144MHz Trophy 2008

Following the gentle weather and superb conditions in 2007, this event proved to be extremely challenging. The length and breadth of the UK was subjected to gale force winds and lashing rain. Two groups were prevented from getting to their chosen sites by flooding. A number of groups restricted the sizes of their antenna arrays to allow safe operation in the wind. One entrant described it as the worst weather in a VHF contest for decades.

Conditions were at best average and many entrants lost time due to prolonged static rain. There were only two contacts over 1000kms and a further 22 over 900kms. This compares with nearly 200 contacts over 1000kms in 2007. That said, a number of stations managed QSOs in the furthest reaches of Germany, Southern France and Northern Spain.

There were a number of comments about the low level of activity from the UK. This could have been weather related and there were less portable stations active in the Backpackers event on the Sunday. There were two fewer entries than in 2007, though there is a trend away from the 24 hour sections to the six hours sections and noticeably fewer large station multi-operator portables.

Many entrants will notice that their adjudicated scores are somewhat less than their claimed scores. The failure to log /P calls and the failure to check that the locator is actually in the same country as the callsign prefix continue to be common errors.

Equipment problems were fewer and were restricted to one amplifier, one computer and one car. While there were some poor signal reports, there were many fewer than in previous years.

Congratulations go to:

The Parallel Lines, G8P, who the open section for the third year running to retain the Mitchell-Milling Trophy.
G0KPW, this time operated by Jiri M0ITY, who won the single operator (fixed) section and retains the Thorogood Trophy.
Alan, GM4ZUK/P, for winning the single operator (others) section.
The Reigate Amateur transmitting Society, M2F, who won the six-hour (others) section for the third year running in a very tight contest..
Roger, G3MEH, who won the six-hour single operator fixed section.

These stations together with those marked * will receive certificates.

Check logs from F/GW4TTU, GB2CI and G0KYS are acknowledged.

