Radio Society of Great Britain. Official HF Contest Results
Results. RSGB Commonwealth Contest 2008
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The full writeup for 2008 together with a vast amount of background information, statistics and photographs related to the Commonwealth Contest may be found at www.beru.org.uk SOAPBOX: 5B4AGN - Congratulations to the HFCC for their commitment to maintaining the character of this great event. Lots of fun with time available to say hi to old friends. It was particularly heartening to see so may UK stations active. G3LIK - Hard going behind the beam boys but always great fun to meet lot of friends in various places. Great to log with SDC. G3NKC - Put a lot of time in as S&P; only a vert for all bands, and a dipole for 80m. Used cluster support also; mainly a "try to work new ones" sort of effort. BERU always seems a lot of work for relatively little activity. The format needs changing to make it more interesting for the host country in my opinion ! M0PCB - Not as many QSOs this year, just didn't seem to hear as many VE stations as last time. Pleasantly surprised to work VK on Saturday evening at 2100. Caribbean on 40M was good on Sunday morning but signals were not too strong. Had fun again though maybe should have been up earlier on the Sunday morning (nneded the beauty sleep too much!) Had some errands to run on Saturday morning, which meant a slightly late start too. Only had approx 10 hours in the chair, compared with 14 last year. No all time new ones, but managed 6 new band/mode slots with the likes of VQ9JC, ZS3/G3LZQ, J88DR, V47CD, 9H3JT, ZB2EO and of course VQ5XF. Had different antennas this year as have moved house between contests. Much more local activity here that I found in York which was good. Used SD again with manual keying and rig control. Tried the automated way, but managed to end up with SD sending a serial less than the one I was on. User error there methinks. Will be at a different QTH again for next year, though I am tempted to try it from out in the commonwealth. Either way I will be back again :-) VK4AN - Very variable conditions! Enjoyed. Took time to get used to SD-log, but worked OK G3PHO - I'm getting too old for this (70) :-)... great contest and my first entry, after using BERU for years to get new countries/band slots. Found conditions quite poor but nice to get brief opening on 10m. Very pleased to work our local member Nick G4FAL as V47CD. He promised a bottle of rum to the Sheffield station who worked him the most! Don't see anything in the rules about that :-) Suppose I'd better put this event in the diary for next year. G3RSD - Used "SDC" worked perfectly G0ADH - Still not much improvement in conditions G4DBW - First outing for my Elecraft K3 with Homebrew amplifier 40 watts out into G5RV dipole. Promising start with activity on 15m and even 10m, things went downhill all the way... Seemed less activity this year - maybe propagation put them off? G7TMU - Only worked a few stations but great fun and managed a new country! Thanks for running the contest G3RFH - Conditions poor and noisy. Very slow going. Just as Contest started main ATU developed fault and had to get reserve into service. Enjoyed hearing DX and working most of what I heard, though lot of VKs and ZLs got away!! G3NAN - Used SDC for the first time. Found it extremely helpful Very useful prog, very easy to use. G4RCG - Just had a few hours at the test and enjoyed the chase will try for longer next year G3LHJ - condxs surprisingly good. who needs sun spots !!!. great to say elo to all the regulars, it was a slow start - LF was good but could'nt raise ZL on 80M CU next year god willing - 73 de Derrick. VO1RAC (VO1HE) - Bands were not in great shape from here. 20 and 40 were my best bands but there didn't seem to be as much activity this year. Definite shortage of VK/ZL. I was hampered somewhat by a rotator that only started to work late on Sat. evening so being able point at stuff was pretty well ruled out after that. Not many HQ stations heard either. I only worked VA3RAC and GB5CC. There was a shortage of VE stations as well. Never heard any VE4, VE5 or VE6 on at all. One treat was working TX5C (with my own call) for an all-time new one after the contest was over on 80 and 40. I must say that his QSX range really cut into the usable space on 40 for the contest. All fun and games. I managed to find and work many of the Canadian team stations and I even tried my hand at running for a while on 15. Going to take some practice I can assure you HI. Thanks for the Qs and CU next year. 73 -- Paul