50MHz UKAC 2014 - Annual Results

Activity levels have continued to increase. In 2014 the average number of entrants per leg was 167 which is a 24% increase over 2013. The July and August sessions had sporadic-E openings. This year 437 stations entered at least one leg of the series, a 20% increase on 2013 and congratulations go to the 31 intrepid entrants, including three portable stations, who were active for all eleven sessions!  In total 35 of the 45 UK squares were activated.  The club competition retains its popularity with 85 clubs entering, an increase of 13%.

In the club competition the Travelling Wave CG won ten sessions to repeat their 2013 victory with twenty two of their members contributing.  In second place were the Bolton Wireless Club who had twenty three members active.

In the AO section GI4SNA won seven sessions to win the section. In second place overall was M0WLF who won two sessions..  There were 31 entrants in this section.

The AR section is always closely fought and the top thirteen entrants achieved scores greater than 7000.  This year M1MHZ won two sessions and moves up from second place in 2103 to win the section.  G3PYE/P, the 2013 winners, won four sessions to take second place. There were 237 entrants in this section.

In the AL section M0RKX/P won one session, and was well placed in the other ten, to take the winners position.  G0PEB won two sessions and takes second place.  There were 156 entrants in this section.

In the AX section G7DWY won six sessions to take first place. GM4JR took second place.  There were 13 entrants in this section.

Certificates and congratulations go to the following stations:

•   Club Competition:
  •   Winner:  50MHz Club Championship: Travelling Wave Contest Group
  •   Runner-up:  50MHz Club Championship: Bolton Wireless Club & DARS
•   Section AO
  •   Winner:  David Ross, GI4SNA
  •   Runner-up:  Ian Prater, M0WLF
•   Section AR
  •   Winner:  Bob Offer, M1MHZ  
  •   Runner-up:  Camb-Hams, G3PYE/P
  •   Leading Intermediate Licensee:  Andy Brown, 2E0VPX
•   Section AL
  •   Winner: Mark Hemming, M0RKX/P
  •   Runner-up:  Robert Williams, G0PEB/P
  •   Leading Intermediate Licensee:  Paul Faulkner, 2E0PCF
  •   Leading Foundation Licensee:  Andrew Power, M6RET
•   Section AX
  •   Winner:  Ian Barraclough, G7DWY
  •   Runner-up:  Andy Anderson, GM4JR

November

There were two threads of comments than appeared in the logs.  Firstly conditions were "rubbish" with deep QSB and many entrants suffering from noise.  Secondly the portable entrants were faced with cold, wet and foggy conditions.  There were 26 UK squares active with G4CLA (IO92) and G3PYE/P (JO02) working 18, and GI4SNA (IO64) and GW4BVE (IO82) working 17.  The best tropo DX of the event was between GM0EEY and G0CER at 677 kms.   This month 4.9% of QSOs were disallowed.

Roger - G4BVY

October 2014

There were three common themes in entrants comments: the dismal conditions; the savage QSB; and the rain and wind which plagued portable entrants. That said, the number of entrants and the total number of QSOs showed a significant increase over September. There were 27 UK squares active with G4TSW (IO80) and G4CLA (IO92) working 20, GI4SNA (IO64) 19 and G3PYE/P 18.  The best tropo DX was between G4TSW (IO80) and GM8OEG (IO86) at 628kms.  Logging standards were variable with 4.7% of QSOs being disallowed.

September 2014

After two consecutive events with sporadic-E, September was always going to be a disappointment!  Comments in the logs described the conditions ranging from "dismal" to "poor" to "flat".  A number of entrants commented that this was the first event for a long time where they failed to work a single GM.  Both the number of entries and the number of stations active were the lowest in 2014.  There were 22 UK squares active with G4CLA (IO92), M1MHZ (IO92) and G3PYE/P (JO02) working 18, and five stations in IO64, IO81, IO91 and IO93 working 17 squares.  The best DX was between M0XII/P (IO91) and EI3IX (IO53) at 602kms.

