2nd 70Mhz Fixed Station Contest September 1998

The welcome appearance of several operators, new to 4m, was put down to new commercial rigs which have 4m on board. Ninety-four different stations, representing G, GD, GI, GM and GW, were logged by the 19 entrants, many of whom reported difficulties with very deep fading and high noise levels to the North. Two entrants requested next years contest to have an earlier start and finish time in order to avoid any potential clash with the F1 Grand Prix.
Congratulations to Robert Ferguson, GD4GNH, who won the single operator section ahead of Stewart Cooper, GM4AFF. There was only one entrant to the Multi Operator section, that of Dacorum A.R.T.S.

David Gilligan, G1OGY, added to his collection of certificates for being leading 25W/single antenna fixed station; Steve Reed, G0AEV, taking second place.
The friendly nature of 4m contesting continues with operators exchanging names etc. although this was not appreciated by some who were struggling with deep QSB. Accompanying requests were made for stations to use CW especially in difficult conditions.
It is puzzling that quite a few stations who were logged as giving high serial numbers and would have been placed high in the results table chose not to submit an entry. The VHFCC would be interested to hear from them and others about the possible reason and of any changes which they would like to see and which might prompt them to enter.

 Ian L Cornes. G4OUT.