VO1HE G4WGE - The usual struggle to make every QSO. An improvement on last year but not as much as was hoped for! G3PSM - I improved on last year's total but it was still hard work. 9 hours spent S & P ing but SDC worked faultlessly. Heard Brian 9J2BO on 10 but he obviously couldn't hear me. 15 metres also appeared to be lacking in activity. G0FYX - SD used for POST contest logging. Good contest. M0CNP - Very enjoyable, but not a lot of stations about. Optibeam 10/5 used on higher bands, and 132ft off centre fed dipole @ 6m for 40 and 80 VE3VHB - Band conditions were average, but extremely noisy. We had a blizzard all day Saturday which added to the noise on LF. Glad to work a couple of 9M's and also 5X1NH on 40M for a new band-country. My 12-stint was cut short when the Clipperton group came up Saturday. G4PIQ - 3 hours of very on and off casual operating from home. Shame to miss many interesting openings. Thought that conditions were not as bad as we might have feared given the previous weekend in ARRL SSB! Cabrillo notes on WWW site may need an update to reflect the introduction of 12/24 hour sections into each of Open & Restricted sections G3GLL - SD worked ok Could not spend much time operating this year and no ant for 8om. Seemed to be a good amount of activity though ! G0MTN - A very pleasant hour's BERUing amongst other weekend commitments. ZL3NB - Was really "Gun-Ho" this year but ended up with a Tummy Bug half way through it Hi But did enjoy it and had the most fun on 40 meters. Great LP to G-Land and Northern Ireland. The highlight was working Jim VQ9JC on 40 then asking me to Qsy to 80 for a contact! VA3RKM - K2, 5 watts, verticals. Thanks for working a weak signal! VE3OSZ - My second entry to BERU. Did a little better than last year. Poor conditions on Saturday evening prevented me from getting more bonus points on 80. VK6AJ - Note that serial numbers 4 and 28 were sent twice. I blame my computer. I had fun though. VE4YU - SDC log is super! Tnx EI5DI! Snow here plus poor condx and my location made contacts difficult. I could hear a lot that couldn't hear me. I always like this test - a break from competing with USA kilowatts. Will be great when condx improve. ZS1EL - Band conditions were poor and still suffering form the low of cycle 23. 10m Was virtually non-existing but had a few surprizes. GB5CC (GM3WOJ) - Great contest as always ZC4LI - Thanks to all concerned in running the contest. The last 10 hours was hard work !! G3WRR - Just popped on between the weekend chores. Nonetheless, BERU remains one of my favourites. Nothing at all heard on 10m but a few interesting bits and pieces on 15. Sent serial number 20 twice - sorry. SD & Winkey did the business as usual. GI4NKB - Bands awash with rare DX, the world wanting to join the Commonwealth, J88DR and VQ5XF fending off hordes of EU's, good conditions followed by an auroral event, this isn't just any HF contest.... this is BERU! I will never forget hearing S53F calling "CQ BERU" and getting replies :-) VK6LW - Condx seemed OK with the emphasis on LF again, some interesting openings on 15 and 10m, as usual it was a lot of fun and looking forward to next year with a better antenna setup. G3VPW - Couldn't make it to VP8KF this year ran the same set-up from the home QTH, started 3hrs late so just S&P for the next 13hrs, couldn't keep awake eventually took 5hr sleep break. Worked pretty well everything I heard, so very pleased with my first CC from UK for many years VO1MP - SDC worked fine for Beru - little different than my regular logger - got used to it G3ZGC - Overall a very enjoyable contest. Amazing what can be worked with such a simple half G5RV only up 18ft and a bit of wet string G3VIP - Struggle at times with low power but pleased with results. G4ARI - Great Fun ZS6AA - My station is set up for low power contesting, but not within the antenna restrictions of the Restricted class, so I spent the morning connecting up an FL-2100B to give my signal more punch for an Open Class entry. Due to my antenna switching and SO2R filtering, the linear had to be manually band-switched by changing coax jumpers. I initially set it up just for 80m but eventually used it on 40m and 20m as well. The contest started well, with a nice opening to the UK on 15m for much of Saturday afternoon, and even a very brief opening (8 QSOs) on 10m. There was a lot of thunderstorm activity and I eventually had to give up my run with a hurried "QRT LIGHTNING" as the thunder crashes became deafening through the headphones. I was off for about an hour, which was a pity since the rate had been quite good - I managed 207 QSOs (40% of my total) in the first six hours. 