This year’s event saw some excellent conditions. While those in the south east with sea paths had the best of the event, good conditions were reported from as far afield as Wales and Scotland. Some stations could only listen to their near neighbours experiencing good DX while they could hear nothing. The major propagation was a duct into SM, LA, OH and OZ. A good path also existed into OK and SP and many stations commented on good north south conditions into France. A number of inland stations experienced pronounced QSB. In all, 65 contacts over paths greater than 1000kMs took place. The high pressure resulted in calm, sunny and hot conditions across the UK.
With conditions as good as these, activity levels were high. This lead to a number of bad signal reports. It is essential that entrants record comments made about their signals so that the VHFCC can investigate them after the event. Given the level of activity, logging standards were remarkably high with the leading stations losing well under 2% of their scores. However, a number of entrants will notice substantial reductions in their scores due to careless logging of primarily callsigns and locators but also reports and serial numbers.
The VHFCC code of practice states that groups should “take all possible steps to ensure that the site is not going to be used by some other group or club”. This should include checking the previous years results. This year one group managed to choose a site in a locator square which has been used by another group for a number of years. While this demonstrates how well designed equipment can coexist, both groups suffered as a result.
Check logs were gratefully received from G8NJA/P, GM3HAM/P, M1MAJ and PE1EWR
Congratulations go to:
These stations together with those marked * will receive certificates.
Roger Dixon, G4BVY
Section M
Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX Loc Kms Power Ant Group
1* G8P JO01QD 1027 471376 OH1NOR KP00XL 1641 400 4*10+2*17 ele Parallel Lines Contest Group
2 G8TIC/P JO01KJ 843 371539 SM1HOW JO97GL 1322 400 2*10 ele Blacksheep Contest & DX Group
3 G0VHF/P JO01PU 659 260164 EA2BFM/P IN83FE 1029 400 2*15+2*9 ele Colchester Contest Group of Colchester RA
4 G5B IO92WS 618 234339 OL4A JO60RN 967 400 4*12+2*18 ele The Five Bells Contest Group
5 G5LK/P JO01QD 548 215099 OH1NOR KP00XL 1641 400 4*10+1*15 ele Reigate ATS
6 G4Z JO03AE 296 110182 OL4A JO60RN 965 400 2*12 ele
7 GM2T IO85RU 229 95196 DF0TEC/P JO73CF 1116 400 4*7 ele
8 G8EVY/P JO02CE 305 90248 OZ1BEF JO46OE 734 300 2*9+2*Bigwheel Cambridge & District ARC
9 G8SRC/P IO91CL 244 72924 EA2BFM/P IN83FE 931 400 2*17 ele SWINDON & DISTRICT ARC
10 G3YNN JO00EU 159 47487 SK7MW JO65MJ 982 60 14 ele Herstmonceux Megacycles CG
11 G4LPD/P IO93RA 66 23001 DK0OX JN48EQ 789 100 17 ele East Notts CG
Section SF
Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX Loc Kms Power Ant Group
1* G4PIQ JO01MU 796 322463 OK2TT JO80OB 1147 400 4*15 + 3*9 ele
2* GW3JXN IO72RC 92 30831 F6KSL JN28QJ 816 400 11ele
3 G1CDO IO93HP 94 27796 DF0OL JO40BP 728 50 2*15 ele quads
4* M5ADF IO91TO 75 22102 DL0TUD JO60LK 940 25 9 ele
5 GM4AFF IO86ST 32 17203 TM2K JO10KA 833 400 17 ele
6 G0GJV IO91OK 47 15072 DK3EE JO41GU 645 80 8 ele Bracknell Amateur Radio Club
7 MU0FAL IN89RL 50 14882 DL5NAV JO33TF 819 50 5 ele
8 G3FIJ JO01KV 49 12226 DL0WAE JO42DC 508 20 10 ele
9 G8HGN JO01FO 20 11509 SK7JM JO65TM 970 50 2*15 ele quads
10* 2E1GUA JO01FR 13 2254 TM2K JO10KA 255 10 13 ele
11* MU3GSY IN89RL 9 1412 PA6NL JO21BX 545 10 3 ele
Section SO
Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX Loc Kms Power Ant Group
1* GM4ZUK/PIO86RW 312 150894 SK7JM JO65TM 1009 400 4*13 ele
2* G3CKR/P IO93AD 405 140857 EA2BFM/P IN83FE 1114 400 17 + 18 ele Warrington Contest Group
3 G4DBL IO91JH 287 106955 SK7MW JO65MJ 1047 350 17 ele
4 G1KHX/P IO81MH 96 24048 F2CT IN93HG 902 150 9 ele
Section 6O
Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX Loc Kms Power Ant Group
1* G3NJA/P IO80FP 97 41875 DL0SAW JO52KR 1019 160 2*17 ele Torbay ARS
2* G0HAS/P IO80WP 113 34914 EA2BFM/P IN83FE 836 80 11ele
