VHFNFD 4-5 July 2015

Overall, entrants' observations on their performance lay somewhere between fairly good and not quite good enough.  That applies to those who were able to survive the wind and lightning storms of Friday night through Saturday morning and those who did not drown in the torrential rain of Saturday night through to pack-up on Sunday afternoon.  The majority of all entrants agree the following: Conditions on 50 MHz had been up for several days before contest start, but nose-dived after an hour or so. Several caught the lift to Malta. 70 MHz saw increased activity, but conditions were flat - apart from the Es surprises to the Algarve and Malta. 144 and 432 MHz delivered a lot of flatness, but also a few lifts to the east - possibly of greater influence on the latter band, where the first ran for some hours on Saturday evening and returned in the early hours of Sunday. 1.2 GHz was better than flat, but activity low. For the latter, as usual, fortunate proximity and/or topography tended to benefit. There was criticism from some Sweepers of a failure of some, un-named, Portables to call CQ. That is impossible to verify without identification. The writer's view is that if a Portable is not working someone, then they should be tuning for calls from other Portables or calling CQ. Theoretically, there should be no let-up until the contest has ended. Realism, takes over of course, when the operator believes that the supply of contacts has been exhausted and/or the eyelids have drooped,

The adjudicators welcome you again to the interactive style of results tabling. Just click on the relevant icon to download any certificates which your team may be eligible to receive and to see the UBNs. These two items are accessible only to the person(s) who uploaded the entry logs for their team and using the Password which was emailed to them when the results were announced on the RSGBCC website. Also, but available to all, are verbatim Soapbox comments plus details of equipment and antennas employed by each station.

RULES. The Rules remained unchanged from 2013 and saw the third year of the Multi-band, Single Station (MS) section for Portables. Frankly, the turnout for this section, intended as an encouragement to teams with limited resources and liked by the entrants, has not met the numerical hopes of the CC.

INSPECTIONS/COMPLAINTS. Several site inspections were made during and preceding the contest. Nothing untoward was found. The CC received two complaints of interference/broad signal between Portable entrants (on 144 MHz) following a failure to resolve quickly and satisfactorily at the time. These are being examined by the CC. At least 4 stations were observed to be operating within the segment of 50 MHz reserved for Intercontinental working. This was despite a comment in this piece last year and more recent warnings in the CC Newsletter to avoid calling frequencies and centres of activity on all bands.  As far as is known, there were no contacts made, nor in the least bit probable, between Europe and any other continent. Suitable warnings have been sent to these stations.

PORTABLE NUMBERS

Registrations: 61 Groups, comprising 202 stations registered. This was down 19 from the 221 doing so in 2014 [247 in 2013].

Entries: Overall, Group entries totalled 58, with station entries numbering 180 (181 in 2014), [229 in 2013].

Pleasingly, the number of Registered portable stations which subsequently failed to appear on-air was well down on last year - at 16, compared with the 44 in 2014.  In many cases, these constituted one missing station from a larger registration by its Group. Sadly,  at least 5 groups failed to show entirely. Once again, no warning nor explanation has been offered to the CC by the  groups concerned. This is a discourtesy - particularly so, since the means of emergency contact is detailed in the Rules. Entries were boosted by a small number of entrants who had not registered.

Numbers of Stations entering - by Band:  50 MHz: 41 (46 in 2014), [49 in 2013], 70 MHz: 38 (35) [41], 144 MHz: 50 (46) [68], 432 MHz: 40 (40) [52], 1296 MHz: 11 (21) [19].

Numbers of Groups entering- by section: Total 58 (62) [80]. Open: 14 (17) [14], Restricted: 18 (18) [28], Low Power: 12 (10) [12], Mix & Match: 10 (10) [14], Multi-Single: 4 (7) [12].

FIXED SWEEPER OPEN NUMBERS

Entries: 23 logs were submitted for FSO (24) [34].

Band Distribution: 50 MHz: 3 (4) [9], 70 MHz: 6 (6) [8], 144 MHz: 8 (6) [8] [6], 432 MHz: 4 (4) [5], 1296 MHz: 2 (4) [4].

FIXED SWEEPER RESTRICTED NUMBERS

Entries: 56 logs were submitted for FSR (60) [127].

Band Distribution: 50 MHz: 14 (9) [33], 70 MHz: 3 (8) [16], 144 MHz: 25 (18) [40], 432 MHz: 19 (16) [30], 1296 MHz: 5 (9) [8].

