This contest traditionally suffers from appalling portable conditions. However,
this year's event was the first victim of the foot and mouth outbreak with portable
activity being suspended just before the event. A number of regular portable
entrants commented on the advantages of creature comforts at their home locations
such as warm beds.
The event still produced a healthy crop of 25 entrants. Conditions were generally
described as poor with deep fading though a number of stations still managed
to work some quite reasonable DX. The Scottish and Welsh alliance were caught
out by the lack of portables to work from their remote location. A number of
stations resorted to using 144MHz to arrange contacts on 432MHz to overcome
the lack of activity.
The six-hour single operator section on 144MHz was an extremely close fight
between G8ZRE and G8VYK. After scrutiny, both stations emerged with perfect
logs and G8ZRE emerged as the winner by just 0.3%.
Congratulations go to:
These stations together with those marked (*) will receive certificates.
A very useful check log is acknowledged from G4IJE/P who stresses that he was operating from a fixed location well away from farm land.
Roger Dixon, G4BVY G4BVY@rsgb.org.uk
Section M Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX ODX Loc ODX Kms Power Ant Group 1 * G4ODA IO92WS 265 69489 DK0OA JO41XX 690 400 4 * 12 ele Five Bells 2 * G8SAD IO91WV 98 15253 DL7AJA JO40AQ 583 100 4 * 6 ele Stevenage and DARS CG 3 M5FUN JO00DX 80 12073 PI4GN JO33KK 525 50 9 ele 4 GM4VVX IO78TA 1 136 GM0HTT IO89JC 136 400 10 ele Scottish and Welsh Alliance Section SF Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX ODX Loc ODX Kms Power Ant Group 1 * G4ZTR JO01KW 178 44965 DF0ET JN59IV 725 400 2 * 7 ele Colchester CG 2 * G3MEH IO91QS 210 42308 F8KKV/P JN26WO 743 400 2 * 10 ele 3 G0HAS IO81VH 118 26060 DK0HN JO31PP 659 300 4 * 13 ele 4 * PE1EWR JO11SL 46 23582 F5SGT/P IN87KW 620 80 10 ele 5 * G4HGI IO83PL 92 16922 F5SGT/P IN87KW 617 25 17 ele 6 * M1DUD JO02QC 33 7809 DL0PVD JN49BO 549 2 7 ele 7 M1MOD JO01KT 42 7778 DL0PVD JN49BO 566 25 7 ele 8 G3FIJ JO01KV 22 6414 DL0PVD JN49BO 570 15 10 ele 9 * 2E1GUA JO01FS 35 6361 DL7AJA JO40AQ 541 10 13 ele 10 G6FFB IO81TM 31 2882 PI4ZLD JO11WM 432 25 5 ele Section 6S Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX ODX Loc ODX Kms Power Ant 1 * G8ZRE IO83NE 54 10794 F5SGT/P IN87KW 584 25 8 ele 2 * G8VYK JO01FO 60 10758 DJ9UV/P JO41SN 627 80 17 ele 3 * G0TPH IO92IO 51 7051 DL7AJA JO40AQ 678 25 9 ele 4 G3YJR IO93FJ 31 4170 ON4LDP JO10UM 481 70 9 ele 5 G1TWS JO01HO 37 3445 LX/PA1TK/PJO30BB 406 25 11 ele 6 G3XDY JO02OB 9 3262 DL0PVD JN49BO 557 400 12 ele 7 G4APJ IO83UP 16 2634 F8BRK/P IN98SW 539 25 9 ele 8 G4XPE IO92GU 13 2350 ON4AMX JO20KV 486 25 10 ele Section 6O Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX ODX Loc ODX Kms Power Ant Group 1 * G7ULL JO01AK 104 18416 DG0FEQ JO40RV 659 150 11 ele 2 * G7RIH IO91RR 45 3823 GI6ATZ IO74AJ 468 50 17 ele Dacorum ARS
Section M Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX ODX Loc ODX Kms Power Ant Group 1 * G4ODA IO92WS 114 35428 DF4UE JN48RR 809 400 4*28 ele Five Bells 2 * G8SAD IO91WV 25 2962 PI4GN JO33KK 502 100 2*19 ele Stevenage and DARS CG Section SF Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX ODX Loc ODX Kms Power Ant Group 1 * PE1EWR JO11SL 33 8167 DL1GBQ/P JN47RU 586 13 2*21 ele 2 * G3MEH IO91QS 63 7150 DF2VJ JN39LI 599 250 2*23 ele 3 G4ZTR JO01KW 33 5396 GI6ATZ IO74AJ 531 45 21 ele Colchester CG 4 G0HAS IO81VH 27 4257 PA6NL JO21BX 443 50 4*21 ele 5 * G4HGI IO83PL 24 1403 G0HAS IO81VH 243 10 19ele Section 6S Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX ODX Loc ODX Kms Power Ant 1 * G3XDY JO02OB 19 6723 DJ9KH/P JO42OX 551 250 28 ele 2 * G3YJR IO93FJ 8 997 GI6ATZ IO74AJ 310 10 9 ele 3 * G4APJ IO83UP 5 556 G0HAS IO81VH 260 25 19 ele 4 G8VYK JO01FO 5 530 G8OHM IO92AJ 187 50 yagi 5 G4XPE IO92GU 1 90 G4ODA IO92WS 90 25 10 ele Section 6O Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX ODX Loc ODX Kms Power Ant Group 1 * G8OHM IO92AJ 38 8495 DL9EBF JO31FH 590 400 4*19 South Birmingham Radio Society
Section M 144MHz 432 MHz Total Call/Group 1 * 1000 1000 2000 Five Bells 2 * 220 84 304 Stevenage and DARS CG 3 174 0 174 M5FUN 4 1 0 1 Scottish and Welsh Alliance Section SF Pos 144MHz 432 MHz Total Call/Group 1 * 941 875 1816 G3MEH 2 * 1000 661 1661 Colchester CG 3 524 1000 1524 PE1EWR 4 580 521 1101 G0HAS 5 376 172 548 G4HGI 6 174 0 174 M1DUD 7 173 0 173 M1MOD 8 143 0 143 G3FIJ 9 141 0 141 2E1GUA 10 64 0 64 G6FFB Section 6S Pos 144MHz 432 MHz Total Call/Group 1 * 303 1000 1303 G3XDY 2 * 997 79 1076 G8VYK 3 1000 0 1000 G8ZRE 4 653 0 653 G0TPH 5 386 148 534 G3YJR 6 244 83 327 G4APJ 7 319 0 319 G1TWS 8 218 13 232 G4XPE Section 6O Pos 144MHz 432 MHz Total Call/Group 1= * 1000 0 1000 G7ULL 1= * 0 1000 1000 South Birmingham Radio Society 3 208 0 208 Dacorum ARS
