Activity levels were high for this event with 77 stations appearing in the logs. Stations were active from G, GD, GI, GM and GW. One contact with Slovenia was completed. A number of stations that achieved reasonable numbers of contacts did not submit entries.
Conditions were reported as average to above average with deep slow QSB. A number of long distance QSOs took place, helped by the presence of three Scottish portables. Nineteen QSOs in excess of 500kms were recorded.
A number of stations commented that activity dramatically reduced as the event progressed and suggested that the event should be shortened in the future. It is worthy of note that 10% of all contacts took place in the final hour demonstrating that there were still stations to be worked until the end.
A useful check log was received from G0WJR/M who spent the event driving from Norfolk to Birmingham and relied on a GPS to determine his locator!
Congratulations go to:
·The Northern Lights, GD0EMG, who retain their stranglehold on this event;
·Roger, G3MEH for his win in the fixed single operator section;
·David, GM4WLL/P for his win in the single operator other section;
·Ian, G3YBY, who was the leading low power fixed station in his first ever entry
in a 70MHz contest;
·The Colchester Contest Group, Bryn G4DEZ and Stuart G4AFF who were runners
up in their section.
All of these stations will receive certificates.
Roger, G4BVY
Section M Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX Call ODX Kms Power Ant Group 1 * GD0EMG IO74QD 53 15513 S51DI 1673 160 2*8 ele The Northern Lights 2 * G0VHF/P JO01GN 50 9238 GM4ZUK/P 630 90 8 ele Colchester Contest Group Section SF Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX Call ODX Kms Power Ant 1 * G3MEH IO91QS 46 6144 GM4WLL/P 464 160 2*5 ele 2 * G4DEZ JO03AE 28 5313 GM4WLL/P 340 150 5 ele 3 G3TCU IO91QE 38 4755 GM4WLL/P 526 150 6 ele 4 G0ODQ IO91NQ 40 4690 GM4WLL/P 468 75 5 ele 5 G8SRL JO01ED 26 4672 GM4WLL/P 553 100 7 ele 6 G3IKR IO82XF 31 4207 GM4ZUK/P 525 140 4 ele 7 * G3YBY IO91BO 30 4171 GM4WLL/P 463 10 HB9CV 8 G3JYP IO84SN 19 3729 G4RFR 423 10 8 ele Quagi 9 G3LVP IO81WV 23 3248 GM4ZUK/P 561 150 4 ele 10 G4SJH IO91PI 23 2717 GM4WLL/P 507 60 5 ele 11 G3XPU IO92HM 23 2712 GM4WLL/P 370 50 3 ele 12 G6UBM JO01CE 10 340 G4RFR 159 15 5 ele 13 M0WYE JO01LE 4 269 G3MEH 127 10 Dipole Section SO Pos Call Locator QSOs Score ODX Call ODX Kms Power Ant 1 * GM4WLL/P IO85NR 29 9806 G4RFR 555 20 6 ele 2 * G4AFF/P IO83VC 47 6402 GM4ZUK/P 427 70 8 ele 3 GM4ZUK/P IO86RW 13 4207 G4RFR 687 60 5 ele 4 G4XRV/P IO91LT 25 2774 GM4WLL/P 452 10 5 ele 5 GM4VVX/P IO78WA 4 1032 G4AFF/P 560 9 6 ele Comments from the entrants: G0VHF/P Some absentees, some returnees. But there are much worse ways to spend a sunny Sunday morning. G4AFF/P Couldn't resist visiting my friend Roger G3OHH and doing the contest from his tried and tested 4m location (he won many 4m contests in the 60's) at Mow Cop. It was great fun but about 50% of the QSOs were less than 100kms. G4DEZ Very low activity after first 2 hours G3IKR Nothing special. Activity not high. Only on for the first two hours but only six contacts in the second hour. Heard no new stations after 1.5 hours. Suggest that the contest be reduced to three hours and should start an hour earlier to avoid a clash with lunchtime. The amount of activity does not warrant longer and conditions are likely to be better a bit earlier. G3JYP Average. Still the same old slow/deep QSB. If you wait long enough the signals come back! Nothing worked in the last hour. G3LVP I think that the timing of this event needs changing, either it should be longer - finishing at 1600 to encourage more portables to take part or it should start and finish earlier. It's also time that the scoring system was altered to ensure that the same station does not win every event. G3TCU Condx seemed to vary with beam heading. Nothing heard from the south west of G land. G3YBY Conditions seemed flat. My first 4m contest entry ! G8SRL Conditions to the north were not bad with a nice contact to GM but to the west they were poor, hence no GWs. I have resurrected my old G8 call in the expectation that within a year it will have the same status as my class A call and then I can drop G0GCI. GM4VVX/P Forcast was good for the Sunday, so decided to give the 70mhz tvtr an airing. A beautiful morning. Bright sunny and no wind. Very warm and the best place to be, on an elevated layby, out on a contest ! Not much activity heard at first. Got a reply from Ken GM3YZU who said I was the best signal he had heard on 70mhz in about 7yrs Hi Hi.....Heard GM4ZUK/p and then G4AFF/p very weakly, and it took a while to get their beams N. and slight enhancement in condx to work them. G4AFF/p and I tried 3 times to complete before a short peak in the qsb made it possible. Several times the Buxton beacon was audibal at about s4..... Quiet a few signals were detectable from the South then, but never strong enough to copy on ssb... My FT101 refuses to tx on CW, maybe in protest at lying unused for years Hi Hi...Around Midday all signals disappeared, and it became very quiet with only the curlews and lapwings calling for company. GM4ZUK/P Condx seemed slightly above average with the GB3BUX beacon at good strength. Nice to work a station to the North of me on 70MHz - GM4VVX/P M0WYE Only operating for about 45 minutes, at the end of the contest.