LOGGING. The adjudicators report that the standard of logging was again about usual for VHFNFD ie below that of all other CC - organised contests. Most errors were due to mis-logged callsigns, serial numbers and locators which were wrong or implausible since they were incompatible with the callsign. Some entrants managed to transpose their  Received and Sent reports or mixed them, indiscriminately. This suggests an inability to cope if the exchanged data comes in an unexpected order. The usual wet squares appeared, as did IO/JO transpositions. Some errors were down to obvious miskeying, but some defied explanation.

PORTABLE RESULTS

Open Section (14 Entries): This year's Overall Winner is Blacksheep CG (JO01) with an overall normalised score of 3452 points. They retain  the Surrey Trophy, which they won last year. Just a bee's-wing behind, in Runner-Up position with 3431 points, lies Colchester & A1 CG (JO01). In the numerically listed table at # position with 3268 points lies Wexford VHFG (IO62). Readers are reminded that only UK & Crown Dependency-based (UK&CD) entrants are eligible for Awards and all band-scores are normalised against the highest scoring UK&CD station. As a consequence, Wexford VHFG's scores on 50 MHz and 70 MHz are each greater than 1000. In 3rd place is Reigate ATS & Crawley ARC (JO01) with 2868 points. The highest placed Scottish station is Cockenzie & Port Seton ARC (IO84), who retain the Tartan Trophy yet again as the Leading Resident Scottish group.

Restricted section (18 Entries): This year's Overall Winner is South Birmingham RS (IO92) with 3763 points, rising from 2nd place last year. They take over the Martlesham Trophy from Warrington CG who have returned to the Low Power section after winning Restricted for the last couple of years. In Runner-Up position is Lothians RS (IO74) with 3274 points. They also retain the Cockenzie Quaich for yet another year as highest placed Scottish Group. In 3rd place lies North East Surrey CG (IO91) with 2962 points.

Low Power section (12 Entries): This year's Overall Winner is Warringtom CG (IO93) with 3000 points (the maximum attainable). They take the Arthur Watts Trophy from Lagan Valley ARS (IO74) who are Runners-Up this year with 2421 points. Loch Fyne Kippers (IO75) are placed 3rd with 1075 points and, as highest placed Scottish station, retain the Scottish Trophy for another year.

Mix and Match section (10 Entries): This year's Overall Winner is Trowbridge & DARC (IO81) with 2969 points and take over the G5BY Trophy from Telford & DARS, who find themselves in 3rd place this year with 2087 points. In Runner-Up position is Drowned Rats RG (IO91) who make their debut with a score of 2118 points.

Multi-band, Single-station section (4 Entries): In the third run of this section, still, sadly, with no Trophies yet to award, the Overall Winner for the third time is Cambridge & DARC (JO02) with 2639 points (1000 on 50 MHz and 432 MHz). After a very close run for the top of this section, the Runner-Up is Itchen Valley ARC (IO91) with 2619 points. In 3rd place lies Milton Keynes ARS with 2449 points.

FIXED SWEEPERS RESULTS

Certificates are awarded for top and runner-up best overall normalised score and, for each section: Band Leader and, if appropriate, Gold, Silver and Bronze awards for contacting 90%, 75% and 50%, respectively, of Registered and Active VHF NFD (Portable) stations. To facilitate this, a list of stations which had registered by the closing date was published on the RSGB CC website in advance of the Contest. The adjudicators have taken account of those registered stations which did not subsequently become “active”.

Overall (43 Entries):

Overall Leader: G3XDY (JO02) with 2667 points from a three - band entry with normalised scores of 1000 points on 432 MHz and 1296 MHz.

Overall Runner-up: M5MUF with 2532 points from a four - band entry with a normalised score of a score of 1000 points on 1296 MHz.

Overall 3rd place: G0GQT with 2378 points from a four - band entry with a normalised score of 1000 points on 144 MHz and 432 MHz.