20m was disappointing on Saturday evening, with only a short run of about 40 minutes yielding 47 QSOs, plus a few from S&P. 40m and 80m were very noisy due to static from the thunderstorm which was still active a few kilometers away. I tried to run on 40m, but found that although my signal was strong enough to attract a small pile-up, I couldn't make out individual calls in the pileup due to all the QRN. So I would work a few S&P, then try to run, then give up the run because I couldn't make out the calls, then S&P for a while again - quite frustrating. I tried 80m a few times during the evening using a new end-fed dipole in an inverted "L" configuration. The results were disappointing, with only 7 QSOs in total, but this may not be a fair reflection on the antenna. I eventually went for a nap at 3am local time, hoping that things would be better in the morning. This proved to be a mistake as propagation was horrible on Sunday - from 6am until noon I managed only 51 QSOs, mostly to Australia and Asia. The high point was working the VU headquarters station VU2UR on 15m and my honorary African team mate VU2LYX on 20m. I also managed to double my 10m tally to a grand total of 15 stations! It was an honour to be invited to captain Team Africa for its first appearance in the contest. I enjoyed the camaraderie of the brief messages of encouragement when working team members, and the added motivation of wanting to do as well as possible for the team. VU2PTT - What a great feeling to be back in BERU after 10 long years (last as AT0PTT in 1998). Although I could not top that effort, a fresh start at a new location has been made. Will be back with a better signal next year, especially LF where I missed an 80m antenna. High & Low-lights: 40m - VQ5XF, J88DR, should have made more G-qsos 20m - V26CC, V47CD, J88DR, small VE/G pile mostly loud 15m - Opening to UK was not too good 10m - Open between 0700-1000z but no G-stations Highest number of VE stations in any contest to date : 15 Thanks to all the African & Carribean stations who make this contest so exciting - you do not know which rare one will call you next :) I have made recordings of all QSOs except for the first 80 minutes of the contest. These can be made available if any of you want to hear how you sounded in India. See you all in the next, with a better station and LF antennas. VK8AV - enjoyed the contest even with limited facilities. SDC contest log is just fabulous. G0HVQ - My first BERU, really enjoyable. Band condx not brilliant but it was the bottom of the cycle. Wish I hadn't got up so early Sun morning as 40m was dead until 8am-ish. VO1HP - BERU is "the" most enjoyable CW contest. It has the "ambience" of an evening spent by the fire with a nice dram of smokey single malt having a chat with an old friend. The opportuity to work the far flung ends of the once mighty Commonwealth in one weekend makes it a unique ham radio experience. I recall fondly my early days looking over the ARRL DXCC list and seeing prefixes like VQ5. Working a station back in those days with a VQ5 prefix was just a dream .... but now the dream has come true...after 44 years in ham radio I have finally worked a VQ5!...and on 4 bands to boot. What matter where Nigel was located it was still a VQ5! ... tnx G3TXF. Tnx to the organizers and the participants for such a great contest VQ5XF (G3TXF) - Operated over 23 hours. Took just three short 20 minute tea breaks. The location of the Hamlet (VP5JM) rental station on Providentiales is excellent for BERU with a clear sea take-off to both UK and Canada. The only slightly blocked direction is south, but this did not prevent QSOs with VP8NO on four bands. The QSO total and claimed score are about 6% down on last year's V25XF effort. It is great to see BERU thriving and expanding. BERU is a different type of contest from the rest. Let's keep it that way! M0KOP - First airing of my new call, Conditions here seemed poor with sunday morning terrible, have heard reports of an aurora in GI so that may be the explanation. Another enjoyable Commonwealth Contest. see you all next year. BTW call was 2e0kop passed at last G3LDI - This was my first BERU contest! I used to follow my old friend Al Slater and his efforts and envied him. I was too busy running a band so could never enter it. Propagation was awful, and I could only dabble for a short time, but enjoyed it. I tried four times to get into the web site to get the rules, but it was down. So, I missed out on the HQ stations, although I worked several. I