M1DUD I am a QRP station located in Rural Suffolk about 12 kms from the sea. I entered the 2m contest for fun, and was amazed! Despite the relative flat conditions I was able to work so many stations qrp. Band conditions were not lively, there was lots of fading to contend with. This added to the QRP challenge. I was very pleased to find that there was also a ON / PA contest on at the same time. I could not hear many UK stations and there was no sign of any of the Nordic contest stations.
GM4VVX Only one contact made. NO activity heard at all from other contest stations. Few meteor pings ? on Sunday but no call-signs copied....Panic to upgrade the antenna system on Sat. morning to make up for the restriction of /p operation, discovered Friday evening. Took down 9 ele F9FT & set up the 10 ele long spaced at the qth of GM4VVX in temperature of -16c trying not to snap the bolts in the cold. Fine bright sunshine Sat. & Sun. but temperature never got above -2c. Disappointing contest. Very little heard at all, only occasional trace signals from the South. The big portables noticeable by their absence! Had to point North to get the only call !
G8SAD Stevenage and District ARS Contest Group operating from the clubhouse at the Chells Resource Centre, Stevenage.
G7RIH VERY POOR G6FFB Very quiet contest G4ODA Well it was an amusing bash. It makes you a bit "soft" doing it from home - with all the creature comforts too!! The warmth, the food, the Grand Prix on telly and of course a nice warm bed - that's not proper contesting as I remember it. Too civilised by far. Reasonable turn out under the circumstances - Keith's new QTH was a bit risky "RF wise" - has planning permission, but not tried in anger - but it survived and so did his only neighbour too (seemed to enjoy it actually). Couldn't get motivated and were about an hour late on both bands. Transverter for 144 blew on Friday night - into a dummy load! 144 PA blew and took all electrics out Sat. Evening. Unable to instantly repair PSU and so changed PA. Sorry for the slight confusion between "paper logs" and computer logs - we still can't get the operators (computer or radio):-)!! If you need further explanation let me know. Looking forward to the open countryside, again
G4IJE/P Please find attached my log file for the March 144/432 contest which you may find useful as a checklog. Please note that despite the "/P" I was NOT operating from farm land. I was in a permanent building. Activity was very low, no doubt partly due to the lack of /P stations. Conditions seemed fair, although it was hard to judge as I had not operated from this location before.
G4HGI Condx during contest " RRRRRRRRROUGH !!!!!"
G4APJ Very poor mostly, with slight interruptions of 'upwards' QSB. Heard PA on both bands, and ON on 2M but couldn't raise them. The ban on /P obviously had an effect on activity levels
G0TPH Conditions were a bit flat. Poor activity levels. Nevertheless, I still managed some nice DX which shows just what can be done with a modest station.
G3MEH Propogation conditions were dire on the Saturday, and a little better on the Sunday. Where have all the G stations gone? (Apologies to Joan Baez etc)
G3YJR Not a huge amount of activity. Nothing heard from GW, EI, west country. Some continentals popping up with lots of QSB.
G4XPE Poor condx to start but surprising lift into the continent mid-morning.
G8ZRE QSB slow going at first nice to work ON and F but where were the G stations the foot/mouth preventing portable operation does not effect this contest when I checked previous years logs not that many venture out this early in the year. One thought for VHFCC the ban on portable operation because of foot and mouth needs rethinking last year when I was working at the Dome London I operated portable from hotel/dome carparks this should still be allowed. The ban should read no portable operation if you have to cross grassland or tracks or operate just off the side of a tarmac road on any area where livestock can graze. No doubt very few will be as keen as myself to operate from anywhere but the top of a mountain!!!!!
G3MEH Conditions were poor, but seemed slightly better than on 144MHz, especially on the Saturday. There was little primary activity on the band - most of my contacts were established on 144MHz first.
G3YJR Oh for a memory - I kept forgetting to ask on 2m whether they had 70cm! My first time to GI on 70cm.
G4HGI 432 Conditions " Even more rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrough !!!!!)
G4XPE Poor condx with long deep qsb.