Band Awards:

50 MHz FSO (3 Entrants): Band Leader & Silver Award: G4ELJ (IO91)

FSO Bronze Award: G0LGS (IO81), G8MCA (JO01)

50 MHz FSR (14 Entrants): Band Leader & Silver Award: G3TBK (IO93)

FSR Bronze Award: G0GQT (JO01)

FSR Certificate for Highest-placed non-UK Entrant (1st ever awarded): 9H5MC (JM76)

70 MHz FSO (6 Entrants): Band Leader & Gold Award: GW8ASD (IO83)

FSO Silver Award: G3NPI (IO92), M5MUF (IO92)

FSO Bronze Award: G3XDY (JO02), G8MCA (JO01)

70 MHz FSR (3 Entrants): Band Leader and Bronze Award: G3TDH (IO83)

144 MHz FSO (8 Entrants): Band Leader &  Bronze Award: G6DOF (JO01)

FSO Bronze Award: G8MCA (JO01)

144 MHz FSR (25 Entrants): Band Leader & Bronze Award: G0GQT (JO01)

FSR Silver Award: G4YHF (IO92)

FSR Bronze Award: M5MUF (IO92), G8DTF (IO83), G4DBW (JO01), G4APJ (IO83), GW3ATZ ((IO83), G4XPE (IO92),  GB4RS Op G3WKL (IO92)

432 MHz FSO (4 Entrants): Band Leader & Bronze Award: G3XDY (JO02)

FSO Bronze Award G4KCT (IO93)

432 MHz FSR (19 Entrants): Band Leader & Bronze Award: G0GQT (JO01)

FSR Bronze Award: G8MCA (JO01), G4APJ (IO93)

1296 MHz FSO (2 Entrants): Band Leader & Silver Award: G3XDY (JO02)

FSO Bronze Award: G4KCT (IO93)

1296 MHz FSR (5 Entrants): Band Leader & Silver Award: M5MUF (IO92)

The running total of Gold Awards in now 4. Congratulations to GW8ASD for his achievement in 70 MHz FSO this year. Interestingly, all the Gold Awards have been for 70 MHz: G3MEH in FSR in 2011, G3NPI in FSO and GW8ASD himself in FSR in 2014. It is no mean feat to secure one Gold, let alone two.

CHECK LOGS.

These were gratefully received from: G3ORX (3), G3XHB (2) G4DDL (2), G4TJC/P (2), G5MW/P (2), G6GS (2), G8TA/P (2), M0JWB (2), G8CUL (4), M1BBZ/P, M0UKD/P, GX3PIA, G2BQY/P, M1BQY/P, G6GVI. Numbers in brackets indicate the number of bands for which check-logs were submitted, where greater than 1.

BAND REPORTS

The following, band by band, shows the numbers of stations which appear at least once in any entrants log. Note the following conventions: G means all prefixes allocated to England ie G, M, 2E. GM means all Scottish prefixes ie GM, MM, 2M and similarly for the rest of the UK and Crown Dependencies. DL means all German prefixes eg DK, DL, DM, DN, DO etc. PA means all prefixes allocated to the Netherlands eg PA, PC, PD, PE and so on. The UK & CD numbers do not include Portable and Sweeper entrants, but only those they worked ie non-entrants and check loggers.

50 MHz.

Activity and Conditions: 435 individual callsigns were worked (421 in 2014) [554 in 2013]. These comprised:

9H: 1, DL: 9, EI: 15, ES; 1, F: 19, G: 284, GD: 2, GI: 4, GJ: 1, GM: 11, GU: 2, GW: 25, I: 25, IS: 2, LX: 1, LY: 5, ON: 22, OZ: 4, PA: 23, S5: 1, YL: 3.

Conditions were in strong contrast with 2014 - where many contacts were available up to 2400km from the geographical centre of the British Isles and several made it out to 6500 km. This year, most of the propagation was via Tropo but maybe, if you were on air before it faded an hour or so after kick-off, some Es. Nevertheless, there  was enough activity to keep most folk busy for most of the time. Measured from the geographical centre of the British Isles, there were discernable Es hops: to the SE of 1000, 1500, 2000 and 3000 km, to the NNE of 1000 and 2000 km but only Tropo to the south - offering under 1000 km.

Band Leaders and Scores:

Open: Numerical Leader, Position #: EI9E/P Wexford VHFG (IO62), Score 64395 (1237 Normalised)

Open 1st UK & CD: GW2OP/P Pembrokeshire CG (IO71), Score 52060

Restricted: GM3HAM/P Lothians CG (IO74), Score 29847

Low Power: GI4GTY/P Lagan Valley (IO74), Score 20947

MS: G2XV/P Cambridge & DARC (JO02), Score 9641

FSO: G4ELJ (IO91) 40 QSO, Score 8695, Mults 33, Total 286935

FSR: G3TBK (IO93) 39 QSO, Score 9001, Mults 31, Total 279031

The greatest number of QSOs, by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open: G2BQYP Trowbridge & DARC (IO81) 2/13 - 169

