Amateur radio team seeks world championship glory

While England's footballers continue their quest for World Cup glory, Britain's top amateur radio enthusiasts are also taking on the world in a contest which takes place every four years.

John Warburton and Martin Platt will be up against 49 other teams at the World Radiosport Team Championship, which is being held in East Anglia this year.

Over a 24-hour period they will use Morse code and voice to compete and score points by making thousands of short radio contacts worldwide and impress the judges with their accuracy and record keeping.

Warburton, from Shrewsbury, said there was no prize, but "loads of kudos" for the winners.

"This is all about respect in the amateur radio community," he added.

Qualifying competitions for the event have been taking place since 2023, with some of them testing the contenders over a period of 48 hours without a break.

Warburton said: "Some of the competitors do stay up 48 hours and report hallucinations at the end of it."

He said there was "no rest" and that he and Platt had spent "a lot of time together discussing tactics".

He also said: "We have to be careful what we eat, don't eat carbs - we're on bananas and nuts so we don't get groggy."

While their morse code messages are sent by computer, they are received by ear and noted down by the competitors.

Any mistakes in the record keeping of their calls will lose them points.

Warburton has been an amateur radio enthusiast for 50 years and started when he was introduced to the hobby by his father.

He said there was a friendly community surrounding it and while they were competing against each other, the teams were "all mates".

"It's as much a big social event as it is a competition," he explained.

The championships, which are taking place in the UK for the first time in the event's history, run between 8 and 13 July.

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