Support for the 432MHz AFS contest continues with very similar numbers of entrants to the various sections compered to last years contest. Several entrants complained about the poor conditions and high winds and the Five Bells station, G4SIV, reported that these winds had prevented them from using the "full array". However, despite this, their score in winning the multi-op section was nearly twice that of the runner up, South Birmingham RS, G8OHM. Who knows what the score would have been had they managed to use the full system. Frank L Laanen, PE1EWR, continued his support of RSGB contests and got third highest score in the single operator section the winner of which was Roger Piper, G3MEH. Reg Woolley, G8VHI, who came second reported that "there is still a brick wall north of the M62"; this being borne out by there being no GM stations logged by any contestant. Similarly GW8AWM was the only station active from Wales. However there was some DX to be found with 16 stations active from Germany, 7 from France and a handful from Belgium and the Netherlands. Furthest DX of the day was the G8VHI contact with DL8OBU (799km). Next came the contact between G3MEH and F5HGO (716km) and no less than 9% of contacts logged were 300km or over. D Wood,G4CQR/P, amassed 12,223pts from his 56 contacts to win the single op other section ahead of Les Allwood,G3VQO/P, who operated for a brief spell "atop a hill" to give his 847 an airing on 70cm. G4APJ receives a certificate as leading fixed station using 25w or less to a single antenna. The Affiliated Societies section proved a closely fought out battle between the winners Five Bells Contest Group and runner up Chesham & District Amateur Radio Society. The leading societies in the RSGB regions who each receive a certificate, were as follows :- Midlands, (districts 17-20) Five Bells Contest Group, London & Central (districts 33-36) Chesham & District ARS, South & SE (districts 37-40) Harwell ARS "A" and East & East Anglia (districts 45-48) West Kent ARS.
Ian L Cornes G4OUT.
Affiliated Societies Section Pos A.F.S. Dis Norm Norm Norm Total 1* FIVE BELLS GROUP 18 G4SIV 16063 1000 G1ZJP 7725 1000 G4NPH 3997 866 2866 2* CHESHAM & DARS A 34 G3MEH 10151 632 G0XDI 5577 722 G0ODQ 4618 1000 2354 3* HARWELL ARS A 37 G3NNG 5355 333 G6FQZ 3265 423 G8CUL 2125 460 1216 4 SUTTON & CHEAM RS 36 G3WHK 4242 264 G3OLX 3079 399 G0TXL 2384 516 1179 5 DE MONTFORD "A" 19 G8VHI 8753 545 G3RIR 4398 569 G0TPH 166 36 1150 6 SURREY RADIO CC A 36 G4WYJ 4305 268 G8IYS 2395 310 G3ZPB 1351 293 871 7 SOUTH B/HAM R S 17 G8OHM 8395 523 523 8* WEST KENT ARS 48 G0GCI 3470 216 216 9 CRAY VALLEY RS 48 G3JJZ 2361 147 147 10 CHESHAM & DARS B 34 G0VFW 2065 129 129 11 WYTHAL RADIO CLUB 17 G1WAC 1963 122 122 12 REIGATE ATS 36 G8JXV 1775 111 111 13 HARWELL ARS B 37 G0AOZ 1461 91 91 14 DE MONTFORD "B" 19 G3HRH 912 57 57 15 SURREY RADIO CC B 36 G4FFY 126 8 8 * certificate winners
Single Operator Fixed Station Section Pos Call Dis Points QSO LOC Ant Pwr Best Dx Km 1* G3MEH 34 10151 72 IO91 2x23 250 F5HGO 716 2* G8VHI 19 8753 56 IO92 2x23 100 DL8OBU 779 3* PE1EWR - 8058 32 JO11 2x21 130 GW8AWM 444 4 G1ZJP 18 7725 38 IO92 4x21 400 DL8OBU 683 5 G0XDI 34 5577 59 IO91 2x21 80 DF2VJ 588 6 G3NNG 37 5355 50 IO91 17el 100 PA5DD 438 7 G0ODQ 34 4618 49 IO91 2x21 150 PE1EWR 307 8 G3RIR 19 4398 34 IO92 20el 50 F6CBH 423 9 G4WYJ 36 4305 50 IO91 21el 90 DF2VJ 553 10* G4APJ 11 4264 20 IO83 19el 25 G4CQR/P 366 11 G4NPH 18 3997 32 JO02 8x18 100 F6CBH 366 12 G0GCI 48 