M5CSM
Awful evening. Fighting with poor propagation and new RTTY software. Was hoping to do
this leg QRP but wasn't getting anywhere so turned the power up. Conditions did seem to
improve about 15 minutes before the end of the contest.

M1SMH
Dreadful condx in London.

G3RCW
Will use RTTY next data contest.

G6FOP
Terrible conditions.

G0VJG
Had problems with antenna - will do better next time.

G0MTN
Yes, well, we all knew January was going to be like this!!!

M1KAH
Must try harder - next time will do better ... I hope.

G3VYE
What a disaster! Due to a combination of a poor aerial, high local QRN and poor band condx
I could only copy a few stations - and most of those could not copy me! Things can only
get better.

G3ZBU
Unfortunate clash with club committee meeting.

G0RKT
Bad conditions for inter-G working.

WRITEUP:

About the kindest description of inter-G conditions was 'dire'! Several were unprintable. But, despite this, there were twice as many entries as there were in the corresponding event in 2004. A total of 143 callsigns from 16 countries feature in the logs. The best DX QSOs (to Southern Italy and the Balkans)were almost exclusively made on PSK31.

One point which needs to be made is that it is not considered to be within the spirit of the contest for participating stations to work only members of their own club. This gives a grossly unfair advantage to clubs with a large membership - the idea is that everyone makes as many QSOs as they can in the time. In future, such contacts will be liable to exclusion.

Thanks to SQ9UM for the first overseas checklog for a data leg (25 QSOs).

Steve Knowles G3UFY

SOAPBOX:

G3XSV
Terrible conditions to the rest of the UK

M3DVQ
Awful conditions, only the Germans were strong. Forgot how to use MMTTY!

G4OGB
Poor condx - long skip from the start.

G3KKQ
Lousy conditions. Called several stations who didn't copy me.

G0JLF
Only managed 20 minutes, all on PSK31. Hard going!

G3KLH
Signals very poor

G3TKF
What a struggle - and lots of very wide signals on the band. Does nobody check
with a local before coming on?

G3UFY
Unspeakable short skip condx plus horrendous noise from a local factory made this
event really hard work.

G3LHJ
Condx lousy, took a long time before the band opened up.

G3ORY
The NVIS propagation was dire!

G3KUM
Band conditions bad for working UK stations. My first venture into RTTY. Another
learning curve!

G3VQO
Santa brought me digimodes so I can join in the RTTY sessions - he could have brought
me better conditions as well!

G4EBK
Strange conditions again - very fast and deep QSB. Stations 59 on call-in, then
nothing. Only foreign stations strong. Sorry to all who called and I never completed.

GM4AFF
TNC plug broke and took 45 minutes to diagnose and repair.

G4VXE
Hard going, but good fun.

G3YHV
What a dreadful contest. Conditions just dead!

M0DDT
Worst conditions I've encountered in these contests. Hardly anyone on, listening from
Oxford.

G3VIP
Conditions very noisy - signals weak and deep QSB.

G3PDH
Could not make any headway in poor inter-G condx.

G0AKC
Very poor conditions here in Ipswich

G3WRR
I do not anticipate this will be the winning log. Just getting the RTTY gear into shape ...
some way to go yet, it would seem.

G6BOX
First outing in Data mode. Will go again, even though 1 hour's operation only netted
two contacts. A lot to learn about data mode contesting, HI!