Checklogs gratefully acknowledged from DL7VRG, G4BJM, G6UBM, GM4OBD, M0FRS, M0MDF, MM3AWD, MW0OPS.

+ ... LICHFIELD TROPHY
* ... Certificate of Merit

+ ... FLIGHT REFUELLING ARS TROPHY
* ... Certificate of Merit

AFFLIIATED SOCIETIES (AFS) SSB CONTEST, 2006.

Entries this year were 5% down on 2005, and the number of teams represented was down by 10%. Possibly this was due to conditions, which were certainly difficult with some entrants reporting high noise levels in the first part of the contest. What can not be disputed, however, was the spectacular manner in which short-skip propagation turned off. Between 1700 and 1720 depending upon location, all but the strongest local signals disappeared and were replaced with strong EU ones. This made things very difficult for the smaller stations, who traditionally rely on the later part of the event to make up their score. Even the top echelon were adversely affected, with only the first-placed individual and club being able to increase their score over that achieved in 2005.

On the Leaderboard, "One" and "Two" change places compared with last year: Lichfield ARS 'A' take the Flight refuelling ARS Trophy from the Cray Valley RS 'A' by a substantially larger margin than in 2005 when the positions were reversed. Bristol Contest Group 'A' take third position from De Montfort University, largely because of a lower error rate.

The individual leaders reflect the clubs for which they operated ... G3BJ takes the RSGB Lichfield Trophy, with G4BUO second and G3ZVW in third position.

Special mention is due to 12-year-old Dan Phillips M3NDP who, supervised by G0VQR, operated G3ULT/P on behalf of the Reading & DARC and made 116 QSOs with only 2 errors.

Thanks, as usual, to all stations who took part, especially those non-combatants submitting check-logs.

Steve G3UFY

SOAPBOX :

2E0BAX First AFS. I enjoyed the event and hope to enter again next year.

2E0BJM Had a power cut about 1730 ish and had to restart everything afterwards. didnt get many QSO's after that. Tried running for the last 15 mins, and only had two QSO's.

2E0FRZ VERY NOISY CONDITIONS. THANKS TO ALL WHO WORKED ME. ENJOYED USING SD FOR THE 1st TIME AT HOME.

2E0NCG Very surprised with number of stations active - first 80m contest ever entered / listened to!

2E1GUA Good fun but lots of QRM on 80m today. Thanks to all that worked me.

G0AOJ SD is a brilliant contesting program. The bands were very crowded. I found people to be very polite dispite the QRM...!!! Operators seemed very patient and tolerent in general.

G0DVJ/P No amplifier for first hour. Difficult propagation in last hour. Usual abuse on the band worse this year (obscenities). Good fun despite amp, pc, and headset tech probs!

G0GDU GOOD SIGNALS IN FIRST 3 HOURS, HARD WORK FROM AROUND 1730. FOUND IT HARD TO FIND RUN FREQUENCY AT START, THEN FORCED OFF FREQUENCY ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

G0IOR Enjoyed it. SD good program after initial problems

G0KPS NOT MANY STATIONS ON DURING LAST 90MINS

G0KYS Difficult to fight through the QRM during daylight from down here in the SW. Things got better at dusk but then much worse when it was fully dark! Long skip meant only GM stations audible at the end.

G0LGG The Sub station along the road caught fire just after the 2nd QSO (I was only running 100 watts!). We did not get power back till 10pm Saturday night.

G0LGJ 1st time on 80M ssb contest, good start, difficult towards the end.

G0LHZ Band very noisy for me in the last hour. Conditions changed dramatically in the last hour, it became very difficult (for me) to work UK stations and the band suddenly had S5 of noise across it.

G0MBQ Plenty of QRM and QRN

G0MRH Very good start with S & P but conditions declined dramatically till for the last hour or more there was no one to call and no reply to my calling. Last contact was after 35 minutes of calling!

G0PSE BAND CONDX POOR. FINISHED EARLY

G0RAF I must get a radio with digital filtering

G0RTN This contest reminded me why I prefer CW contests. Lots of big amplifiers emitting in too small a band-width. Yuck! Hence the very small total.

G0RXA Interesting being part of a contest with some very big signals. As a little fish, enjoyed the experience.

G0THY I enjoyed using SD in this contest - getting used to computer logging now

G0WLF I used SD for logging - it's great. Best one I have used.

G0WWD The band was very good with plenty of activity. Using SD for the first time it is great and easy to use

G1BUO I'm not a contester but have sent in a log to help my club - Cray Valley Radio Society. Would have made more contacts but the XYL said I had to visit the grand-children with her!

G1FON Very confusing having 2 FON's in same contest - stns kept saying we have worked before Hi. First attempt at AFS and enjoyed it with a vy poor Ant.

G1RNZ My First SSB Contest

G3LHJ certainly different condxs from last W/E. Lots of activity - band went very long skip in last hour & nearly went QRT.- the weaker sigs harder to work this time and the Big sigs were BIG - cu next year God willing.

G3LIK About time the power was restricted to 100 watts - too much splatter from stations using high power. Last hour was difficult when long skip came into being. Nice to hear a few 2E0 calls in amongst the gang.

G3NLY We all would benefit from a 1300z start to minimise the usual friction with a number of deliberately 'difficult' stations on the continent.

G3PYC I found SD very helpful for a geriatric operator

G3RCV Great contest. Not as much activity as last year. Skip went very long at the end!

G3SDC/P (op G8VHI) Rather a good contest this year. I was back on form. Condx took a nose dive as soon as it got dark

G3SHF Thoroughly enjoyed the contest again.

G3SJJ At about 1600 I suffered downright deliberate jamming again from the SSTVers. First with SSTV signals then a recording of my CQs. I thought 3749.7 would be clear off them but obviously proved wrong!

G3SVD My best attempt at AFS so far. Had some trouble with serious jamming from about 15:50. Some Dutch speaking stations (no callsigns) came out of the noise as skip lengthened and started by saying "no contest on this frequency , qsy". I ignored them, later they started playing my own audio back on top of me, then a recording of a jammer and finally some SSTV. Eventually I just had to move. Soon after that the background noise level increased from S5 to S9+ until just after sunset. When that had subsided the skip went very long and I worked a good number of GMs, including MM3s, and european stns. Overall an enjoyable contest.

G3SVL TRIED A LOW DIPOLE (30FT) AND IT REALLY SEEMED TO WORK - FIRST TIME I'VE BROKEN THE 250 Q's. PROPOGATION CHANGE JUST AFTER 17:00 PLAYED TO MY BENEFIT AS GM'S WERE THEN MUCH STRONGER. USED N1MM LOGGER FOR THE FIRST TIME - VERY IMPRESSED

G3SWC Band conditions faded abt 1700!

G3TBK GOOD SIGNALS FROM GM QUITE EARLY. HARD WORK AROUND 1700 BUT PICKED UP NEAR END. CONTEST IMPROVES EACH YEAR - MUST HAVE BEEN A RECORD ENTRY, OR I WOULD'T HAVE MADE MY HIGHJEST SCORE!

G3TKF Never heard a band so suddenly switched off - Nearly went to look at the aerial to see if it had come down !

G3YIQ The last hour was hard work!

G3ZBU Plenty of stations active. Great fun.