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Comments from the logs:
2E1GUA
Nice to work lot of DX on the contest and it was good fun on Saturday and Sunday. Thanks to all that worked me.
G0FBB
Ruined by S9 of powerline noise during daylight - due East.
G0JJG
First effort from this site Good tropo to JO60 and around not much from PA/ON. Very HOT! An enjoyable event all round.
G0KPW
3 replicated serials around #514 where I had to switch to temporary paper logging while I swapped PCs.
Made the decision some weeks ago to operate from the new G0KPW site for this rather than from my normal site. It's a much better site, but there was a lot to be done to get even a halfway competitive station together. Nevertheless a team of folks worked to get power into buildings, towers to site etc. We were still re-roping a tower at 1300, I was still winding it up at 1330, and still building the station at 1350! But then - those who know me know that it wouldn't be traditional if I was anything other than in a blind panic at the start.
For me, conditions on the Saturday seemed only a little above normal - there was slight enhancement to the southeast with the OEs a little louder than normal, I2FAK was a little louder than usual, and I had a nice QSO with IK4HLQ/4 in JN54 who was very excited about it all. Overnight there was the usual selection of good DX to be worked - especially on CW into the far corners of Germany and into OK1, with OL2R the best just into JN89 at 1067km. Only a couple of SP7s worked - both at under 1000km. What was fascinating was how Dave, G7RAU down on the Isle of Wight was working these guys at 599, but the duct wasn't with me.
Dawn brought an improvement in conditions for me with signals generally up and some SP1/3/4 appearing, along with the guys in the far South of France and EA. There was a clear duct building to the North of Germany & into OZ, and at 1142 I fell out of my chair as YL2AO called in from KO16 - the first time I've ever worked up there on tropo.
It was shortly after this that I twigged that my noise floor was really much lower than I thought it should be, and it had been for ages - some time back I'd switched out the 12dB pad on the radio. I pulled the feed cable to the masthead preamp and the noise floor barely changed - I knew in an instant that the transverter front end had got torched & that I'd spent the whole morning as deaf as a post (or an FT290 at least). I'd also been spotted in I2 that morning and failed to hear the guy, and some of the backpackers had really struggled to get me to hear them... I threw an extra pre-amp in line in the bottom to bodge my way out of this, and the rate went up from the 30/40 hour level where it had sat all morning to 60/hour. How many QSOs I lost in what was probably at least 6 hours I hate to think....
Other exciting failures during the contest were the amplifier blowing the HT mains fuse at least 8 times through some odd arcing (even in standby), a keyboard which started repeating randomly & lost keys (logged on paper for an hour while I found a floppy drive for the laptop so I could get the logfile off the 1994 vintage PC and onto a laptop), a voice keyer in the PC which intermittently lost most of its level and a CW keyer which as it got warm developed enough leakage across a piece of insulation to hold the key down.
G0KYS/P
Main entry BP, so only 3 hours. Static rain and thunder but DX conditions excellent - EA and many DL stations worked, 2 >1000km
G0MTN
My setup really sucks.
G1CDO
Best DX ever I had in a contest.
G1KHX/P
Above average conditions. WX hazy sun and warm. Only did 4.5 hours, genny out of petrol! - did not take enough with me.
G2XV/P
Conditions good throughout. A great club weekend. Linear worked properly this time! Lot's of activity, lot's of operators. Perhaps there should be a section for non-cluster?
G3RHH
Good propagation to the SE, with fairly stable signal levels.
G3YJR
Lovely to work the continental stations. Wot no IO94? :-( (Next square to North!). Nice the good conditions lasted into the 2nd day!
G4DBW
Great fun with my very modest station
G4DEZ
Late start and only time for 6 hours.
G4JBH/P
Sporadic E to LA on Sunday morning. Superb path to DL throughout Saturday.
G4RFR
Some nice DX at times, otherwise quite variable. My biggest problem was avoiding the traffic from the Dorset Steam fair on the way home.
G4ZAP/P
Good
G5B
Some nice tropo, but suspect that the south & higher ground got most of the really good conditions. Lots of qrm in Europe often made working Dx difficult. Excellent Wx - BBQ Sat night & Sun Lunch & unexpected visits from some amateurs for Sat BBQ. Shack +30 deg at times.
G7RIH
Best dx for some time
G8HGN
Two stations within 5Km doesn't help with DX, but winkled out a few between the QRM, over the period.
GJ4ZUK
Being in Jersey for work allowed me to be active again from GJ after a ten year gap. Great fun. Conditions good on Saturday particularly. I suspect not as good as stations in G and GM. WX very hot - transverter relays seem to stick in high temperatures - This is not usually a problem in GM! Band very busy - more like 20m than 2m!