3 G6HOU/P IO91PF 102 27214 GM4ZUK/P IO86RW 646 50 7.5 ele
4 G6FSP/P IO80FP 33 14362 DF0OL JO40BP 822 160 2*17 ele Barton Contest Man
5 G8ZRE/P IO83PF 52 12894 F6KCP/P JN18OU 638 10 7 ele
6 G3YDY/P JO01HX 54 12871 GM4ZUK/P IO86RW 588 10 4 ele
7 G0POT/P IO91HH 46 11916 GM4ZUK/P IO86RW 630 2.5 3 ele
8 GM4VVX/PIO78VB 30 10325 G4RRA IO80BS 811 300 17 ele
9 G4ADV IO70LK 24 6726 GM3HAM/P IO74WV 500 25 13 ele Newquay & DARS
Section 6S
Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX Loc Kms Power Ant Group
1* G8SRL JO01ED 85 22124 GM4ZUK/PIO86RW 671 150 2*9 ele
2* G2KF IO70PP 33 10701 F4CKV/P JN16NM 736 25 13 ele
3 G3YJR IO93FJ 17 4538 PA6C JO33DJ 519 2.5 9 ele
Comments from the entrants:
G0GJV
Quite lively; shame we couldn't get a portable station out.
G0HAS/P
Originally set up for a few hours to see what squares I could work from this
location in a major contest, decided to go for six hour section as it seemed
so good, never heard so many French stations before !!
G0POT/P
Only a 3 hour stint corresponding to the #5 Backpackers contest. Fantastic weather
and plenty of EU
stations to be heard. Had to work hard to get the UK squares. Lots of visitors
to the top of Beacon Hill so lost a little operating time but introduced about
4 families to Amateur Radio and showed someone how to use their scanner (and
set them up to monitor the contest!). A great day...
G0VHF/P
Strong local signals made certain directions difficult if not impossible.
G1CDO
Very good.
G1KHX
Good, but some QSB. WX sunny, very warm!
G2KF
Lots of QSB, Many called but not worked.
G3CKR/P
Out of main JO01 duct which was very frustrating, just a few isolated good DX
contacts into SM/EA. Suffered from very strong QRM (eg PA6NL) from continent
and no clear frequencies. Stations in UK and continent not hearing us due to
our beam width being so narrow continued to come and sit on our frequency. Need
to re-think tactics. Quite a tiring event as single op but my son and two cooks/tea
makers did well.
G3FIJ
Excellent – good tropospheric propagation with high pressure.
G3NJA
Nice and calm and plenty of sunshine for a change!!!!
G3YJR
Some DX stations coming in who managed to pull in QRP in the prevailing conditions.
QSB made it interesting.
G3YNN
Thought that we were operating HF, have never seen so much activity and splatter
across the whole of 2m! Hard working through the splatter but some nice DX contacts
to be made. We'll be back next time with a better set up as the linear crashed
again.
G4ADV
Good conditions
G4DBL
Good conditions, a lively contest. Had to QRT for an hour on the Saturday evening
when I brought down a neighbour's radio-controlled helicopter!
G4LPD
WX good, Hot - very sunny during day. Good DX achieved despite basic set up
- not much UK operation apparent. Improved on last years effort in this our
2nd year taking part whilst
entering HF SSB FD - VHF station established to give younger operators some
contest experience.
G4PIQ
A very last minute plan to get on when I saw the weather forecast last thing
on Thursday night. Station was in a pretty unknown state when I got over to
it Friday evening. Had to do some small PA repairs, re-build pre-amp, repair
power splitter, stop stub binding, replace top rotator, build up a second system
from whatever remains of 9 el Tonnas I had lying about after they fell down
last Spring in a storm and get a load of water out of the feeders! However -
in the end had a smallish system up and running not quite at full height (flapper
rope got tangled with feeders!) by 1410!
At the start conditions were a bit above average East / West but no great DX around. However conditions built during the evening to give good conditions to North DL & OK1/2, with a little into SP. Some good stuff around especially on CW overnight, but little use calling CQ to snare it - needed S&P. On the Sunday morning the band also opened with enhancement into France & later improving into Scandinavia, although only as far as SM7 for me - I was not in the duct to SM1/0 + OH which the folks with a clearer water path had. Some dreadful signals on the band - both from the UK and elsewhere.
