This year’s Contest brought some of the best Condition on 21/28 Mhz for ages. The conditions are reflected in the numbers of QSOs made by the leading stations and in particular to the large numbers of JA stations worked on 21 Mhz, especially by the more northerly stations. A beam antenna is a must and the bigger the better.

UK Open entries remain static at 20, UK – QRP went up from 3 to 5 whilst the UK Restricted increased by 1 to 14. 39 Logs received from UK Stations seems a little pathetic and may lead to the ending of this particular competition.

On the other hand, Overseas entries were up. Overseas Open went from 22 to 27, Restricted went from 30 to 43, but the QRP dropped from 6 down to 2. SWL logs were down to 1.

As a result there is only ONE certificate awarded in some of the Sections.

The UK Open leader made 868 QSOs with 170 on the 10m band alone. In the restricted Section the leader made182 QSOs on 15m and 38 on 10m. G4DHF made a single band entry on 10m making 311 QSOs in the process.

As far as the Overseas Section goes, UA9JDP worked 168 UK Stations on 15m whilst RA6CT worked 161 on 10m. Where are all the logs from UK Stations? It is obvious from perusal of the Logs some UK stations made many QSOs, but did not submit a log – why? With electronic log submission it’s just a few keyboard clicks.

It was nice to see logs from such far off places as EM1U, VK8AV, XU7ACD, AH2J, 5Z4IC, 3XY1L, and VP8NO and a QRP log from YB2OK.

There being no entries in the UK SWL Section, neither the Metcalf Trophy nor the Powditch Receiving Trophy can be awarded.

Certificates have ben awarded to the leading stations in each Section.

There have been problems adjudicating this year’s Contest, mainly in the form of submitting Cabrillo logs. One third of UK Entries did not put suficient detail in the log header, indication Section, power or antenna – nor a claimed summary of QSOs / Multipliers. Many overseas stations only marked their logs High or Low Power. It was noted that some “Low Power” entries were using multi element beam antennas. These have been included in the Open Section. Please read the rules.

Tom Wylie
GM4FDM.

* = award winner

(M) = Multi-operator station.

GD0EMG *  - Op: G0HSS, G4XUM.

GW6TW *  - Op:MW0UTD, MW1IRW.

GW4CC *  - Op: GW4HSH, GW0BBO, MW0JGE, GW3INW.

G4IRC/P  - Op: G4BAV, G8LBS, G7SMN, G0DVJ, M0ZZO.

MM0CPS/P - Op: GM4UYZ, MM0DXC, GM4XZ, MM0WZ, MM3SLK.

G3JRM Op: - G4CKH, G4RLS, M1TES.

M5ARC/P  - Op: M0CKE, M0CKH, G8HDK, M0BRM.

M0REG/P  - Op: G3YSW, G7RQD, G4HNU, M3BHF, G4MDP.

YZ1V *  - OP: YT1HA, 4N1FAN, YZ1ZV.