High winds gusting to force 8, poor visibility and driving rain greeted the Backpackers who dared to venture out for this contest! The hardy souls that did manage to erect and point the antenna in a sensible direction found that conditions were poor with very little DX to lift their spirits. One station remarked that these were 'the worst gales in all my /P operations'. Another station commented 'please could we have this contest in the summer in 1999!!!'.

No major problems were found during the adjudication of this contest apart from one station who 'forgot' to submit the list of the post codes received during the contest. It sometimes pays to re-read the rules just before you submit your entry just to make sure that you have included all of the required information. Also please write the post code that you sent during the contest on your cover sheet. It is not funny having to deduce the post code of a station from other logs!

Congratulations to the Jersey Amateur Radio Society, GJ8RVT/P, for winning the 10W multi-operator section and to the Leicester Radio Society, G3LRS/P for winning the 3W multi-operator section. In the single operator sections, the 10W category was won by M0AFC/P and the 3W category was won by the Bristol Contest Group, G7VIN/P. All section winners and runners-up will received certificates.

Ian, G0FCT

Email: g0fct@blacksheep.org

* certificate winner