Introduction

The entry this year remained fairly static, at one more log than last year.  HF conditions were reasonably good, with multipliers available from all over the world.  The weather was generally kind in the South of the country, but more variable in the North and West.  Competitors all seemed to have a good time, with quite a few encouraging newcomers to join in: helping to assemble the station, logging, operating, cooking and dismantling.  Everyone would go home with stories to tell, some of triumphs and some of disasters -- minor, we hope.

Open Section

The number of entries was unchanged from last year, at 16.  Bristol Contest Group, G6YB/P, maintained their position at the top of the table, winning the Northumbria Trophy with an increased point and multiplier count. They took full advantage of openings in the daytime on 10m and 15m, with some rates of around 100 per hour: European portables and North Americans mixed in with other DX.  Their night-time rates on the lower bands were also high, and they maintained an overall rate of around 80 QSOs and 8 multipliers per hour -- most impressive.  Their equipment and antenna systems are clearly top-notch, not to mention the skilled crew assembling the station and operating.  It will be a challenge to dislodge them from the winning position -- when will a club reach the 2000 QSO level?

East Notts Contest Group, G3TBK/P, took second place with a very creditable performance, and Camb-Hams, G3PYE/P, moved up from fourth to third place.  Many of the entrants in this section remarked on the good conditions, but some found it more difficult to attract attention on 14MHz and above.  The contest groups seem to be monopolising the top three positions, but there were clearly significant efforts made by all those who put up multiple aerials and got their operators out in the field.

Restricted Section

Given the antenna and rig restrictions, the results are generally closer in this section.  In fact, there has been a bit of a reshuffle at the top, with quite a fight for the leading three positions.  The winners by a total margin of just 1.5 % were the Worthing & District Amateur Radio Club, G3WOR/P, who take the G3PSH Memorial Trophy.  Close on their heels were the Central Contest Association, G3SJJ/P, and not far behind were Reading & District Amateur Radio Club, G3ULT/P.  

Worthing decided that the multipliers and portable stations on 15m and 20m were worth exploring at the beginning, before settling down to the lower bands.  They made sorties HF throughout the contest, but the bulk of their points were achieved on 80m and 40m.  Of course, these are good tactics when there is a lower possibility of hearing and working the same level of DX that 400 watts and a beam can achieve.  Along with most other entrants, they found 10m to be pretty barren.  

Other groups in this section were more or less serious depending on the inclination of the club members.  The soapbox shows some new initiatives -- first time computer logging for example, but they all seemed to enjoy themselves.  

Notes on adjudication

As well as the logs from our own entrants, we receive over 300 logs from other European societies.  These are from portable stations also entering their various SSB field days, generally coordinated by DARC -- many thanks.  They help greatly in adjudication, by providing confirmation (or otherwise) of contacts made by UK stations.  They can also be used to identify errors in sending, which might otherwise penalise the receiving station, and where we can see a persistent problem -- not always signing "/P" for instance.

Well over 100,000 QSOs were available for checking, so the continual improvement of the adjudication software, together with manual scrutiny, is leading to greater accuracy in each year's results.  However, it is worth mentioning that this is not going to be a perfect procedure, and we will never be able to avoid some errors in the adjudication itself.  Like players in a football match, we have to accept that the referee cannot be right all the time, so if the ball was not judged to have crossed the line, there is no goal, even though the TV cameras can prove him wrong.  In general, where there are hundreds of QSOs, the gains and losses should even out, and the contest committee is confident that adjudication has never been more accurate.

Common problems in logs this year had a number of causes.  Forgetting to record band changes, or not having the logging software follow the rig correctly, can result in many points being lost.  It also means the adjudicator frequently has to do some detective work to find out which side of the QSO is at fault.  Logging the exact frequency (e.g. 14232 rather than 14000) helps, because it can usually show who was calling CQ.  

It was clear from some continental logs that UK stations were nor using phonetics often enough.  This can lead to errors in copying, because the names of letters in English may cause confusion, particularly when the receiving operator is inexperienced.  A quick web search will show that the letter "R" when pronounced by someone from Southern England sounds like the letter "A" in French or German.  Similarly the letter "E" in English sounds like "I" in those languages (and some others).  Errors like this can lead to QSOs being lost by reason of a "Not in Log", and the penalty may apply to both sides, not just the receiving station.

Forgetting to sign "portable" has been mentioned, and it is generally possible to identity repeat offenders.  Using the letter "O" in a log instead of the numeral zero, or vice versa, is easy to check, but if not corrected will lead to QSOs being lost.  Sometimes the letter "I" can be interchanged with number "1", which ought to be discovered quite quickly, but if not can again be penalised.  All in all, the standard of logs is good, making the adjudicator’s job easier.

RSGB Field Day contests

Given that there are three RSGB Field Days each year -- HF CW, HF SSB and VHF, it is encouraging that they are all well supported.  Different groups have different interests, but some manage to compete in all of them -- congratulations!  For those who try both the HF Field Days, it is worth remembering that there are differences between them as far as scoring is concerned.  This means that getting to the top spot requires different tactics and (probably) different equipment in each contest.  

The differences in scoring are largely historical, but they add an extra interest to what would otherwise perhaps just be a question of wheeling out the same gear and the same operators for a couple of similar events.

In CW Field Day, there are no multipliers. The scoring is biased in favour of portable stations, which means the UK and the continent.  However, the twist is that double points are scored for QSOs on 160m and 10m, so you need to monitor these bands and see what is happening.  In fact, activity on 160m is fairly predictable, and has a similar peak each year, but guessing when sporadic-E might occur on 10m is difficult.  Of course, there are also F-layer openings on 10m, occasionally even in a sunspot minimum.  So if you can maintain a good run of portables on 28MHz, you will gather plenty of points.  An opening with high QSO rates to North America (contacts scoring 3 points rather than 4) can also be very lucrative.

Things are rather different in SSB Field Day.  The points per QSO also favour portable stations, so it is essential to operate on a band where there are other portables available.  If one of the higher bands is supporting short skip to Germany and surrounding countries (probably the best source of /P points), that could well be the band to work on.  On the other hand, you neglect multipliers at your peril!  Remember that you score each country as one multiplier per band, so once you have worked Japan or the USA on a given band, you have the multiplier.  But as in the CW event, if you can work 100 North American stations in an hour on 15m, this might be a provide more points than working DL portables at a slower rate on 40m, bearing in mind that 40m may well be open to Central Europe for most of the rest of the contest.

High-scoring groups will be dealing with these questions of strategy before and during the contest, monitoring various bands for changes in conditions.  Clubs that see field day as a way to get the club out for an enjoyable weekend will be happy to keep the station going for 24 hours and have some fun, making QSOs with other clubs and around Europe.  Everyone is welcome, however they want to participate.

73, Ed Taylor, GW3SQX

Adjudicator, SSB Field Day 2013