3470 33 JO01 2x21 100 DG1KJG 474 13 G6FQZ 37 3265 37 IO91 21el 100 PA5DD 408 14 G3OLX 36 3079 45 IO91 21el T 25 G4APJ 295 15 G8IYS 36 2395 36 IO91 21el 30 PE1EWR 248 16 G0TXL 36 2384 34 IO91 21el 20 PE1EWR 255 17 G3JJZ 48 2361 28 JO01 19el 25 F6CBH 275 18 G0VFW 34 2065 28 IO91 21el T 35 PE1EWR 284 19 G8JXV 36 1775 23 IO91 48el 120 PA5DD 349 20 G3YJR 16 1695 13 IO93 19el Y 10 G4WYJ 249 21 G0AOZ 37 1461 50 IO91 15el 50 G4RRA 197 22 G3ZPB 36 1351 28 IO91 11el Y 35 G4SIV 162 23 G3HRH 40 912 7 IO91 4x11el 20 F8BRK/P 238 24 G8ACR 17 344 6 IO92 18o18 25 G3WHK 160 25 G0TPH 19 166 4 IO92 7el 5 G4SIV 81 26 G4FFY 36 126 8 IO91 Vrt-Col 10 G3MEH 55 * certificate winners Single Operator Other Section Pos Call Points QSO LOC Ant Pwr Best Dx Km 1* G4CQR/P 12223 56 JO00 18el 100 DL8OBU 699 2* G3VQO/P 626 14 IO91 whip 50 G1ZJP 181 * certificate winners Multi Operator Fixed Station Section Pos Call Dis Points QSO LOC Ant Pwr Best Dx Km 1* G4SIV 18 16063 68 IO92 4x28 400 DL8OBU 683 2* G8OHM 17 8395 55 IO92 4x19 400 DG1KJG 651 3 G3WHK 36 4242 57 IO91 24el Y 160 PA5DD 347 4 G8CUL 37 2125 29 IO91 21el 40 PE1EWR 328 5 G1WAC 17 1963 16 IO92 21el 75 PE1EWR 385 * certificate winners Comments from the logs G0AOZ Flat conditions G0GCI The conditions were flat, which made the contest one long slog. Thank goodness for the CQ caller, though the `start' button began to play up. G0TPH High winds the day before and on the morning of the contest prevented me from putting up any antennas, and then TVI prevented the use of the amp with the alternative antenna. All in all, it was very hard work. G0TXL Comments Quite noisey for this band. Seemed to be fewer people around this year. G0VFW Usual Wx conditions for AFS Contest. Perhaps this should be a 3 Hour Contest or perhaps use a 50 Ohm Dummy Load instead of an Aerial.?? I could contact more people via e-mail during the same period. G0VQO/P . just a brief spell a-top a hill to give my 847 a go on 70cm G1ZJP Very slow going. Lack of Eu Dx although reasonable when heard. Had some equipment and local QRM problems which prevented a lot of tuning and pouncing, accounting for fewer G's than expected. To add insult to injury my partner made her first QSO with MY 402 AND IT WASN'T ME. This could be war!! G3HRH Enormous QSB. Signals in the noise one minute and 56 or better a few minutes later. Some suspicion of an aurora? G3JJZ Reasonable... A shame I could't hear anyone from up-country G3NNG Poor G3VQO/P just a brief spell a-top a hill to give my 847 a go on 70cm G3WHK A repeat of last years flat conditions - perhaps even worse. As the AFS contests are so popular why not try a 1296MHz AFS (2 stations per team 3 or 4 hours) G3YJR Phew! What a struggle! No new squares! Deep QSB G3ZPB Poor Conditions. Weather variable (wet and windy) G4APJ Not brilliant, but good to hear a few people on (including me, first time this year!) G4CQR/P Poor G4NPH Slow going, with family committments G4SIV High winds on sat prevented the use of the full array G6FQZ lost an hour or more with feedback problems G8ACR Low activity also poor weather conditions. G8CUL Variable, but an awful lot of weak signals. Maybe I need another masthead preamp! G8IYS Poor Conditions. Very deep QSB. Weather variable (wet and windy) G8OHM Conditions and activity seem to get worse every year. G8VHI Comments After all the bad wx was suprised to hear a good turn out. However there is still a brick wall north of the M62! NO M calls at all & few DL's but those I got were good.