Restricted: G2LO/P South Birmingham RS (IO92) 2/21 - 127

Low Power: G1ONE Bolton Wireless Club (IO83) 2/6 - 72

MS: G2XV/P Cambridge & DARC (JO02) 1/1 - 63

FSO: G4ELJ (IO91) 1/3 - 40

FSR: G3TBK (IO93) 1/14 - 39

ODX by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open: GW3ZTT/P Mid Cheshire ARS (IO82) 12/13 - 2190 km in QSO with IZ8FFA (JM78) Reggio Calabria (Toe of Italy)

Restricted: GM3HAM/P Lothians RS (IO74) 1/21 - 2519 km in QSO with 9H5MC (JM76) NW corner of Gozo, Malta

Low Power: GM3TAL/P Loch Fyne Kippers (IO75) 3/6 - 1980 km in QSO with IS0DCR/P (JN40) NE coastal corner of Sardinia

MS: G2XV/P Cambridge & DARC (JO02) 1/1 - 540 km in QSO with GM3HAM/P (IO74)

FSO: G4ELJ (IO91) 1/3 - 509 km in QSO with PC7M (JO32) SW of Almelo in NE Netherlands, near German border.

FSR: G4APJ (IO83) 4/14 - 1668 km in QSO with IS0DCR NE corner of Sardinia. Note also the FSR entry (the first for a non-UK&CD station) at position #/14 from 9H5MC - 2519 km in QSO with GM3HAM/P (IO74)

SOAPBOX. 9H5MC: UK call G8DLX operating from NE Gozo, Malta. EI9E/P Wexford VHFG: Patchy Es at the start which soon faded. Great weekend again many thanks to the RSGB CC for allowing us to join in the fun and compete in the UK VHF NFD. Some problems with gremlins in the equipment this year, but nothing too serious. Our pastry chef was once again on site and as well as the usual on-mountain cooked meals we also enjoyed pies and pastries a plenty :-) Roll on next year! GW2OP/P Pembrokeshire CG: Just 5 Es QSOs early on, then nothing. Activity seemed down.  A change of transceiver seemed to help reduce QRM suffered in previous years. G3PYE/P Camb-Hams: Most of the Es that existed before the contest either vanished or went over our heads once it started, of course. G5LK/P Reigate ATS & Crawley ARC: Brief Es and then a rig failure! G5TO/P Sheffield & DWS: Poor conditions overall. Glad to work into KO07 square for the first QSO of the contest as very little Es was heard after that! It always puzzles us that  the Tuesday night UKACs can get over 200 stations on this band, but these folk don't all turn out to support Field Day!

70 MHz.

Activity & Conditions: 171 individual callsigns were worked (147) [196]. These comprised:

9H: 2, CT: 1, DL: 1, EI: 7, G: 114, GD: 2, GI: 2, GM: 18, GU:2, GW: 7, LX: 1, ON: 4, OZ: 1, PA:9

Activity was up by 16% in comparison with 2014 and at least 9 entrants made Es contacts with Malta and/or the Algarve in southern Portugal over distances which exceeded 2000 km. Otherwise, conditions were rather hum-drum, with contacts limited to NW Europe up to 1000 km from the geographical centre of the British Isles via Tropo- but that was significantly up from the 600 km, or so, of 2014.

Band Leaders and Scores:

Open: Numerical Leader, Position #: EI9E/P Wexford VHFG (IO62), Score 28177 (1084 Normalised)

Open 1st UK & CD: GM4ZUK/P Aberdeen VHFG GW2OP/P (IO86), Score 25994

Restricted: GM3HAM/P Lothians RS (IO74), Score 23585

Low Power: GI4GTY/P Lagan Valley (IO74), Score 22270

MS: G4VFL/P Workington & DARC (IO84), Score 10871

FSO: GW8ASD (IO83) 35 QSO, Score 7275, Mults 35, Total 254625

FSR: G3TDH (IO83) 27 QSO, Score 5251, Mults 27, Total 141777

The greatest number of QSOs, by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open: MW0TWC/P Travelling Wave CG (IO82) 3/14 - 90

Restricted: G2LO/P South Birmingham RS (IO92) 1/12 - 89

Low Power: GI4GTY/P (IO74) 1/5 - 62

MS: G4VFL/P Workington & DARC (IO84) 1/2 - 45

FSO: GW8ASD (IO83) 1/2 - 35

FSR: G3TDH (IO83) 1/3 - 27

ODX by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open: GW3ZTT/P Mid Cheshire ARS (IO82) 10/14 - 2341 km in QSO with 9H1BT (JM75) Dingli, SW coast of Malta

