Partial Refunds Available for Bouvet Donations

Leaders of the aborted 3Y0Z DXpedition to Bouvet Island last February are offering partial refunds of donations made to help cover trip expenses. The expedition was cancelled at the last minute due to weather conditions. The ARRL Letter reports that, after covering all expenses incurred, the group is offering to refund 48% of all contributions. However, they'd rather donors "pay it forward" to help fund future DXpeditions. 
 

Donors have five options: 

1) Get a refund check; 

2) Donate your refund to the 3Y0Z team to help members recover some of their personal expenses; 

3) Donate the refund to the Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF) or 

4) the International DX Association (INDEXA) to help fund future DXpeditions; or 

5) the default option, if no instructions are received, a four-way split between the 3Y0Z team, the NCDXF, INDEXA and GDXF, the German DX Foundation. 

Donors should contact team co-leader Bob Allphin, K4UEE, with instructions.

Initial Qualification Rules Announced for WRTC-2022

The first qualifying event for the 2022 World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC 2022) will be held this month - the ARRL International DX CW contest - and the WRTC organizing committee has launched its official website and posted the initial qualification rules.

According to the ARRL Letter, the committee is trying to make the event accessible for more teams from more places, noting that "WRTC is now for everybody," not just big guns. The selection areas will be geographically smaller to provide more chances to qualify for all contesters on all continents, and team leaders will select operating partners from the top ten applicants who did not qualify as team leaders. WRTC 2022 will be held in Bologna, Italy, the birthplace of Guglielmo Marconi. The official website (English version) is at <http://wrtc2022.it/en/>.

2019 YOTA Camp to be in Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs will be hosting this summer's ninth annual Youngsters On The Air (YOTA) camp in August. Young hams between the ages of 15 and 25 will be eligible to attend. 

 According to the South African Radio League (which hosted the 2018 camp), individual member societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) will select their representatives. The program is sponsored by IARU Region 1, which represents Europe, the Middle East and Africa, but campers have attended from around the world.