Ham Radio Youth Insights—My Week at WRTC 2026 UK Part 2

As discussed in Part One of my WRTC (World Radiosport Team Championship) 2026 UK experience, I attended as a volunteer at event headquarters. I arrived at the venue on Tuesday afternoon, and the volunteer team sprang into action. We ended up staying up until around midnight, preparing for everyone’s arrival the next day.

We woke up bright and early Wednesday morning to check in all of the attendees (competitors, referees, spectators, etc.). As the first of the competitors started arriving around 9 am, I quickly realized we’d need to store much more luggage than we initially thought. As with almost every hotel, check in to the individual hotel rooms wasn’t allowed until 3 pm. That meant we needed to hold not only the typical amount of luggage that everyone would have for a week of travel, but also an entire station’s worth of equipment for every set of competitors.

Despite our serious Tetris-playing efforts, the storage room for luggage overflowed, and we ended up lining one of the walls in the main check-in room with suitcases.

After a full day of getting event attendees registered and checked in, we all went to dinner. Afterward, some of us got ready for the Ham Widows Ball, a lesser-known tradition at the WRTC. It was started by the partner of an active contester who realized that many XYLs were being dragged along to the WRTC every few years without any way to get to know each other. He started the Ham Widows Ball to give the XYLs a way to enjoy the event even if they weren’t interested in amateur radio. The ball is always held on the first night of the WRTC, allowing attendees to become acquainted and then take part in the excursions and late-night chats for the rest of the week together.

While I’m not exactly the target audience of the Ham Widows Ball, I did decide to attend (plenty of women with amateur radio licenses do) and had a great time. After the ball, I headed out to the common area and spent the rest of the evening chatting with those who were still there before heading to bed.

The evenings at the WRTC are somewhat similar to the Contest Super Suite at Dayton. After dinner, everyone gathers together and spends the rest of the evening chatting until around midnight or 1 am. Unlike the Super Suite where many of the same people attend year after year with only slight variations, the group at the WRTC is different every time it’s held.

All of the volunteers woke up on Thursday knowing it would be a jam-packed day. We started by checking in a few more attendees before directing the approproate people to the competitors and referees meeting. While that was taking place, we were starting to get everyone organized onto shuttles for the excursions they had booked. The excursions during the event are a great way to fit some sightseeing into an otherwise schedule-packed trip. There were options to visit various cities and Bletchley Park, home of the RSGB National Radio Centre and location where the Enigma WWII codebreakers served. On Thursday evening, we had the opening ceremony, which was one of the highlights of the week. It was followed by the opening dinner/banquet. We ended the night with a musical demonstration that incorporated Morse code.

Friday was just as busy. You could feel the excitement and tension building. Everyone was shuttled to their sites so they could set up and test their equipment, making sure any issues were resolved before the contest started on Saturday. Later in the afternoon, everyone came back for one last night of socializing before the contest. The energy and anticipation levels were very high. After a few hours of chatting with everyone we all headed to bed so we would be well rested for the next day and for the contest!

In part three of my WRTC series, I’ll be covering the contest portion of the week, so be sure to stay tuned to OnAllBands!

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