Roger Dixon, G4BVY

Section O
Pos	Callsign	Locator	QSOs	Total	ODX Call	ODX Kms	Power	Ant	Group
1 *	G8P	JO01QD	768	321,337	SN7L	992	400	410 + 210 ele	Parallel Lines Contest Group
2 *	G4ZAP/P	JO02EB	578	214,051	OL8R	922	400	412 + 212 + 2*12 ele	A1 Contest Group
3	G5B	IO92WS	473	179,393	DM7A	939	400	612 + 312 ele	Five Bells group
4	G0VHF/P	JO01PU	470	178,709	OL1C	873	400	217 + 215 ele	Colchester Contest Group of Colchester RA
5	G0FBB	JO01EI	238	73,287	AO2V	936	400	2*17 ele	Windmill CG
6	G3VER/P	IO91RU	194	47,657	DL2R	801	400	4*9 ele	Verulam Amateur Radio Club
7	G6YB/P	IO81TJ	130	34,760	F2CT/P	814	100	16 ele	Bristol Contest Group
8	M8C	JO01CJ	90	22,822	DL0GTH	745	100	17 ele	Cray Valley Radio Society
9	G8N	IO92LH	28	7,234	F8KTH/P	534	50	8 ele
Section SO
Pos	Callsign	Locator	QSOs	Total	ODX Call	ODX Kms	Power	Ant	Group
1 *	GM4ZUK/P	IO86RW	211	93,621	DR5A	923	400	4*13 ele
2 *	G3CKR/P	IO93AD	194	66,903	DF5NK	992	400	418 + 215 ele	Warrington CG "A "
3 *	G/F4ARU/P	IO93UK	158	47,263	DL0GTH	819	200	2*7ele
4	M0SGB/P	IO93AO	46	9,339	F6HPP/P	604	2.5	9 ele
5	G8ONK/P	IO83RU	31	5,918	G8P	402	100	9 ele
6 *	M3SGB/P	IO93AO	3	995	PA6NL	448	2.5	9 ele
Section SF
Pos	Callsign	Locator	QSOs	Total	ODX Call	ODX Kms	Power	Ant
1 *	G0KPW	JO02RF	605	267,797	9A1B	1,343	400	68 ele
2 *	G4DEZ	JO03AE	188	69,000	DR2P	832	400	4*12 ele
3	GM4AFF	IO86ST	91	40,598	DK5DQ	885	400	17ele
4 *	PE1EWR	JO11SL	94	30,679	SK7MW	765	80	10 ele
5	M5BFL	IO91OO	109	29,263	F4CPS/P	754	250	11 ele
6	G1TST	IO81VH	33	8,108	GM4ZUK/P	626	50	5 ele
7	G4PDS	IO80KR	18	7,138	F2CT/P	816	50	3 ele
8	G0LGS	IO81WV	25	6,728	GM4ZUK/P	562	100	9 ele
9 *	M3ZWW	JO01ED	27	6,510	DF0OL	547	5	13 ele
10	M0GGO	JO01PD	10	2,485	DK0BN	477	50	5 ele
Section 6O
Pos	Callsign	Locator	QSOs	Total	ODX Call	ODX Kms	Power	Ant	Group
1 *	M2F	JO01OC	205	72,526	F5JGY/P	746	400	29 + 214 ele	Reigate Amateur Transmitting Society
2 *	G0CDA/P	IO93AD	213	71,660	F2CT/P	925	400	418 + 215 ele	Warrington CG "B"
3	GM0AYR/P	IO75VG	141	47,516	ON5GS/P	821	400	2*9 ele	Ayr Amateur Radio Group
4	MM0GPZ/P	IO85AK	119	40,813	F6HPP/P	844	400	12 ele	Mid Lanark ARS
5	G8NEZ/P	IO81EE	98	26,310	DL0V	760	400	2*13 ele
6	G3PIA	IO91IN	79	19,766	F2CT/P	768	350	12 ele	Appleton Harwell CG
7	G8BGV/P	JO01HP	52	15,501	DL0GTH	718	10	6 ele
8	MM3T	IO75JU	37	13,944	ON4WY	755	100	6 ele	Lanarkshire Contest Group
9	G8JAY/P	IO81RU	35	8,720	F8KTH/P	566	2.5 watts	9 ele
10	G8ZRE/P	IO83NE	36	8,594	F6HPP/P	612	10	7 ele
11	G0BWC/P	IO83RO	38	8,050	F6APE	709	15W	3 ele	Bolton Wireless Club
Section 6S
Pos	Callsign	Locator	QSOs	Total	ODX Call	ODX Kms	Power	Ant
1 *	G3MEH	IO91QS	93	27,677	F2CT/P	752	400	2*9 ele
2 *	G8HGN	JO01FO	63	27,044	HB9Y/P	771	50	2x15 ele
3	G0JJG	JO02LE	35	15,402	HB9/PA1TK/P	717	300	11 ele
4	G4FOH	JO02BA	61	12,147	GM4ZUK/P	574	75	8 ele
5	G3YDY	JO01FQ	27	10,370	DF0CI	676	100	9 ele
6 *	G4APJ	IO83UP	36	9,884	DL0V	666	25	9 ele
7	G0HVQ	IO81UX	41	9,632	F8KTH/P	562	200	9 ele
8	G1KHX	IO81MI	42	9,498	GM4ZUK/P	622	180	9 ele
9	G4XPE	IO92GU	32	7,150	F6HPP/P	519	25	10 ele
10	G3LVP	IO81WV	23	5,457	GM4ZUK/P	562	100	8 ele
11	G8LZE	IO91SO	22	5,165	GM4ZUK/P	609	100	12 ele
12 *	2E0MVB	JO02EG	23	4,417	DK5EZ	472	10	9ele
13	2E0XAC	IO91OI	26	3,824	GM0AYR/P	491	50	3 ele
14	2E0RFX	IO83WO	22	3,565	GM4ZUK/P	372	10	Quagi
15	M0DSZ	IO82LS	10	2,659	GM4ZUK/P	465	25	Moxon
16	G0MTN	IO92BJ	8	1,224	PA6NL	412	50	vertical
17	G6CSY	JO01BJ	7	1,007	PA6NL	284	5	9 ele
18	2E0JWJ	IO81VG	3	339	G5B	220	10	vertical

Comments from the logs

2E0MVB

Despite the flat conditions and high winds it was great fun my 1st 2mtr contest looking forward to another one.

2E0RFX

Didn't find conditions too good at all.

2E0XAC

Very slow on Sunday but got some good DX contacts and 1st Intl QSOs on 2m. F/GW4TTU Many UK ops lost QSO by turning ant when GW picked up in callsign

G0CDA/P

Had to resort to 6hr section due to a team issue and not being around on Saturday. Very bad QRN in main beam direction, bad static rain, average or below average conditions.

