LR and KC1XX. He has also hosted numerous Multi-Single, Multi-Two, and Multi-Multi operations from his home QTH in Niagara. John, together with his radio partner VE7ZO have represented Canada in 5 WRTC competitions and won the gold medal in Brazil in 2006. Partnered with K9VV (NP2X), John also participated in WRTC 2014 in Boston and WRTC 2018 in Germany. He also has a keen interest in DXing and has been a part of several Microlite DXPedition adventures to the Sub Antarctic. John is the current president of Contest Club Ontario (CCO), a member of CW Ops and First-Class CW Operators Club (FOC), and has been a member of the CQ World Wide contest committee for over 25 years. He was elected to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 2011. Professionally, he is a semi-retired consultant on the transmission side of radio and television broadcasting.
Tine Brajnik, S50A, Director. Tine was licensed in 1963. His primary interest in amateur radio is contesting. He was holder of YU3EY from 1965 –1986, YT3AA 1986-1992, S52AA 1992-1995. Operated at W3AU, PJ2CC, P3AA, A61AJ, P49V, HC8N and others. Participated in all WRTCs, was organizer of WRTC 2000 in Slovenia and is chairman of the WRTC sanctioning committee. He is the president of the Slovenia Contest Club which organises the EU HF Championship and SCC Digi DX contest. He is also a member of the CQWW Contest Committee. He was elected into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame (no. 20). As a contester, he won many contests, including numerous WAE and CQWW ones on all modes, mostly in single-operator categories. He owns a SO2R setup station in a countryside location near Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia.
Randy Thompson, K5ZD, Director. Randy has been an active contest operator and contributor to the sport since entering ham radio in 1973 at age 13. He has multiple contest records and wins, including 12 USA single-operator victories in CQWW. He has served three times as editor and publisher of the National Contest Journal. Randy has competed in six WRTC events, served as Vice President of the WRTC 2014 Boston organising committee, and was Chief of the Judging Committee for WRTC 2018 in Germany. He was the Director of the CQ WPX and CQ WW Contests from 2008 to 2016 and is a member of the CQ Contest Hall of Fame. When not on the air, he is in professional services for IoT and industrial automation.
Philipp Springer, DK6SP, Director. Philipp started the hobby in early 2008 at age 10 through a radio youth group that got on the air with their educational callsign DN5KID. When he turned 14 he sat his exam to get the novice license DO6PS. Two years later he updated to a full HAREC license and call sign DK6SP, which he has kept ever since. In 2016 he applied for the contest call DQ5M, where you can work him in most major contests. He is a member of the IARU Region 1 Youth Working Group and the German amateur radio society DARC where he is also responsible for activities around Youngsters On The Air (YOTA) Team Germany within the youth department. He is also a member of AGCW-DL, SKCC, CWOPS and the Bavarian Contest Club, where the love of contesting was discovered. Philipp has a love for travelling the world and takes every opportunity to visit DX locations. In the past, he has been active from various DXCCs like 9A, 9J, A4, EI, ES, GW, P4, PJ2, PJ4, W8, Z6, and others to participate in worldwide contests from big gun stations, doing holiday-style or serious DXpeditions. He has also participated in the WRTC 2018 in Germany as team Y82D. Most recently, Philipp gained his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis on logistics management and plans to progress as a master’s student.
Jim Idelson, K1IR, Dpty. Director – Advancement and Outreach. Jim was first licensed in 1972 at age 13 in the Boston, MA area and has been active in amateur radio for more than five decades, with experience spanning contesting, public service, and technical pursuits. An active contester since his first Novice Roundup, he built a small but competitive DX contest station in the late 1990s focused on Multi-Single (MS) operations. His contesting highlights include multiple ARRL DX and CQ WW MS wins, including setting a new ARRL DX CW W/VE MS record in 2004. Jim has participated in numerous winning multi-operator efforts and has operated from the DX side from locations including PJ7, OE, JA, PY, and ZF. In recent years, his greatest satisfaction has come from station-building and mentoring the next generation of skilled operators. Professionally, Jim brings experience in strategy, execution, and performance measurement for successful for-profit and non-profit organizations. He is a charter member and past President of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club, a member of CWOps (#73), an active Volunteer Examiner, and a contributor to tower safety content in ARRL publications. He also supports amateur radio advancement through grant evaluation and nonprofit board service, and is the founder of the Zero Falls Alliance, focused on promoting safe tower and antenna construction practices.
Patrick Barkey, N9RV, Assistant Treasurer. Pat has been involved with single and multi-operator contest operations since attending the University of Michigan in the early 1970’s as WA8YVR, and operating with N4KG, N8UM, and K8QKY. He has operated at many famous stations including W8UM, WA8ZDF, K8LX, W8UA, W8SH, K4GSU, NA8V, KN8Z, W9RE, NK7U and K3LR. He has been involved with the construction of four multi-tower contest stations, including his present station in Montana. He currently serves as President of Big Sky Contesters and was inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 2025. A frequent winner of CW Sprints and the ARRL SS contests, Pat was a competitor in four WRTC events. He recently retired as an academic economist after serving in a leadership role in business research centers in Indiana and Montana for 32 years.
Teri Grizer, K8MNJ, Executive Administrator. Teri was first licensed in 2013 as KD8TYW but immediately obtained her vanity call of K8MNJ. Teri upgraded to general and extra in 2015 and became a VE in 2018. She works with Hamfests and DXpeditions, as well as being the Special Projects and Promotions Coordinator for DX Engineering. Teri has been the Executive Administrator for Contest University, Contest Dinner, and Top Band Dinner since 2014. She is also a member of the ARRL.
WWROF Advisory Committee:
N5KO – Trey Garlough
N6TR – Tree Tyree
K5TR – George Fremin III
K1EA – Ken Wolff
W0YK – Ed Muns
N2NT – Andy Blank