G4Z
No lift conditions here reasonable activity operator (G4DEZ) deaf in one ear
(literally)!
G5B
Just couldn't make the ducting. Had the occasional "sniff" of DX but
generally hard going. WX was excellent and the cuisine was even better (3 course
meal too). Starter - stuffed mushroom; followed by grilled fresh salmon and
rounded off with apple & blackberry or plum crumble. Beats the /p life for
sure!!
G5LK/P
Interesting contest - open to Scandinavia but much qrm. Two stations in one
square does not go!
G6FSP/P
Nice and calm and plenty of sunshine for a change!!!! Not much G/M activity
this time.
G6HOU/P
Broke my aerial before I put it up! 8hrs of operation only. 10 new squares for
this year. Heard OZ at 959km. Good fun.
G8EVY/P
Really enjoyed this one, lots of activity, band full up conditions good, a lot
of QRM as a result, got some new operators on the air, a good club weekend.
G8HGN
Very good conditions, shame it was spoilt by one or two horrendous signals.
G8P
Conditions were awesome, with a fantastic duct to SM/OZ/OH for the whole contest.
For much of the time during the first few hours we seemed to be the only UK
station in the duct. Can I put out a plea that groups should check potential
/P sites against previous years results to see if they are going to cause obvious
QRM to other stations. I think the highest ever recorded score in this contest
is 18156 'old' points, which equates to about 454,000 Kms points. For the record
we worked 118 squares and 20 DXCC's in total.
G8SRC/P
Managed a fair point/QSO rate but can't get numbers of QSOs up & don't know
why not!! Enjoyable week end, WX very good.
G8SRL
Plenty of activity. Conditions up a little. A very enjoyable six hours.
G8TIC/P
Weather fine, good tropo to SM/LA/OZ/SP and second duct to far Germany/France.
Lots of QSOs, good DX. Only decided to do contest on Thursday lunchtime, so
rushed together small station
with only one radio, amp and one set of antennas... great fun! Forgot the masthead
pre-amp, so ran with passive RX system with no great loss of performance...
nothing broke down (for a change).
G8ZRE/P
Main entry in Backpackers contest hot sunny day fair DX.
GM2T
Nice to work so many (for us) DX QSO's to F, ON, PA, DL, and SM. As well as
the usual UK QSO's, we also managed 25 PA's, 13 DL's, 5 F's, 5 ON's, and 2 SM's.
We can never reach the QSO totals reached by those closer to the main population
areas, but still it's a very enjoyable contest. No real equipment troubles this
year. The 4 x 7ele DK7ZB was a huge improvement on our usual 2 x 17ele F9FT.
Slightly more gain, and MUCH less beam rotation required. Gotaways included
LA0BY and an OL7 (cant remember full call).
GM3HAM/P (check)
We (GM3HAM/P) had problems days before this contest even started so went out
with a cut down station instead of the 'big guns'. Running 100W to 9 El Tonna
at 20 ft, ok for QRP I suppose :-) Submitting check log only, file attached.
We went to our usual spot near Gatehouse of Fleet, South West coast of Scotland.
Weather not as good as everyone else, morning started with dense fog which eventually
cleared by noon. Fog returned and lingered longer on Sunday. Temperature remained
around 15 to 18 deg C. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the country
to make the most of the tropo opening but did work some DL, ON, OH and F stations.
GM4AFF
Quite good, but activity low.
GM4VVX/P
Tried the first 6hrs this time, as last contests seem very quiet in last few
hours. NO better this time !.. 14 - 16:00utc was VERY LOW ACTIVITY, when band
went almost silent up here in the North. Throughout most of contest could hear
other stations in South working PA & DK, but no continentals heard here.
Even the big guns were working hard to get qso's
GM4ZUK/P
Condx above average but nothing like the tropo that seemed to be taking place
in the Southern part of the UK. Activity always seems to be poor on Saturday
evenings in recent years - this was not the case in years gone by. Rained all
night on Friday but Weather superb on Saturday. Sunday was cloudy again but
just managed to stay dry.
GW3JXN
Excellent condx! First 2metre contest for at least 15years Forgotten that most
stations at least 100km away!
M5ADF
Lots of activity from Europe. Fewer local to me. With only 25W, more local contacts
would have nice. Any distance helps!!
MU0FAL
Condx fair but UK activity appeared low or all beaming east really enjoyed myself
but amazed at some G stns 9U0 on 2m? and I use phonetics unlike a few.
MU3GSY
My first entry for this contest.
2E1GUA
A nice contest with lots of DX on the band. Sunday I played golf!