The fourth AFS Super League was better supported than ever.  The combination of three VHF and three HF events seems to have caught the imagination of Affiliated Societies.  Many clubs have been doing their best to encourage participants from the weekday evening contests (UKAC and 80m CC) to try weekend contests – more challenging, but also very rewarding.   

The results of the Super League 2013-2014 could not have been closer.  Just a few QSOs in virtually any of the six contributing contests would have changed the result.  In the event, Camb-Hams managed to pull ahead of their arch-rivals Bristol Contest Group, reversing the result from last season.

Bristol were in front by a small margin after the 1.8 MHz AFS (Club Calls) in November, and kept their leading position until the very last contest, the 432 MHz AFS.  Camb-Hams pulled out all the stops to achieve first place on 70cm, thus narrowly overtaking Bristol.  

Spalding & District ARS moved up one place to take third position, with a generally consistent performance in the six events.  Grimsby improved from 13th to 4th place, entering all six contests rather than three last time.  Clearly they managed to find some members to operate above 30 MHz!

Apart from awards for the top positions, there are certificates for clubs entering all six contests and finishing in the top three quarters of each AFS table.  This season five clubs managed to achieve this, compared with four last time.  A look at the results table shows  that another half dozen could also win this certificate, by filling in the gap where they missed out on just one AFS contest.

A modification was made for the 2013-2014 AFS events so as to let a Society maximise its resources by defining a “Virtual Meeting Place”.  The old distance rule, which was also applied in the Local Category of the 80m CC contests, required entrants to be within a certain distance of their society’s actual meeting place.  For societies situated on the coast, a part of their membership would need to be maritime mobile to comply!  This amendment has been generally welcomed.

Another change was to frequency limits on 80m, so as to bring them into line with IARU band plans.  This was more controversial, but comments on this and other rules are always appreciated.

Congratulations to all award winners.  The Hadley Wood Contest Group trophy goes to Camb-Hams, with second and third place certificates to Bristol Contest Group and Spalding & District ARS.  Certificates of Achievement (Honourable Mention) are awarded to Grimsby ARS and Horsham ARC.

Thank you to all participants, and we look forward to seeing everyone again for the first AFS contest of the 2014-2015 season -- 19th October on 50 MHz.

Ed Taylor, GW3SQX