Restricted: GW3SRT/P Salop ARS (IO82) 12/17 - 2317 km in QSO with 9H1BT (JM75), just pipping G5TO/P Sheffield & DWS (IO93) 6/17- 2313 km in QSO with 9H1CG (JM75) Pembroke, NE coast of Malta

Low Power: GM3SHK/P Loch Fyne Kippers (IO75) 2/5 - 2099 km in QSO with CT1JAD (IM57) Carvoeiro, central Algarve, Portugal

MS: G2XV/P Cambridge & DARC (JO02) 2/2 - 540 km in QSO with GM3SHK/P (IO75)

FSO: G3XDY (JO02) 4/6 - 594 km in QSO with GM4ZUK/P (IO86)

FSR: G4YHF (IO83) 2/3 - 421 km in QSO with GI4GTY/P (IO74)

SOAPBOX. MM0CPS/P Cockenzie & Port Seton ARC: No issues with antennas or WX this year except for overnight on the Friday when a bit of a storm blew through.  The base noise level has increased at our site due to wind generators in the Solway Firth. What used to be a near silent RF site is now noisy when we have to beam near the towers. M0MCG/P Moors Contest Group: First attempt at 4m for us in a contest. Only 25W and found it slow going. Conditions not too bad though. Just 2 operators so made operating several bands a bit of a challenge. 73 de G4WFR & G0KYS. M5MUF: First two hours frantic then a long slow slog with no-one new to work. Seemed good conditions to GM but no Es. GW3ZTT/P Mid-Cheshire ARS: Mainly flat conditions but with two 2000km Es contacts into Malta. GW2OP/P Pembrokeshire CG, G4ALE/P NE Surrey CG, G3RCV/P Maidstone YMCA & Cray Valley ARC and G0VHF/P Colchester & A1 CG all reported rain static interfering with reception. GM3SHK/P Loch Fyne Kippers: Tropo, except for CT1JAD, via Es. Usual west coast weather and wildlife - rain, hail, electric rain, fog, gales, midges, horse flies, lizards. Lovely!

144 MHz

Activity and Conditions: 1471 individual callsigns were worked (1219 in 2014) [2117 in 2013]. These comprised: DL: 351 (up 72 on 2014), EA: 1, EI: 18, F: 171 (up 17) G: 614 (down 108), GD: 3, GI: 6, GJ: 4, GM: 32, GW: 35, GU: 4, HB9: 14, LA: 1, LX: 1, OE:  4, OK:  13 (up 6),  OM: 1, ON: 81(up34), OZ: 13 (up 6), PA: 100 (up 24), SM: 2, SP 2. Overall, participating numbers were up by around 250 - particularly from DL, ON and PA. Disappointingly, numbers from G were down by over 100.  Measured from the geographical centre of the British Isles, contacts were available to the N at 550 km (Lairg in Scottish Highlands), NW at 350 km, NE at 1150 km, SE at 1340 km and S at 1100 (the Pyrenees). Although conditions were rather flat, there were a few mini-lifts and distances worked by many entrants were up by about 200 km on 2014.

Band Leaders and Scores:

Open: G5LK/P Reigate ATS & Crawley ARC (JO01) Score 274558

Restricted: G4WGE/P NE Surrey CG (IO91) Score 61719

Low Power: G3CKR/P Warrington CG (IO93) Score 56609

MS: G0IVR/P Itchen Valley ARC (IO91), Score 19170

FSO: G6DOF (JO01) 57 QSO, Score 16750, Mults 34, Total 535500

FSR: G3TBK (IO93) 39 QSO, Score 9001, Mults 31, Total 732237

The greatest number of QSOs, by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open: G5LK/P Reigate ATS & Crawley ARC (JO01) 1/16 - 638

Restricted: G4WGE/P NE Surrey CG (IO91) 1/18 - 253

Low Power: G3CKR/P Warrington CG (IO93) 1/13 - 215

MS: G0IVR/P Itchen Valley ARC (IO91) 1/3 - 91

FSO: G6DOF (JO01) 1/8 - 57

FSR: G0GQT (JO01) 1/25 - 67

ODX by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open: G5LK/P Reigate ATS & Crawley ARC (JO01) 1/16 - 1212 km in QSO with OM3W (JN99) Nova Dubrica, NW Slovakia - right on the Czech border