August 2014

It is like London buses !! -  after a long wait this was the second successive event with Sporadic-E.  While Es was present for the whole event, it was sporadic (!) with propagation favouring differing parts of the UK with some missing out.  The centres of activity changed throughout the event with SM/OH from 1900 to 2030 with the skip shortening to SM only, SP from 1915 to 2020, I from 1900 to 2110,  a very short skip opening into DL from 2020 to 2040 favouring stations in the far West and North, and EA from 2045 to 2130.   There were 287 sporadic E QSOs.  Only 23 UK squares were active this time with G4CLA (IO92), M1MHZ (IO92) and G3PYE/P (JO02) working 18 and  M0GVG/P (IO83), G8AZX/P (IO93) and M0IRQ/P (IO93) working 17.  The best Sporadic-Es contact was between M0WYB (IO81) and OH8MGK at 2305 kms.

Logging standards were better than usual with only 4.6% of contacts being disallowed.  Interestingly this month a much higher than usual number of errors were caused by reversal of characters in both callsigns and serial numbers.

July 2014

Finally a leg of this event which coincided with Sporadic-E conditions throughout!   The major activity was from LA, OH and SM together with a small number of stations from ES, OZ, SP, UR and YL.  A small number of entrants also found activity from CN, CT and EA.  In total there were 524 QSOs greater than 1000 kms.  And the 6559 QSOs in total was record for this event.  Strangely the number of UK squares active, 32, was also a record.  Despite the frenzy of the sporadic E, entrants still found time to hunt down the multipliers.  There have only been a couple of occasions in the past where an entrant has worked 22 multipliers (the highest ever achieved).  This month three stations widely separated geographically: GI4SNA (IO64), GW0IRW/P (IO72) and G4CLA (IO92); all managed this feat.  The best Sporadic-Es contact was between G4FJK (IO80) and OH3MF/9 at 2453 kms.

June 2014

The number of entries dropped slightly to 169 as we enter the summer holiday season.  Thirty one squares were active which is the highest of the year.  (A total of 33 squares have been activated during 2014).  This sounds like a repeat of May as the Sporadic-E was dying as the contest started!  There were 47 Es QSOs into CT, F, EA, EA6 and EA9.  Eighty percent of these were in the first 30 minutes and the final one was at 20:12.  Many stations commented that they no Sporadic-e at all.  With the high number of active squares, multiplier totals were high with M1MHZ (IO92) working 22 squares, G8XVJ/P (IO93) 21 squares and GI4SNA (IO64) and G3PYE/P (JO02) 18 squares.  The best Sporadic-Es contact was between G4LKD (IO93) and EA9PY at 2010 kms and the best tropo contact was between G4RRA (IO80) and GM4ZUK/P (IO86) at 692kms.  Adjudication disallowed 5.2% of QSOs with callsigns causing the most difficulty this month.

May 2014

While the number of entries dropped to 171 this month, the number of stations active, 330, was the highest of the year as was the number of UK squares activated, 27.  The excellent Sporadic-Es conditions were dying as the contest started !!.  However, 51 Es QSOs took place into CN, CT and EA.  The majority were in the first 20 minutes though the last recorded Es contact was at 20:03.  In terms of multipliers, GI4SNA (IO64) worked 19 squares, G4NOK (IO93) and G4FZN/P (IO94) worked 18 squares and M1MHZ (IO92) worked 17 squares.  The best Sporadic-Es contact was between G3TBK and CN8LI at 2175 kms.  The best tropo contact was between M1MHZ (IO92) and EI9JU at 535kms.

During adjudication 5.3% of QSOs were disallowed.  A noticeable trend is emerging in the received logs.  Some entrants are reversing the transmitted and the received RS(T)s on some or all of their QSOs.  While in general this can be determined during the adjudication, it takes significant effort to spot and correct.  Please stop doing it !!

