Radio Society of Great Britain. Official HF. Contest Results.

Results. SSB Field Day 2001.

Open Section
Pos Group Call QSOs Mults
FinalScore
1 LichfieldARS G3WAS/P 1863 247
1457547
2 G3TBKetal G3TBK/P 1662 202
1108562
3 BristolCG G6YB/P 1735 190
1070779
4 GM5VG GM5VG/P 1442 179
874305
5 NorthWakefieldRC G4NOK/P 1249 164
687732
6 SouthNottsARC G8DD/P 1400 146
664902
7 Cockenzie|P..ARC MM0CPS/P 1072 163
592157
8 SwanseaARS GW4CC/P 1005 147
510737
9 IpswichRC G4IRC/P 1121 131
509507
10 CliftonARS G3GHN/P 906 138
430140
11 Edgware|DRS G3ASR/P 614 115
268636
12 MeltonMow..ARS G4FOX/P 678 95
228465
Resricted Section
1 GravesendRS G3GRS/P 627 168
394144
2 GrantaCG M0CAM/P 674 133
355908
3 AddiscombeARC G4ALE/P 630 123
296430
4 WisbechAR|EC M5ARC/P 656 118
283306
5 QueenMaryCG G6QM/P 605 113
273347
6 EchelfordARS G3UES/P 560 123
266787
7 RAFARS G8FC/P 472 108
209002
8 GloucesterARES G4AYM/P 527 80
168160
9 StockportRS G6UQ/P 400 103
167787
10 Havering|DARC G4HRC/P 411 87
144420
11 ItchenValleyARC G0IVR/P 300 93
111879
SSB Field Day, 2001.

This was the first event in the portable calendar to be reinstated after the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease. Barley one month’s notice could be given and large areas of the countryside remained closed. Even so, a total of 233 groups, evenly split between the Open and Restricted sections, took to the fields and were rewarded with fair weather and some brisk competition.

Conditions on the HF bands were generally a little improved over last year. The leading Open section scores were up by about 15% as operators took full advantage of easterly openings on 20m and 15m, running scores of JAs at a time. For once , the All-Asian contest proved an asset rather than a liability. (Note that it is perfectly acceptable to work stations participating in other contests and to send them the information that they require, as long as the RSGB contest exchange is sent as well and any number received is correctly logged.) No such good fortune for those without beams and amplifiers, however. Restricted section scores, always heavily reliant upon LF conditions were, if anything, down a trifle.

Logs were of a high standard with fewer errors detected than in the 2000 event. Where points were lost, this was almost always due to mistakes in receiving callsigns, the most common problem being the confusion of similar-sounding letters: ‘M’ and ‘N’, ‘S’ and ‘F’ and so on. It may be slower to use full phonetics but it is certainly more accurate. Probably for the first time ever, all logs were submitted in electronic form, either disk or by e-mail. This was a godsend to the adjudicator, who was relieved of the chore of typing paper entries into the computer. Even a log which is not in the recognised format (and there were a couple of these) can be manipulated with the comparative ease in a word processor.

In the Open section, Lichfield ARS stormed into the lead by a margin of around 30% from G3TBK/P, with last year’s winners, the Bristol Contest Group, G6YB/P, in the third place. The average QSO rate at G3WAS/P was 77 per hour!

Success in the Restricted section is much more dependant upon tactics. Granta Contest Group, M0CAM/P, submitted a superbly accurate log and amassed some 300 more QSO points than G3GRS/P. But the Gravesend radio Society’s operators found an extra 35 multipliers – more than sufficient to retain their hold on the trophy. Third place in this section went to Addiscombe ARC, G4ALE/P, who commented, ‘Only entered as a replacement for CW NFD. Enjoyed it so much we are already talking about next year.’

Steve Knowles, G3UFY.