Restricted: G4ATH/P Thornton Cleveleys ARS (IO83) 13/18 - 974 km inQSO with DK3BK(JO53) 45 km SW of Schwerin, Mecklenberg - Vorpommern, Germany

Low Power: G3CKR/P Warrington CG (IO93) 1/13 992 km in QSO with DR1H (JN59) Hetzleser berg, 25 km NE of Nuremberg, Franconia, Germany

MS: G8MKC/P Milton Keynes ARS (IO91) 2/3 - 865 km in QSO with DK5QN (JO42) Bielefeld, Nord-Rhein - Westphalia, Germany.

FSO: G6DOF (JO01) 1/8 - 787 km in QSO with DK3BK (JO53) 45 km SW of Schwerin, Mecklenberg - Vorpommern, Germany

FSR: G0GQT (JO01) 1/25 - 798 km in QSO with DK3BK (JO53) 45 km SW of Schwerin, Mecklenberg - Vorpommern, Germany

SOAPBOX.2W0JYN: Very good contest and good conditions. Good contacts into France, Scotland and Netherlands. EI9E/P Wexford VHFG: Some station improvements helped us to increase our score a little this year, even though we lost a few hours sorting out some teething problems. Conditions about average. G0BWC/P Bolton Wireless Club: Benign weather until dismantling station during heavy rain! Conditions average, but hard to do well from IO83 with modest equipment in terms of points/km. Only a few foreign stations worked. G0FBB/P Windmill CG: Conditions OK on Saturday and Sunday AM, until thunder storms arrived. Static rain effectively shut us down. G2BQY/P Trowbridge & DARC: Some good conditions for our 1st entry in 144MHz Restricted.  Very good activity and some excellent dx worked. G0VFW: Fairly flat, Only operated for 3 Hours on Sunday Morning. Nice Surprise to work HB9N. G2OA/P Southport & DARC: Late on - due to missing mike. Conditions flat but a little Tropo to DL on late Saturday. G3CKR/P Warrington CG: Below average conditions and low UK activity. Occasional openings into EU but difficult to attract attention for them to turn antennas. FT225RD served us well again. G3PYE/P Camb-Hams: Slow but steady. Conditions seemed a bit down on usual. Despite trying to keep going all night, hours between QSOs at one point! G4WGE/P NE Surrey CG: Gremlins kicked-in and original amp failed so slightly down on power. A spare happened to be available on site! Conditions seemed much better than recent years. [Unstated was that this was the best performance in years and left the group well in the lead in Restricted section]. G4XPE: Good propagation and plenty of activity. G4ZAP/P Colchester & A1 CG: Station assembly was hindered by Friday nights storm. Only operational 1 minute before start time. Unfortunately, a faulty RX lead was not discovered 'til 1445 so somewhat deaf at the start! Neither weather nor conditions as predicted, but enhancement overnight made operating in the small hours worthwhile. Unworkable OLs became genuine S9 signals. G5LK/P Reigate ATS & Crawley ARC: Periodically enhanced to north east/east. Forced to shut down Sunday am due to lightning and storms. G6DOF: Magic on Sunday morning. GI4GTY/P Lagan Valley ARS: Conditions poor, but good craic as always.

432 MHz.

Activity & Conditions: 379 individual callsigns were worked (327) [598]. These comprised: DL: 99, EI:8, F: 31 G: 170, GD: 1, GI: 2, GM: 4, GU: 3, GW: 9, HB: 2, OK: 2, ON: 13, OZ: 4, PA: 29, SM: 1, SP: 1. Measured from the geographical centre of the UK, contacts were available up to 350 km to the SW, 700 km to S, 1400 to NE and 1200 km to SW. Except for UK&CD and RoI, overall  activity was up in comparison with 2014 - particularly from Germany, where numbers were up by 50%. ODX was also up, with several entrants delighted to work into Sweden, Denmark (who was thrown by 5P6T?), Poland, central France, Switzerland and Czech Republic. Despite the above, there were many voices expressing disappointment. Maybe the openings went over their heads.

