WWROF is the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (www.wwrof.org). WWROF was created in 2009 as an independent organization devoted to supporting the skill and art of radio operating.
In a recent letter, John Dorr, K1AR, Chairman of the WWROF, provided some examples of how the group is working to meet that mission.
“I thought I would share some of our accomplishments in 2011. We have largely operated in the background this year, partially due to funding limitations, but also because of the nature of our initial projects. In summary, WWROF:
- Funded 2010 & 2011 certificate expenses for entire family of CQ contests.
- Provided partial funding of CQ certificate mailing costs.
- Implemented log checking services for IARU HF Championship HQ stations and set the stage for supporting a variety of contests in the future.
- Procured software defined radio (SDR) equipment to assist the CQWW Contest Committee with on-air recordings for log checking, providing ground-breaking adjudication services.
- Upgraded hardware on CQWW log checking systems.
- Developed and promoted a Contest Code of Ethics (CCOE). The CCOE was subsequently adopted by the CQWW committee and has obtained broad support within CQ’s entire family of contests including the CQ WW DX, CQ WPX, CQ RTTY, and CQ 160 and beyond (see http://wwrof.org/contester-code-of-ethics/ ).
- Funded a centralized PO Box to facilitate timely collection of paper logs for CQ contests.
- Implemented broader international organizational support by electing S50A and VE3EJ as new WWROF Directors.
- Added further depth to leadership team with the appointment of K5ZD as our newest WWROF Director.
Looking forward to 2012 and beyond, WWROF has a strong desire to make an even larger contribution to contesting. The computing infrastructure needs of the contest community continue to grow. We also look forward to supporting further improvements to contest log checking such as the development of improved tools for log submissions and encouragement programs for newcomers.”
The WWROF is filling a very important function in funding and operating the back office infrastructure that helps make all CQ Contests run so effectively. This includes the log submission robot, the various web sites, log checking software, certificate distribution, and much more.
The WWROF has directly supported the CQ WPX Contest through all of the above. The SDR recording tools have also been used during the WPX Contests and used in the log checking. The same software and computer infrastructure used for the CQWW log checking is also used for the CQ WPX Contest. It would be impossible to manage the record number of log submissions without this help.
The volunteers who do the work are happy to contribute their time, but we need financial support to fund the operational expenses of running the contest. Please visit the WWROF web site and consider making a donation. WWROF is an IRS-approved 501(c) (3) tax-exempt, public charity under U.S. law.