wondered what that meant! Lessons for next year and will make more time for a multi-band entry. I just used 20 meters this year. Also used N1MM so the scoring is wrong! G3VCQ - Interesting conditions with some excellent DX activations, thank you to all those who went the extra mile I hope you all got nice sun tans Hi! Only managed a bit of the 12 hours I intended doing but enjoyed it just the same. Wintest in use at this station - worked well for me. VK4WIA (VK4TT) - G'day to all Ops.Have to get a better Ant for 40M Used SDC programme by EI5DI worked very FB G4DDX - Clashed with my birthday so short of time but enjoyed the contest. Found conditions not good and hard work..Used SDC which made it very easy. G4AMT - Very enjoyable as always G4FKA - My 4th BERU so slowly getting the hang of it! Main lesson learned from previous events was to spend more time on 14 and 7 MHz and less on 3.5 to get a greater variety of contacts (and more 25 point Qs). Also regularly switched between bands to check for openings. Around 19 hours at the rig although there was a dead zone with no QSOs from 0350 to 0600 after which I switched off for a couple of hours. The wet string single element antenna farm comprised a 30m inverted V doublet, sloping dipole cut for 24MHz (used on 21 and 28) and a 10m wire vertical (quarter wave on 7Mhz). IC756 ProIII 100w with MFJ-993B auto-tuner. A very enjoyable and relaxed weekend for the small station as usual and good to get a few new band slots. G3YEC - Bands "compressed" due time of cycle but signals in general good. Still Some BIG G signals !! V47CD (G4FAL) - Nick, G4FAL, operating from Rawlins Plantation, St Kitts, complete with a kidney stone - no that's not an item of amateur radio equipment (unfortunately). My rig was a Yaesu FT897 barefoot. Aerials were a Cushcraft R6000 vertical, a 40m dipole and an 80m dipole. Software was Wintest for the contest and my own for non-contest operation. Thank you to all UK operators especially for the QSOs. This contest is much more fun when you are outside the UK - why not try it next year? G4ERW - Came on to give a few points away using indoor antenna! VU2LYX - My second appearance, this time in "Africa group" G4CZB - Hard work on 40m as very noisy this year, 80m better but signals very weak from VE2/3 VO1TA - Always a lot of fun, Nice to be able to work good dx without having to compete in the big pileups. Nice to hear old friends in there as well.Used SDC loging software again. It worked without a hitch, Thanks to EI5DI Hope to cu agn next year.Thanks for keeping it going GM3POI - amazed at the number of Gs that called in to give me a point!! I think that can be traced to Radcom not printing the rules.Aurora also bad. VE3EJ - Operation limited to 12 hours this year due to major snowstorm that created impossible receiving conditions for hours on end. I will be back next year with the hope that conditions will improve. G3VYI - 40M path to ZL and VK was amazing great to work xpeditions in 5X ZS well done to them Lots of VK's and VE's ,20m hard with single ant in 12hour section again no night stamina now !! G3KKP - Despite conditions, most enjoyable as usual. So nice to meet up with all the familiar calls once again. BCA certificate please if still available. G2AFV - How did we manage in the days before SD? VA3RAC (VE3QAA) - Worst weather conditions in memory. Huge snowfall (56 cm) with winds up to 60 km/h. My first time operating HQ stn. Apologies to those unable to hear due to snow static. But still great experience VK6BN - Enjoyable contest, enjoyed using SDC this year as I had practiced before the test. A week before the test the feeder of my 15m ant came down. Believe a kangaroo had got tangled behind shack. VU2UR - ENJOYED ANOTHER GOOD CONTEST.NICE OPENINGS TO CANADA. G3KZR - GOOD RUNNING ON SATURDAY WITH 15M A BRIGHTER THAN EXPECTED. THE TX5C EXPEDITION WAS A PROBLEM ON 40 AND 80. G3SVD - My first ever venture into the famous BERU but for family reasons I could not dedicate much time to it. I was able to pop into the shack from time to time to make a few contacts and quite enjoyed it. Maybe next year I'll brush up on the cw and plan ahead. VK2BJ - 80 and 40 average. Thank goodness the radar stayed of 40. 