Band Leaders and Scores:

Open: M0BAA/P Blacksheep CG (JO01), Score 74746

Restricted: G8OHM/P South Birmingham RS (IO92), Score 29634

Low Power: G3CKR/P Warrington CG (IO93), Score 16713

MS: G2XV/P Cambridge & DARC (JO02), Score 6927

FSO: G3XDY (JO02) 33 QSO, Score 9086, Mults 21, Total 190806

FSR: G0OQT (JO01) 33 QSO, Score 7862, Mults 21, Total 188688

The greatest number of QSOs, by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open: Blacksheep CG (JO01) 1/13 - 222

Restricted: G8OHM South Birmingham RS (IO92) 1/14 - 137

Low Power: G3CKR/P Warrington CG (IO93) 1/10 - 80

MS: G2XV/P Cambridge & DARS (JO02) 1/3- 32

FSO: G3XDY (JO02) 1/4 - 33

FSR: G0GQT (JO01) 1/19 - 33

ODX by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open: G5LK/P Reigate ATS & Crawley ARC (JO01) 3/13 - 1078 km in QSO with SM7NR (JO76) SE Sweden, nr Baltic coast

Restricted: G6IPU/P Bittern DXG (JO02) 2/14 - 879 km in QSO with SP1JNY (JO73) Szczecin, Poland nr Baltic coast & German border

Low Power: G3CKR/P Warrington CG(IO93) 1/10 - 857 km in QSO with DF0GEB (JO51) 34 km SE of Goettingen, Thuringia, Germany

MS: G2XV/P Cambridge & DARC (JO02) 1/3 - 714 km in QSO with DA0FF  (JO40) Fulda, Hesse, Germany

FSO: G3XDY (JO02) 1/4 - 827 km in QSO with OK2A (JO60) Erzebirge mountains, NW corner of Czech Republic

FSR: G0GQT (JO01) 1/19 - 743 km in QSO with OZ1ALS (JO44) Sonderberg Is, Denmark 50 km N of German border

SOAPBOX. 2W0JYN: Good conditions and good contest. EI9E/P Wexford VHFG: Conditions only average to poor. Thanks to everyone that beamed west ! G0FBB/P Windmill CG: We received some reports of bad audio / rough signal on some early contacts on the band. Various tests with other stations did not provide solution so we took our station off air to fault find. Determined problem with non linear transmit stage in the transverter so replaced K3 + transverter with FT847. Lost about 90 mins. Lost further 90 mins later on unsuccessfully trying to configure DVK having lost the one that was in the K3. Conditions seemed okay - but nothing special. G0VHF/P Colchester & A1 CG: Best early Sunday morning for a long time. G2OA/P Southport ARS: Flat conditions. Forgot the PA on Saturday, so only 30 W barefoot. G3CKR/P Warrington CG: Major problems.  Late on air. High SWR. Changed feeders and antenna, but still no better. Operated below par for most of contest, so not as good as we would have liked. Not putting much power out at all for most of contest. We found after the contest was a dry joint and other connection issues on the driven element of m2 antennas - just like we had with 2m last year!  Activity not good and conditions below par. G3RCW/P Worksop ARS: Poor band conditions and what seemed like very low activity levels. G3WM/P Maidstone YMCA ARS & Cray Valley RC: Tale of woes, problems with feeders, luffed tower Saturday evening, safety pin failed - telescoping sections out. 2 hours to re-rig sections, replace broken rotator, and rebuild a yagi out of damaged and parts of previously broken one, Heavy rain Sunday morning. Original tent destroyed in Friday night/Saturday morning Storm. G3XDY: Failed to find/work some stations heard working others but not apparently calling CQ. G5TO/P Sheffield & DWS: Fair to poor. We had at least one hour with no QSOs at all! Activity very low for a UK VHF Contest, Where were all those UK stations who come on for the UKACs? G8LED/P Northampton RC: Not many Sweepers contacted, despite a lot of time spent calling CQ. G3ZTT/P Mid-Cheshire ARC: Fairly ordinary conditions but with the odd little gem of European dx. All our preparation paid off with no major failures this year. Just a pity activity levels were so low. MM0CPS/P Cockenzie & Port Seton ARC: The 70 cm preamp broke at the start and left us deaf. We had some callers on other bands telling us we were loud on 70cm but we couldn't hear them calling us. Not good. Sorry about that.

1.2 GHz

Activity & Conditions: 111 individual callsigns were worked (94) [224]. These comprised: DL: 29, F: 8,G: 43, GI: 1, GM: 1, GU: 1, GW: 2, HB: 2, OK:1, ON: 7,OZ: 1, PA 14. Measured from the geopgraphical centre of the British Isles, contacts were available up to 300 km to the south west and through an arc running NE, E,  SE about 1000 km distant. Overall activity was up by 18% compared with 2014, but not a shadow of that in 2013. Nevertheless, the Open section leader G0VHF/P Colchester & A1 CG almost doubled their number of QSO compared with last year. By and large, ODX was about the same as in 2014.