GM2T
Great tropo cndx both days. Best directions were towards ESE on Saturday, moving more SE on the Sunday. Tried several times for EA(1) but never heard any stations in this direction.
Contest site was apprx 10m lower than hilltop, facing 040 through 210deg, and as we had antennas on a slope, it was too awkward (and dangerous) for us to put up our usual 4 x 7ele stack, so instead we reverted to our old 2 x 17ele stack at 8m AGL. No big problems encountered during the contest, though we did have to re-route the PTT line from the DVK to the sequencer at the last minute, and through lack of use/familiarity, we spent some time (too much time) trying to reprogram the sequencer with a shorter TX/RX delay. Only low during the contest were an apparent lack of UK QSO's, though judging by conditions I guess both ourselves and the other UK station would have been beaming away from each other in order to get some more "juicy" DX!
GM4AFF
I wish to enter the 6 hour single op fixed section using the part of my log that runs from the first QSO at 1809z for 6 hours. I worked a large number of stations on Sunday as there was so much DX about! This part of the log can be used as a check log. Conditions were unbelievable, and I now regret saying that I would help my wife run her fete, that I would visit my old aunt who was up from Bexhill, that I would take the dog a walk, etc, etc...! Would have been great to do the full 24 hours. I have supplied my log in REG1TEST format, which I had never seen until I started using WinTest. I hope this is OK. Let me know if you want me to change this.
GM4VVX
Overcast, warm with a few drops of rain on Sat. Pleased with QSO rate at 10 per hour for 2 hrs, good for me and site. Then very quiet when PI9A jo33 came in r5s9 for an easy QSO and my 1st PA in contests from this site. Yippeeeee........! QSO rate dropped to 5 an hr. At times 3 Germans to 2 UK call.. shut down after dark as QSO rate nil for hour & half. Sunday morning. First call was QSO to South coast of UK then feint F stations heard. Hard work dragging UK calls to beam North., Then F stations came up to s9 for short periods. QSO if very quick Hi Hi...Very surprised by loc. sent by MT8MB JN35 1547 km ! nearly double my best DX from the /p site. After 10 UTC conditions died and from 12 - 14:00 only got 3 QSO.
GW4HBK
Difficult to get over the hills.
GW8ZRE
Excellent dx and hot sunny weather. Main entry in Backpackers contest.
M0EQD/P
Please find the attached Trophy contest logs for m0eqd/p, the station was opertated by Dave m0eqd and Dave m5dwi from Wharncliff chase 10Km NW Sheffield. The hi light of the weekend was working the two Italian stations... vhf line of sight???? Neither of us are in the RSGB we ran the station for the fun of it, so the log can be used as a check log. A mention in the chronicles of the RSGB would be nice .... 73's from n0eqd and m5dwi.... Dave & Dave
M2F
CNDX brilliant 90 mins before contest! Took almost an hour to raise Germany but occasional patches of good tropo interspersed with blank periods. Fascinating overall.
M5ADF
Lively, though no GW. Sunday - Quiet at times, QSB, good contacts into F. Overall - Variable conditions, many stations just popping up. All S&P, no joy calling, thanks to all.
M5FUN
Amazing conditions, really surprised that JO64 came back to my call when I wasn't beaming that way. Heard LA, SM, I, EA but too much QRM, some stations much wider than normal. Only operated the 6hour section as had work on the Saturday and prior arrangements on the Sunday. No mast at clubroom so no use of my 4*9 array - now that would have been fun!
M0LKB
Main entry was into the 5th Backpackers. Good conditions with a nice little opening that lasted most of the contest. I think I worked every amateur in JO30 and 31 squares! Great fun and good DX shame about the QRM from inter G stations but no harm done
M5FUN
Please find my attached log for 6hours in the 144MHz trophy. Had to work Sat and had the Lewes to Newhaven raft race on Sun but couldn't miss the event so only a small entry... now if only I'd had my 4*9 array up (sigh).
M8C
We were pleased with our score, using a single Yagi from an inland site. For the second year running, 2m sounded more like 20m on the Sunday morning. Only one equipment glitch; (c/o relay in P.A. kept us down to 50w for one hour). Night shift ran well for ~200 Qs. Great conditions and great DX!
M8Y
Superb tropo lift throughout the contest. Conditions peaking after midnight as we were fog bound and great ducting took place. Fantastic contest !
MU0FAL
Nice tropo but usual difficulties getting stns to beam south from G. Had to close early cos the lightning got too close
ON/G3VQO/P
just a side-show during a shopping trip
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