RSGB Contest Committee

Second Ropoco Contest 2011

The second of the two RoPoCo contests being held at a popular time for holidays usually results in a slightly lower turnout than the first event and this year was no different. There were just 48 entries and a further 23 callsigns appearing in the logs, five of whom submitted checklogs.

In joint first place are Mark Capstick G4RCD and Stephen Wilson G3VMW with equal scores of 510 points. Mark’s log contained no errors so he is awarded the G3XTJ Memorial Trophy for the highest placed most accurate log. There were only 8 logs with no errors.

Graham Bubloz G4FNL retains the G5MY Trophy for the highest aggregate score over the two 2011 RoPoCo contests by a narrow margin, just 20 points.

The mean error rate was 2.3 per log, slightly worse than last year’s CW event. The majority of errors were in received post code with a handful of ‘not in log’ and incorrectly logged RST. A postal code from a French station of ‘56000’ seemed to cause confusion and a host of errors as it was passed on. Disappointing this time were a number of logs where parts of the tabulated information were just not there, this would have been easily spotted by even a casual check of the submitted log. The return email from the robot gives the opportunity to double check that the log sent has been received for adjudication with 100% accuracy, entrants would be advised to open the attachment and view it. The robot is limited in the type of errors it can flag up. Don’t assume that a lack of warnings means nothing amiss.

There were also a few instances where there appeared to be post-event modifications of the Cabrillo log which showed a different 'sent' code to the one actually sent. These were not further penalised as these logs contained other errors but it would not be possible to award an error-free log status where the submitted log was not 100% accurate.

Thanks to G3VQO, GM4SID, G7TWC, M0SAR and F9KP for their useful checklogs.

John Cockrill G4CZB
 

SOAPBOX:

G0DHZ
1st ropoco after 7 years

G0GDU
FT1000 100w IN W3DZZ @ 29FT above ground Good CONDX with some QSB and QRM in last 30 mins - had a short power cut for 15 mins Received some postcodes more than once including a corrupted version of my own

G0IBN
always enjoyable rather than a drag like some contests

G0TZZ
Messy start but eventually got into the swing of it I think

G3GLL
Had to leave early !

G3HEJ
Enough stations today but only one GM & 'NIL GW' Stns hrd/wkd

G3JJZ
Another fun session. Shame that some sigs were down into the local noise level. That gets worse every year!

G3KAF
Enjoyable as always.

G3LDI
As usual a good test of copying ability. I think I made a few errors - the QSB and poor band conditions are my excuse! I received some weird postcodes and it forces us to slow down somewhat. Great fun pity more don't try it CW of course.

G3LET
Very hard going this time - seemed to be well down the pecking order when calling which I did most of the time. A lot more PCs came round 2 or more times than I remember in the past. I was tempted to call a couple of OZs who were calling CQ test at least one of which was heard making a postcode-like exchange (but thought better of it!)

G3LIK
Good conditions with some fading at the end Nice to hear a lot of familiar calls Nice to have ROPOCO on CW far less QRM pity about SSB

G3MZV
What a super little contest! It was nice to hear a few QRS pump handle keys. This kind of contest surely encourages to newcommer to contesting. I have never had my PC back.

G3OLB
A pleasant 90 minutes sending nothing but rubbish!

G3RFH
Very poor conditions. Few workable stations heard.
G3TBK
Not much activity. If it is OK to run the SSB event in the evening why do HFCC flatly refuse to try the CW at a more convenient time? Postcodes even more distorted than normal! FT1000MP 100 Watts to dipole at 75 feet lot of regulars missing

G3TKF
Ist ROPOCO – will give it a better go next time!

G3UJE
K3 + dipole at 90'.

G3VIP
RIG IC7000 100W - Dipole - Homebrew logger Poor condx QSB band noisy at times some regulars missing.

G3VMW
This contest would benefit from a 19z start time like the SSB version. There are simply too few people active at 0700z on a Sunday morning making QSOs very sparse at times.

G3XTT
Deep QSB between here and GM. Sri about keying problems for first few mins.

G3YHV
First try at ROPOCO - used 20 watts xtal controlled with a valve!

G3YMC
A fairly brief entry. Conditions somewhat noisy and QSB on many signals. The usual crop of mangled postcodes including my own with its first letter chopped off. But I cannot guarantee to have copied them all OK Certainly keeps you on your toes!

G3ZGC
Rig IC7700 set to 100w to 132 ft or wire wrapped into 55 ft long garden. It seemed like less on this year. Two GM stations could not hear me. All keying done using the electronic key as the PC's Morse was so bad! But enjoyable fun. But I got my Postcode back wrong many times!

G3ZRJ
Sorry for repeating one code (HG27EE) twice xyl talking so got a bit confused.

G3ZVW
Conditions OK, but activity low.

G4BJM
K2/100 Dipole

G4BLI
High local noise level but cw made it through!

G4BVY
Very noisy band. Activity seemed lower than usual. Is 90 minutes enough?!

G4DDX
Very noisy. Had to reprogram the brain after the EUHFC so made at least one mistake. Lost a GM station in the QSB but otherwise sigs not bad. Nearly got caught by one station giving a true RST. I used my paddle for keying as usual not the computer. Very enjoyable.

G4EBK
Seemed to be short on stations to work. Last half hour very noisy and with qsb made contacts difficult.

G4LMW
Hard work at times, but good fun as always. Must go to bed earlier the day before!

G4OGB
One QSO not counted as I hit 'backspace' instead of 'enter' losing the end character!!

G4OSB
Enjoyable throughout

G4RCD
Very enjoyable contest. Might try the SSB one next year too!

G4RCG
Good fun as always, just wish a few more people would try this contest.

G4XPE
Contest did not appear to be so well supported as usual - but nevertheless a very enjoyable contest.

G6CSY
Apologies to G0IBN - the QSB defeated me! Thought I heard GM3JKS but could not be sure in the QSB. One or two strange postcodes logged but not my own this time! Running 5W and a well-watered trap vertical.

GM3JKS
As usual some funny codes but didn't expect one quite so early as my second QSO. Only fair condx and some weak stations I was copying must have had higher local noise levels.

GM4OSS
Gave up after an hour not a lot of stns heard, most weak and a lot of QSB.

GM4WZG
From GM a daft time of day/year for an 80m contest but great fun all the same. Thanks to all those who took part or involved in organising/adjudicating. Especial thanks to those who strained to pull out us GM stations from the white noise !

M0NQN
Apology to G0LZL(1st QSO) who politely reminded me I wasn't in a "SPRINT"! Thereafter a very subdued 90 minutes – only livened up by RF getting into my bencher. Sorry to anyone I confused. Problem eventually solved by using a straight key for poco exchanges!