WRTC 2026 Rescored: What Happened and What’s Next
WRTC 2026 ended with one podium. Weeks later, an investigation produced another. The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) brings together many of the world’s top contest operators to compete from comparable stations under a common set of rules. I'm joined by Randy Thompson K5ZD, Chris Hurlbut KL9A, Dan Craig N6MJ, and Bill Fehring W9KKN to examine the investigation that led to four WRTC teams being disqualified and the final results being rescored. Almost immediately after the competition, operators studying the public logs began noticing multiplier totals that didn’t look right. What followed went far beyond ordinary log checking. The investigation examined suspicious “pirate” multipliers, reverse logs, team recordings, independent SDR recordings, operating patterns, and evidence surrounding how particular teams may have been identified on the air. In one case discussed here, logged QSOs appeared in the record even though investigators could not hear the corresponding stations in the recordings. The revised results put Manfred Wolf DJ5MW and Uli Ann DM5EE in first, Dan Craig N6MJ and Chris Hurlbut KL9A in second, and Randy Thompson K5ZD and Tom Georgens W2SC in third. But this conversation goes well beyond who ended up with the medals. The group looks at the roughly 12-hour window judges originally had to certify results, why some manipulation is so difficult to detect in real time, and whether WRTC can continue announcing winners immediately after the contest. There’s also a larger question here for serious contesters: what happens next? Randy, Chris, Dan, and Bill discuss qualifying, enforcement, the future eligibility of disqualified competitors, the role of peer accountability, and why they believe this episode can ultimately strengthen rather than diminish WRTC and competitive amateur radio. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.