144MHz Trophy and IARU 1997

The unfortunate concurrence with the funeral of the Princess of Wales resulted in lower UK
activity and fewer entries than usual. Particularly for the portable stations, location was
very significant. G4SIV/P and G4ZAP/P found themselves on the wrong side of a weather front
and, despite large aerial arrays, found the going very slow. On the south coast, G4LIP/P and
G6ISY/P both found good conditions to the south. The Northern Lights studied the weather
maps and made a late decision to go to Norfolk instead of Yorkshire, a shrewd move which
brought them close to winning. In the end they lost out to the more accurate logging of the
Parallel Lines group, who win the Mitchell-Milling Trophy this year.

In section S G1WPF's score was noteworthy given the relative simplicity of his station. His
visit to Sheppey proved successful in winning the Thorogood trophy ahead of G4PIQ. In the
six hour section, G4AEQ benefitted from being away from the centre of the country; those
behind him in the table suffered from the lack of local activity on top of few contacts into
mainland europe.

Congratulations to those mentioned, plus PE1EWR, G0TPK and G0TCD who also receive
certificates, and commiserations to the Malvern Hills Group who suffered total generator
failure minutes before the contest started.

Steve Thompson G8GSQ

Section M

    Group                      Call    Points QSO Loc  Pwr  Ant        dx         km
1   Parallel Lines CG          G4LIP/P 281732 777 01QD 400  4x17,4x9   OL2R     1052
2   The Northern Lights        G0EMG/P 270986 736 02QV 400  204ELE     FB1NSC/P 1164
3   Victory CG                 G6ISY/P 219751 617 90JO 400  4x17       FB1NSC/P  948
4   5 Bells CG                 G4SIV/P 185778 517 03AD 400  132ELE     HB9S/P    854
5   A1 CG                      G4ZAP/P 182271 507 94VD 400  4x17,4x17,
                                                            2x17,4x9   DF0YY     878
6                              G0VHF/P 110254 363 01PU 400  2x15       DF0YY     771
7   N Downs ARCG               M1CAT/P 102154 339 01IG 400  17         DH3NAN    745
8   E Sussex CG                G0MSA/P  95139 375 00EW 300  4x9        F5DYD/P   893
9   Bracknell ARC              G6BRA/P  84423 294 91PK 400  2x17       DL0GTH    809
10  Torbay ARS                 G8NJA/P  69791 228 80DQ 180  2x17       F5DYD/P   944
11  Warrington + Dist ARS      G3WRS/P  61551 239 94MJ 400  4x17       F6HYE/P   998
12  Cockenzie + Port Seton ARC GM0CLN/P 54340 169 85RU 150  3x14,2x17  DF0RI     868
13  Cambridge + Dist ARC       G2XV/P   42326 165 02AD 250  2x17,17    DL0UL/P   790
14                             G6SPS/P  40694 169 01IS  60  14         DL0NT/P   725
15                             GW4VVX/P 37327 128 81KR  20  9          EA2LU/P   978
16  Newquay + Dist ARS         G4ADV/P  33228 122 70MM 400  8/8 SLOT   OT7B      669
17  Malvern Hills RAC          GW4BVY/P     1   1 81NV   3  4x17,2x17  GW4MHC/P    1

Section S

Pos  Call      Points  QSO  Loc   Pwr  Ant       dx            km
1    G1WPF/P   243207  678  01KJ  400  2x9       EA2AZW/P     981
2    G4PIQ     226442  636  01MU  400  4x15,4x9  FB1NSC/P    1051
3    GW8OQV     57640  222  81QR  400  17        F5DYD/P     1023
4    GM4WLL/P   28300   77  85NR  100  8         F5KAR/P      785
5    PE1EWR     22278   81  11SL   25  10        DF0YY        622
6    G3RHH      20230   72  82UB  200  9         DK0MU        661
7    M1BWR       5089   20  90JO   35  4x7       GM0CLN/P     591
8    G0TPK       3745   20  91RS   25  9         TM6P         388

Section SS

Pos  Call      Points  QSO  Loc   Pwr  Ant       dx            km
1    G4AEQ      33149  113  93PE  100  9         DK0OX        806
2    G7WAC      27822  129  92BJ  400  19        F6KUP/P      615
3    G6FQZ      16409   76  91JR  100  9         F6KUP/P      537
4    G0ADH      13174   67  91KO  100  13        DK0BN        652
5    G0TCD      10825   47  91SS   10  9         LX/PA3FPS/P  499
6    G1KHX       9123   32  81MI  170  9         PI4SHB/P     589
7    G4XPE       8346   38  92GU   10  10        OT7M         419
8    G7UTC       5809   30  02IA   15  12ZL      TM6P         356
9    GW1SXT      5037   20  81LQ   25  5         PA6NL        492
Thanks to G4ARV/P and G7VBY for their checklogs.