20m was very poor. Good openings on 15 and 10. Used SDC as usual for logging. VK6VZ - Managed to put in about 17 hours due to family commitments. The 2ele 40m delta loop fixed on the UK was worth the effort to put it up in 40 deg C heat. The QRN on 80m after sunset made the band unusable for the evening and night but improved by sunrise. Nice to hear 10m open for an hour or so. Love the team contest - please keep it! GM3SEK - The 12h section is a fascinating challenge. Not sure why 20-15-10 were so seriously down from last year, with the same antenna, but the new 40m antenna certainly paid off and the extra 7 QSOs on 80 were all ZLs. Many more improvements planned for next year! VK2AYD - I wondered how many years I've been taking part in this great contest since I was G3HLW.! See u next year. G3TEV - Apart from having a severe chest infection + QRM from a wandering switch-mode power supply I enjoyed BERU as always. GM3CFS - 80m let me down badly this time. Sunday only heard 2 areas. Even G sigs were weak and croaky, so very disturbed condx. G4RLS - my antenna was damaged in earlier gales and was laying on the roof with the disconnected end coiled so the entry is to thank the superb efforts of all who to managed to hear me with such an impossible setup V26CC - Antenna was located on beach which was FB but restricted as to getting a good set of radials out because of not wanting to tickle the toes of babes in bikinis. As usual Super Duper worked flawlessly, thanks Paul. GM3TAL/P - Newbie to this contest, excellent event! ZL4OL - Fun contest as usual. 40m was the consistent band but pileups were very difficult to disentangle. Very nice to be called by ZS J88 V47 and the others that I would usually struggle to hear. ZL1BHQ - Reasonably good band conditions on both 80m and 40m with the higher frequencies either poor, or non events. Neighbourhood Plasma TV QRM/N made things rather trying, particularly around 0800Z when dealing with a pileup of G/GM/GI stations. VE3HUR - My second attempt at the BERU. I hope to make a habit of it! Worked about a third of the contacts QRP. VQ9JC - This was my second BERU, and it just as much fun as the 1st time. It was also a pleasure to be working with Team DX! VE1YO - Was unable to use the 3el yagi because a high wind and rain storm damaged two of the elements. MM0BQI - Came on to give away a few points and stayed for hours! Great fun, thanks. G4FSU - First ever entry into BERU. Didn't have much time for operating due to family commitments, but great fun. Conditions poor & much slower than I expected. Thanks to Paul EI5DI and SDC for logging. G3HAL - I did better than I expected; conditions must be picking up. G4EHT - Windy WX meant I couldn't use my verticals 2E0RYB - Some callers did not want to work a 2E0 station, responding 'BERU ONLY'; bit of a shame, really. J88DR - My IC7000 failed in run-up to event, so used a borrowed Yaesu rig - without CW filters fitted. More activity than expected on 15m, but once again 10m grim. Apart from rig problem, a great contest again. Roll on BERU2009! G0IBN - enjoyed the day I did better than last year 9M2CNC - Good activity and better than expected conditions. Very good over the pole opening to VE1/2/3 on 20m. No 80m as no time to put up LF vertical. HF beam rotator was stuck North so working VK/ZL was a challenge (SE from here). 5B4AGQ - As usual an enjoyable contest, but it's losing the 'personal touch' which always put BERU apart from other contests. P3J - The best and oldest contest in the world! 40m antenna damaged by Coptic wind Saturday morning, didn't realise it until too late, too dangerous to fix in the dark. So 40m a wash out for me this year. Great opening on 10m Sunday morning to VK, SE Asia, Africa and S Europe. 1st serious contest entry from new QTH. More bonuses than previous years on all bands except 40m. I'll be back next year, hopefully with a full set of antennas this time! GW4HBK - heard a couple on ten but no contacts - 40m good - sd good and appreciated G3LET - Significant improvement over 2007 but probably due to the ex-pat travellers rather than conditions. 10m about the same as last year but 20 was very poor indeed on Sunday morning. Highlight was working VE1EP VE1ZZ and VK4XA all first worked in BERU more than 50 years ago. 5X1NH - No mains power on Sunday but car battery did the job. Had to QRT twice because of lightning storms. Bad lightning static - lots of NR? and 80M impossible. Italy clearly keen to join the Commonwealth. NO ZLs but good condx to VK and VE7 VP8NO - Very poor LF conditions, only one ZL on 40M ZL2AZ - Conditions generally poor, even on the low bands. Certainly a sunspot minimum. Score down on 2007. No real runs of G's on 20 or 40 metres. VK2MB (G4OBK) - It was a great experience doing BERU from VK and starting the contest in darkness by working VE and ZL on 80m. The Manly Warringah Club allowed me to use their club station near Sydney and Steve VK6VZ included me in the VK Team - but