144 MHz Low Power Contest, 2005

Most parts of the UK enjoyed fair weather but at least one station suffered mast-damaging winds. Propagation conditions lay between average and poor. Activity was generally described as poor but stations in the south were aided by a French contest, while those in the far north suffered through remoteness from the activity centres. The total number of entrants was similar to that in 2005, but for the Single Operator Fixed (SF) and Single Operator Other (SO) sections, there was a major turnover in participants. In the Multi Operator (M) section, quite the opposite applied. Almost all of the teams taking part in 2004 turned up to sample the delights again.

The quality of logs submitted was rather mixed: 5 logs were faultless and 7 contained only one error. One or two logs contained errors which were so obvious that a simple read-through, before pressing the 'send' button, would have eliminated them. Two stations submitted logs in BST and, between them, made a total of 34 QSOs up to an hour after everyone else had closed down The band must have seemed oddly 'CQ Contest'-free in that extra time.

In the SF section, Bob Harrison G8HGN came top, relegating Bryn Llewellyn G4DEZ to second place - but only just. Bob Treacher M3RCV gets a certificate as the leading Foundation licensee and James Beatwell 2E1GUA gets a certificate as leading Intermediate licensee. In the SO section, Andrew Warburton M0LKB/P romped home well ahead of Ken Coxon G0HDV/P, who took second place. In the M section, the 2004 battle at the top was refought. However, the result remained the same - with the A1 Contest Group G4ZAP/P in first place, followed by Colchester CG G0VHF/P. Both stations gained almost 50% more points than in 2004, but the gap between them widened. The team of Dave Cutts 2E0EBV/P as Operator and Greg Bailey 2E0FMS as Logger gets a certificate for each as leading Intermediate licensees. Thanks to G6CSY for the checklog.

John Simkins G8IYS