CW National Field Day 2022 :

The rules for this contest were modified from 2021 in that contacts with Russian and Belarus stations were made invalid for points and multipliers, and those stations could only enter check-logs. Also the use of the special GQ prefix was not allowed for portable entrants.

There were 35 entries from portable stations with 4 groups entering the QRP section, 8 entering the QRP Renewable Energy  section, 13 groups entering the Low Power Unassisted section and 10 groups entering the Low Power Assisted section. This is less than the numbers in 2021, maybe due to the Platinum celebrations weekend clash. The Fixed Station section attracted only 48 entries. This is a decrease on the Fixed entry level for 2021, maybe again due to the celebrations. It was good to find a number of fixed USA and DX  stations joining in. These included VP8,VK, ZL, 9N, 5B, EI, JA, and west coast W. A number of UK stations entered  from abroad, whilst portable.

The band conditions were generally reported as poor on the lower bands, but good in patches on the higher bands, reflecting the better state of the sunspot cycle. 160m was very noisy  with high QRN  from storms that came north from France during Saturday evening. These storms caused the group in Guernsey to close down after a good start, and others suffered from high static and damaging winds. Happily no serious damage was reported.

The multiplier count was again most important in the final scores, not just QSO points, just a few multipliers separated the top scores, which were also affected by the number of Russian stations worked when running, scoring zero points or multipliers. The equipment in use was quite a mix, including  the Elecraft K series, FTDX, and IC7300 rigs, and some Flex. The preferred antennas in the QRP and Low Power Unassisted sections were the usual doublets and dipoles,.The Low Power Assisted section winners used wires, others used wire beams and doublets, with only a few conventional beams, K3ZO had  the biggest fixed station array, always a big signal..

The winner in the QRP section was M0RYB/P, the Loxlot club, who receive the Reading QRP Shield. The runner-up was the Reading and DARC  club ,G3ULT/P; the leading non UK and third place  was OK1CZ/P.

The winner in the QRP Renewable Energy section was M3E/P, Camb Hams;.The runner-up was GM3BSQ/P, the Aberdeen Club, and EA2BD/P, URE, was third .

The winner in Low Power Unassisted Portable section was GM2MP/P, the North of Scotland club, who receive the NFD Shield, followed closely by G4FNL/P the Sussex Downs CG.

The non scoring Russian count at GM2MP/P was higher than that at others, but their multiplier count still won out.

The Radio Ga Ga group, G4GA/P are in third place .

The winner of the Low power unassisted Single Operator award, the G3MVZ Memorial Cup, was G2DX/P, operated by M0URL  for Farnborough & DRS.

The leading non UK club station was S50X/P.

The UK&CD winner in the Low Power Assisted Portable section was M2A/P, for DeMontfort University ARS who receive the Bristol Trophy. The runner-up was G5O/P  for Stockport RS, and The Windmill CG G0FBB/P were third. The leading non UK station was YL1ZX/P.

In the Fixed Station section, the winner was HG4I with MM9I in the runner-up slot, followed by G3RLE.

Logs and Adjudication; Logs were of a good standard, with only a few time and serial number issues.

Congratulations to all the winners and congratulations, and many thanks, to all those groups who were able to get a station on the air. Thanks to all who sent in photos, it makes it more interesting!

73 Mike G3VYI