Band Leaders and Scores:

Open: G0VHF/P Colchester & A1 CG (JO01) Score 31469 (1000 Normalised)

Restricted: G3OHM/P South Birmingham RS ((IO92) Score 13029 (1000 Normalised)

Low Power: G3CKR/P Warrington CG (IO93) Score 14271 (1000 Normalised)

MS: G8MKC/P Milton Keynes ARS (IO91) Score 2120 (1000 Normalised)

FSO: G3XDY (JO02) 28 QSO, Score 9309, Mults 18, Total 121017

FSR: M5MUF (IO92) 15 QSO, Score 3285, Mults 13, Total 42705

The greatest number of QSOs, by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open: G0VHF/P Colchester & A1 CG (JO01) 1/9 - 98

Restricted: G3OHM South Birmingham RS (IO92) 1/3 - 52

Low Power: G3CKR/P Warrington CG (IO93) 1/3 - 54

MS: G8MKC/P Milton Keynes ARS (IO91) 1/2 - 12

FSO: G3XDY (JO02) 1/2 - 28

FSR: M5MUF (IO92) 1/5 - 15

ODX by section and with position in Results Table shown thus: x/y.

Open, Overall: EI9E/P Wexford VHFG (IO62) #/10 - 909 km in QSO with PI4GN (JO22) Groningen Club, Drenthe Province, north coast of the Netherlands

Open, Best UK & CD: G0VHF/P Colchester & A1 CG 1/10 - 846 km in QSO with DL0HTW (JO60) Erzebirge mountains, SSW of Chemnitz, Germany.

Restricted: G3OHM/P South Birmingham RS (IO92) 1/3  - 813 km in QSO with DF0GEB (JO51) 34 km SE of Goettingen, Thuringia, Germany

Low Power: G3CKR/P Warrington CG(IO93) 1/3 - 917 km in QSO with DL0GTH (JO50) 40 km SSE of Erfurt, Germany

MS: G8KHC/P Milton Keynes ARS (IO91) 1/2 - 422 km in QSO with EI9E/P (IO62)

FSO: G3XDY (JO02) 1/2 - 827 km in QSO with OK2A (JO60) Erzebirge mountains, SSW of Goettingen, Germany.

FSR: M5MUF (IO92) 1/5 - 580 km in QSO with DF0MU 73 km N of Dortmund, Germany

SOAPBOX. EI9E/P Wexford VHFG: Poor conditions. We need a little more activity in the UK to help the score along. G0IVR/P Itchen Valley ARC: First time with 23cm on VHF NFD.  Activity seemed low. UKAC is much busier. G2BQY/P Trowbridge & DARC: Very disappointed with 23cm this year.  Conditions were awful, although they picked up on Sunday.  UK activity was low. Surprising as activity for UKAC is so high. Surely they weren't all out for VHF NFD. We did make some good contacts with stations that did reply to requests for scheds on KST but found many Europeans were completely ignoring our requests - presumably in favour of working stations in mainland Europe.  It seems many UK stations were logged into KST but not monitoring. A real mixed bag of weather, hot and sunny to set up Friday, torrential rain Friday night and thunderstorms circling all night.  High wind, and hail. The only thing missing was snow! It was however a very successful club event enjoyed by all, with a superb BBQ provided by Dom M0UAS & Russ M0WYB. G3OHM/P South Birmingham RS: Very quiet at times, with low UK activity, offset by some good DX, i.e. similar to 2014. G3XDY: Some Tropo apparent on Saturday night/Sunday morning, but most DX was by aircraft scatter. G5LK/P Reigate ATS & Crawley ARC: Masthead power supply failed Sunday am. GW2OP/P Pembrokeshire CG: Poor.  Worked everything heard or passed from 432MHz.Too far West in this one. Spent some time investigating the effects of aircraft scatter!

SIGN OFF

Congratulations to all recipients of Trophies and Certificates. Thanks to all participants.

73 and we hope to see you in 2016 VHF NFD from Adjudicators: Ian G0FCT, Roger G4BVY, Richard G4WFR, Dave G7RAU and Commentator John G8IYS.

27 August 2015