only after I had renounced my UK Citizenship, took an oath of allegiance to the Republic of Australia and after I had sworn not to drink warm English beer ever again! I used SDC. VE6LB - Very poor conditions. Not good participation as viewed from VE6. MU0FAL - Something about this contest that I like - not sure what yet G3YMC - Just a checklog here, I just came on to fill a few 2008 band slots. In current conditions it is virtually impossible to gain a decent score on QRP. Nice to see 15m reasonably open, can't say the same about 10m! When the sunspots return I hope to do a more serious entry in this contest. VK4BUI - ALWAYS A PLEASURE USING SD - SO USER FRIENDLY VE1EP - Did not hear anything on 10M but otherwise band condx were good. Nice to hear some ZS's in the contest. G4BUO - Great short path to VK and long path to ZL on 80m. Congratulations to Justin for a great performance ZS3/G3LZQ - Relief when 15m opened as it had been closed for 10-days. Definite lack of VE on 40/80. SDC worked a dream as ever. ZL2IFB - Slow going half way through so I took a break to work TX5C and then a long walk. Thankfully I returned for an amazing run on 40m at the end - lots of very weak G's. The noise level is low here but Africa hides behind a large hill :-( G3ICH - First ever BERU with no ZL QSOs - VE4/5/6 not even heard, let alone worked. VE7RAC (by VE7JKZ) - As always my operating highlight of the year. 9M6XRO - The bands were much better than last year and even 10m opened up, yielding VK's, and some good propagation into South & East Africa. I did not quite manage the U.K. though only reaching India and Cyprus on the way. Brian, G4ODV/5B4AIZ, was in 9M6 for BERU, operating as 9M6LSC and giving me some hot local competition. The two of us hashed it over next day in a Tiger Beer swilling competition! Result - a draw!! G3JYP - Very Part-time effort! G3KMA - First entry for about 40 years - nice to see some of the same callsigns in the log - altogether a very enjoyable event G4CWH - 10m very quiet. Shame about deliberate QRM on 40 even during genuine DX QSOs, 20m noise floor very high due to ADSL leakage, contest great fun as ever. MM0GPZ - First attempt at BERU. Loads of choice DX to call. Wonderful. G3SVL - My first ever entry in BERU/CC - how can that be after so many years licensed? Such a gentlemanly contest; I can see why it has such a loyal following. I'm hooked - see you in 2009 G3TKK - Worked just about everyone I heard so something wrong with the ears looking at scores of other G stations! 3B8/M1KTA - Mine was a qrp station and I was on 3B8 for a holiday and mini DXpedition. I operated in BERU as it was right in the middle of my time on the island. Doesn't seem to be a qrp entry category and I had a 4el beam so I guess I am in with the OPEN category, so expect to come last. This was my 1st ever cw contest so a bit scary and with noone around to help was hard work determining callsigns maybe heard only once often at twice a rate I could read it at. Apologies if I sent endless QRZ? and QRS QRS pse? Sending CQ BERU QRS meant I got some responses I could read so I stayed slow throughout and manged a few QSO. If anyones response was too fast and didn't QRS I called CQ again until the speed dropped. Apologies I did not know what else to do and I definitely fluffed a few QSO when speed was faster and as this was a contest no second chances as operators had moved on. Would have worked more bands which would have lead to more QSO but I could not keep up with the CW speed so I stayed QRS on 15m mostly as was easier for me. Seem to have 7Q7BP on two bands and was nice to work the UK. The "slowest CW ever in BERU" DX spots on 21025, was me! GM4FAM - Very slow going last 3 hours but fun as always. GI0RTN - Thanks to Hugh GI0WLW for the use of his excellent station. I really struggled with the lack of a good 80m antenna though - the low dipole just didn't cut the mustard. As always, some great DX to be worked, and the team contest is a great motivator to stay on in the slow periods so as not to let the other lads down. God, I really wish we had some sunspots! V51YJ - I only learnt about the contest this year from ZS6AA and ZS4JAN. I am new to contesting, but I will make a determined effort with next year's contest. It seems like it is a great contest!! VE3EZP - Really demonstrated limitations of simple antennas-need a 6-8dB gain array on 20/15/10. Have Lazy H planned '09. Otherwise another great time. Old comrades met and'prop challenged as always G3KMQ - My favourite contest. Roll on the new cycle |
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