April 2014

There was a slightly reduced number of entries, 186, this month.  There were 321 active stations in 26 UK squares and 6 non-UK squares.  Although most entrants commented that the conditions were flat to poor, activity, multiplier totals and the distances worked all saw an increase.  This month M1MHZ (IO92) and G4TSW (IO80) worked 19 squares, M0WLF (IO81) worked 17 squares and GI4SNA (IO64), M0GVG/P (IO83), G3VCA (IO93) and M0VXX/P (IO82) all worked 16 squares.  Three Sporadic E QSOs took place with the best DX going to GI4SNA who worked S57RR at 1721 kms.   The best tropo contact was between M0XII/P (IO91) and EI9JU at 572kms.  There were 39 tropo QSOs greater than 400kms.  The adjudication saw 5.7% of QSOs disallowed with RST mis-copies the greatest source of error followed by locator errors.

March 2014

This was another record month with 192 entries and a total of 5362 QSOs.  There were 303 active stations in 23 UK squares and 5 non-UK squares.  Again many entrants commented that conditions were poor and many were plagued with high noise levels.  Interestingly, given the increased level of activity, multiplier totals are well down on previous events.  This month G3PYE/P (JO02) and  G3WIR/A (IO91) worked 15 squares, M1MHZ (IO92) worked 14 squares and G4NOK (IO93) and M0GVG/P (IO83) worked 13 squares.  The best tropo contact was between M0MDY (IO93) and OT6V at 449kms.  In total there were only 7 tropo QSOs greater than 400kms.  The adjudication saw 5.9% of QSOs disallowed with callsign errors and RS(T) errors by far the highest this month.

February 2014

The activity level in the 50MHz UKAC is increasing month by month.  February saw another all time record entry of 180 stations.  Again conditions were poor and portable stations were confronted by freezing temperatures and high winds.  There were 295 active stations in 23 UK squares and 4 non-UK squares.  Conditions again caused difficulties in making high multiplier numbers.  M1MHZ (IO92) worked 18 squares, M0VXX/P (IO82) 16 squares and G3WIR/A (IO91), G4NOK (IO93), GI4SNA (IO64) and M1DDD/P (IO93) 15 squares.  The best tropo contact was between GI4SNA (IO64) and G3YOA (JO02) at 523kms.  In total there were 18 tropo QSOs greater than 400kms.  GM4VXX/P reverted to meteor scatter and had 6 contacts, including 3 UK stations, between 700 and 1074kms.  The conditions caused an increase in logging errors and 6.1% of contacts were disallowed.

A disturbing trend this month saw a number of stations operating in the DX window for G to G contacts.  Entrants are reminded that operation is not allowed between 50.100 and 50.130MHz except for inter continental QSOs.

January 2014

The 2014 series of the 50MHz UKAC kicked off with an all time record entry of 155.  The previous highest was 152 in April 2013 and in January 2013 there were 128 entrants.  Unfortunately the conditions didn't match the entry level and were variously described as "poor", "desperate" and "the worst ever".  Wet and windy weather meant a number of entrants had their masts lowered for safety and portable activity was reduced.  Despite this there were 278 active stations in 21 UK squares and 2 non-UK squares.  The conditions caused the multiplier totals to be very low with G3PYE/P (JO02) and M1MHZ (IO92) only working 15 squares.  The best tropo contact was between GM4JR (IO85) and G3PYE/P (JO02) at 405kms.

Logging accuracy suffered as a result of the poor conditions and the number of "not in log" errors was far higher than usual.  A disturbing logging trend emerged this month with more than ten entrants logging some or all of their contacts with the RS(T) sent and RS(T) received transposed.  This causes significantly extra work for the adjudicator and delays the results.  This logging error, if not spotted in the adjudication, will cause both sides of the QSO to lose their points.  Please do not do this again !!