Video Review: WRTC Finland 2002

Reviewed by RadCom Editor Steve Telenius-Lowe, G4JVG

Many RSGB members will already be familiar with the high-class series of videos produced by James Brooks, 9V1YC. His latest release is a 60-minute record of last year’s World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) held in Finland. WRTC is a contest within a contest, when the world’s top contesters get together in one geographically small area and battle it out, using the same power level and identical antenna systems, thus eliminating almost all the variables that can so affect a contester’s score. WRTC2002 took place concurrently with the IARU HF Championship, held on the second weekend of July. I was lucky enough to be able to attend, albeit as a spectator rather than competitor, and so I was particularly keen to see this new video.

The film starts with a roll-call of the famous contesters who had gathered in Finland for WRTC and it is then that it becomes clear what a large-scale event this was. With so many top operators from all over the world in Finland it is amazing that there were sufficient stations to work in the IARU contest! The action moves on to the lead-up events, held in Himos, some 300km north of Helsinki. Here, detailed coverage of the discussions over the arcane rules for the contest arguably goes on rather too long and would only be of real interest to those who actually took part. However, the passionate nature of the arguments certainly shows that the competitors and officials took this event very seriously indeed!

This production is somewhat different from James’s other amateur radio videos, which are all records of DXpeditions. By way of contrast, WRTC Finland 2002 is a documentary of what was, in effect, a sporting event. The ‘sporty’ theme is well to the fore throughout the video, with the voice-over narrated by one of ESPN’s top sportscasters. The video really gets into its own with coverage of the contest itself. Three separate camera crews led by Dave Bell, W6AQ, were sent out and about and many of the teams are shown ‘in action’, including Team UK, Andy Cook, G4PIQ, and Fred Handscombe, G4BWP. During the contest, real-time scoring meant spectators could join in the excitement by following the leader board and watching as the top place changed when one team edged ahead of the next. This is particularly well covered in the video with some great graphics developed especially for the film. James told me, “the graphics took me an especially long time to create and their purpose was to give the video a ‘pro-sports’ feel”. In this he has certainly succeeded.

WRTC Finland 2002 is an exciting amateur radio-sports documentary, with really professional production techniques, good ‘tight’ editing, and even humour, as when N6TJ uses his divining rod in an attempt to pick the best contesting QTH. Amateurs and non-amateurs alike will enjoy the travelogue part of the story, with beautiful Finnish lakeland scenery and enticing glimpses of Helsinki in mid-summer. As well as the video, a DVD version is available which has some interesting 'bonus' features including complete score breakdowns, past results, team line-ups etc.