G0FBB

Lousy weather, poor conditions Saturday. Sunday morning a little better. Amplifier failed in early hours of Sunday morning, fixed by 07:00.

G0HVQ

Condx not as good as last year no significant tropo and activity quite low. We were meant to go /P but couldn't get into field due to flooding.

G0JJG

Interesting condx but very unstable.

G0KPW

Wet and pretty windy, condx down first day/evening due to front between jn68-jo51, still very good signals from JO52 and up. Only few OZs but big signals.103 x G worked in total which is not a lot. Static rain forcing QRT for and hour at least.

G0KYS

My best DX at 684km was particularly impressive as it was on a bearing of around 135 degrees, and my beam is stuck at 80 degrees :-)

G0VHF/P

Fair ruined our dinner suits! Please note that the damp patches on the log are not tear-stains this time. The tent has dried out too.

G1KHX

Fair

G3CKR/P

Low UK activity, some good dl contacts ,lots of QRN and QRM, usual! Had to stop late Sat night, lost computer and could not retrieve until after contest weekend only 9 hrs operating.

G3LVP

Terrible weather, very low UK activity where is everyone? Conditions not good enough to allow more than a couple of contacts with the continent. No M3's or 2E's, perhaps a separate section for these might encourage a few to take part? Running this contest on the same weekend as SSB FD can't be a good idea

G3MEH

Conditions up a little but deep, slow, QSB on many longer distance paths. Poor UK activity, two local stations spreading badly.

G3PIA

Lots of static rain. Chinese takeaway helped!

G3VER/P

Wet and blustery with lots of static rain s9+20 at times. Conditions fairly flat but more F stations than expected. Thanks. New amp this year after many problems with the old one. Low UK activity on Saturday. More operators needed. First operator on for first 17 hours. zzzz. Special thanks to the committee as always.

G3YDY

Reasonable conditions to the East

G4APJ

Apparently not brilliant, but several DX stations actually worked despite the traditional waterfalls outside. Noticeable reduction in backpackers, presumably due to the weather.

G4FOH

Patchy conditions but an enjoyable contest - despite the rain! Felt sorry for the folks operating /P!

G4XPE

Hard going due to flat conditions & QSB.

G4ZAP/P

Saturday was surprisingly OK, but on Sunday conditions were very poor, especially to Germany - hard work. Heavy rain with S9 Rain static at times

G5B

Flat Band, but score better than last time we entered

G6CSY

Very wet. Very windy.

G8BGV

Conditions not bad to Europe. Problems when beaming inland with QRM

G8HGN

Considering condx pretty good distances worked

G8N

Main activity this weekend was SSB FD but put on this station to add a bit more fun! Found it hard to make many contacts with small antenna at low height.

G8NEZ/P

Kept dry most of the time, but a bit blustery. Conditions to east poor with little DX. Good fun, and good company! A bit of sunshine and DX would have been welcome.

G8P

One of the worst storms I can remember. Force 9 gales so strong that we had to rope down the van for fear of it being blown over! Much smaller masts than usual and lots of extra iron work in the ground to keep them up. Conditions not at all bad with some nice DX worked, especially overnight and on Sunday morning.

G8ZRE/P

Main entry in backpackers. Car would not start had to set up on grass opposite home for contest.

GM0AYR/P

Patchy conditions with deep QSB. Wx not great, cold and above cloud base, and low activity. Great fun all the same!

GM4ZUK/P

Worst WX in decades in a VHF contest. Howling gales and driving rain! Condx poor to SE but a little better to SW. UK activity extremely poor. Conditions pretty flat

M0DSZ

Much QSB here. Probably time for an aerial with higher gain.

M2F

Very windy - masts almost at ground level but not too wet.

M5BFL

Very poor flat conditions. Not many UK stations about

M8C

Site not competitive for VHF but there is a handy pub. Weather was relatively kind but conditions were patchy. No problems to report and the weekend was enjoyed by all

MM0GPZ

Enjoyable if slow at times. Went to secondary site due to condx and had bad QRM for half the time to the SE dir. Best DX was the final QSO so we finished on a high, or should that be HI in Amateur Radio parlance?

MM3T

First time out for the Lanarkshire Contest Group. PE1EWR The session of this weekend was quite different from those of the last few years. I seem to notice a trend that fewer amateurs are taking part, making it possible to work more distant stations. The number of contacts during the contest decreases, while the average km per contact increases.