What a fantastic event.
It’s now just 2 weeks since the World Radiosport Team Championships (WRTC) 2026 event here in the UK. Most of the activities were held in the Woodlands event centre of the Wyboston Lakes complex near St Neots, Cambridgeshire – though the centre is in Bedfordshire. There was overspill for accomodation in the Willows and Drift Inn, the “old” part of the complex that I last visited in 2009 for the HF Convention.
And my opening line says it all. From arriving at Wyboston Lakes resort on Wednesday 8th July 2026 through to leaving on Tuesday 14th July 2026 it was just well organised and fun. It was good to see so many like minded people in attendance, from the competitors and judges through to the spectators and organising team there were smiles all week. It was also good to meet so many old friends from around the world and UK, along with making new friendships with those in attendance.
On arrival the first thing I had to do was set up the Icom stand to display a selection of our radios and support Moonraker as one of our premier dealers who were a major sponsor of the event. My colleague Ray Novak, N9JA from Icom USA, and his wife Cindy, NN9JA, arrived early evening, Sadly Ray was suffering from what we thought was food poisoning for the first 2 days, which he seems to think he caught on the way over from Europe. Once set up and it had gone past 15:00 local we could start to check in to our rooms. Throughout the remainder of the day and into the early evening people were arriving from the airports or driving from Europe, many international visitors had come over for Ham Radio Friedrichshafen and made a vacation of the trip also, some even coming to the UK straight after the show. The evening was fun with lots of chat about the contest and the coming weekend – again many friendships were being rekindled and sealed over a beer or two.The evening meal was a buffet style and was a sign of the quality of the food we were to be served for the week. The evening also saw the “Ham Widows Ball” for the wives, girlfriends, and partners of the contestants – a chance for the ladies (and gents) to get to know each other over nibbles and drinks – in one of the rooms hired for the event.
Thursday morning started with a good hearty breakfast – again buffet style with the choice of full English, continental, fruit, or a combination of all – though Ray looked as white as a sheet and ended up in his room for most of the day. I opened up the stand and put the new Icom X-026 concept model on display, this drew much interest with the usual questions “what is it going to be?” I answered with “I have no idea as yet, but what do you think it will be?”. The answers were varied but all said “a HF/VHF/UHF mobile with 100W, and hopefully a built in AMU”. There were trips out to Bletchley Park, with a visit to the RSGB NRC where some guys got chance to operate, and Duxford air museum arranged for the contestants, partners and visitors following the official briefings and referees meetings. It was also the day for the contestants to set up and test their computers for the logging and other software needed for the smooth running of the contest weekend.
The evening came around and it was time for the official opening ceremony and gala dinner. As with the whole event this was well organised and gave us all a chance to sit and get to know others who were there. Following the welcoming speeches and introductions we went through to the dining area, which this time was in a huge marquee set out as a full on dining room with a stage and entertainment on through the evening. The food was excellent and, unlike previous visits, was warm. We were on a table with Ray and Cindy Novak, the couple from Messi and Paoloni coaxial cable, Justin and Jason from Moonraker, and Carl from our rivals Yaesu. Plenty of conversation about the hobby and business in the UK with Ray and Justin, plus all the conversations getting to know each other. Background music was supplied by Mark’s Dad, Keith, on the piano. There was also more musical entertainment after the meal, but many retired to the bar area ready for the Friday and leaving to the sites to set up the stations and test all the equipment.
Friday started with the competitors and referees being drawn, along with the callsigns they would use – but this was in a sealed envelope that couldn’t be opened until the start of the contest. The rest of the day was a very quiet at the HQ, all the competitors and referees were out on site checking stout everything was set up and working. Some of the partners went on a weekend trip to Brighton – from what I heard a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by them all. There was also a trip out to Cambridge for some shopping and visits to the historic university buildings. Ray and Cindy had asked to have a traditional British pub lunch, luckily there is a fantastic pub, The Crown, virtually at the end of the entrance drive into the complex. So there was no excuse to go over there and see what fare was available. Ray had Steak and Ale pie with mash, veg and gravy. I had Bangers and Mash (my favourite Cumberland sausages) with veg and gravy. And Cindy, Southern American Belle, had…. A Hamburger. But we all enjoyed it and I convinced them that the food being so good would be ideal for a REAL Sunday Lunch, more of that later.
The rest of the day was quiet in the building until around 17:30 when all the competitors and referees started to arrive back. The bar area was soon full of chatter and discussion on the sites and how each team felt about it. All were very positive and were looking forward to Saturday and the actual contest.
The early start by the teams to go out to their sites came around far too quickly. And once again the building was quiet with a few spectators and the partners who had not gone to Brighton in attendance. This soon changed when another trip had been arranged for them to go to Hunstanton – a small town on the Norfolk coast – for the day, this gave our international friends the chance to see a typical British holiday town and sea front. As there was no one around in the hotel, I counted 12 people excluding volunteers and staff, I decided to take a ride out to the site at Thetford where Champ (E21EIC) and Dale (BA4TB) team Asia #3 were – Icom UK had graciously loaned them 2 X IC-7610‘s to use in the contest – to get some photos for work use. The site was on one of the many huge estates that the organising committee had arranged to use, and this site was being managed by my mate Eddie (M8EVM) who is part of the Royal Signals Amateur Radio Society (RSARS) Contest team at G2EC, so I knew they were in good hands. I also met one of my friends from RIAT for lunch, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time – thank you Jenny and I look forward to seeing you soon – at the Elveden Inn. I can recommend this pub for dinner as the food was delicious.