There was a one-third increase in participation for this year's Club Calls contest. This was no doubt a direct result of its inclusion in the AFS Super League.

The change in the exchange format was almost universally welcomed, while many commented that it did not seem to detract from the friendly and informal feel of the contest. It was again good to hear the traditional Club stations on the air, giving newcomers a "taste" of contesting while clearly receiving background support.

My thanks to Don (G3BJ) for taking time out from his voluntary duties in getting the RSGB Club Station (GB3HQ) on the air. His station actually had the highest QSO total, but was of course entered as a Checklog. Next year, the 50 point bonus for working RSGB HQ will be re-instated.

One station in particular was sending the wrong club abbreviation. However, the same (incorrect) code was sent consistently, so no-one was marked down for any error.

Several comments were received with regard to suspicions of a few stations running in excess of the legal limit (this contest is of course limited to 32W output, as per the licence conditions). All comments were investigated. One station was cited seven times from all points of the country. Exhaustive enquiries were made of this station and several others. Assurances were received that the rules were adhered to. Suffice to say that we will continue to look closely on any perceived transgressions and may introduce inspections where appropriate.

There were also many instances of "unique" QSOs where member stations were contacting their own club stations without having any other QSOs. This is certainly not within the "spirit" of the contest. However, none of these cases resulted in any change in table positions, so were ignored, but again, this will be closely monitored in future.

The leading club station, and in fact overall leading station was De Montfort University ARS.

The Leading Member station was Steve, G3ZVW of the Bristol Contest Group.

This year, the David Hill G4IQM Memorial Trophy also goes to De Montfort University ARS.

Merry Christmas!

Rob Thomson G4LMW

Checklogs gratefully received from G8VON and GB3HQ

SOAPBOX:

2E0HPJ
FT857 Dipole

F8VON
10W to a half-wave dipole

G0FPU
SD Used new contest log. Forgot to practice !!!
GOOD CONTEST ONLY MADE A FEW CALLS

G0GDU
FT1000 with 30w into W3DZZ @ 30ft agl
found one station calling CQ in beacon mode on one frequency and working on another frequency
came across some very big signals which all came from members of one club

G0GFQ
Had to give up...antenna troubles and too close to our CS

G0MRR
FT890 32w SGC239AUTO ATU EZ ANT loft mounted.
Surprised to work so many with restricted antenna, but enjoyable.

G0OLE
A very strong station came on very close to our frequency part way through the contest our attempts to contact that station were ignored
Overall the conditions were good with plenty of stations taking part.
Our cq calls were even heard by the HQ station which was a nice contact for us so far up North
Not all stations used the abbreviations as listed.

G0POT
Everyone commented just how many NADARS members were operating during the contest! A great turn out.

G0SHC
Kenwood TS140S Long wire Capco SPC300 single operator Fantastic Contest!!

G0WWD
Ic-746
long wire

G2BQY
Ft-990 + dipole. High level of qrn some extremely strong stations others 59

G3KLH
Much higher noise level than 80m

G3LHJ
Not a good ant system for 160m - gave up in the
end will do better next time lots of activity
sounded like everybody was having fun.

G3NPF
FT1000 Carolina Windom
The new club four character codes are a great improvement and it was good to see
that everybody had read the rules and was using them

G3PJT
K3 loop

G3SVD
Better lubrication for the throat needed next time.

G3TBK
Should have put up a dipole the INv-L is not a good antenna for inter-G working.

G3TDH
Ic-7600 45ft wire 25w

G3TKF
Very noisy band - but then it always is !

G3VIP
RIG K3 30W - 80M DIPOLE STRAPPED FEEDER - Homebrew logger
Struggle with poor antenna. How can stn received at S9+25db not hear me???

G3VPW
Do not normally work 160m so not too familiar with conditions.
Found I had a high local noise level (S7) but worked nearly everyone
I heard. Don't think my 80m delta loop works too well on Top Band so
it was all a bit of an experiment did get called by a DL but he must
be more than 50 miles from any UK Club. Reasonably pleased with my 65 QSOs
and enjoyed the contest quite a different pace to the 80m CC contests.

G3WZD
ic751a 32w 102foot marconi t
busy schedule only made the last hour

G3ZAY
A vertical probably wasn't the best antenna for this contest.

G3ZBU/P
Thoroughly enjoyed this contest. Unfortunately the car wouldn't start
as the use of side-lights and interior light had flattened the battery
over the three hours. Luckily there was plenty of power left in the
battery used to power the rig; one advantage of not exceeding
the 32W power legal limit!

G4ALE
Very noisy with Marconi ant
Good to work lots of club stations
High noise S8 didnt help here!

G4FBS/A
Good contest. We missed last year. Good to be back.

G4LMW
Great level of activity. A very pleasant evening. Thanks for all the QSOs

G4NTT
Excellent Contest

G4NTY
Flexradio SDR 1000 MFJ-974HB Tuner Doublet

G4RFR
TS 570D Dipole

G4VUD
Ant no good - called lots of stations but no hear
just the 2 locals.

G4WAC
Very enjoyable we had a shack full of members
pity there weren't more of them on the band!

G5MW
IC756 Pro III Antenna 60feet sloper from shack to tree-top fed against counterpoise: L-match power 15dBW
Puzzled by some strong stations not hearing our repeated calls even continuing to call CQ but weaker ones seemed to be more easily workable. Some Power o/p inequality?

G5RR
Liked the new format. A good time had by all.

G6GVI
IC735 with loaded inverted-L and end-fed wire. Conditions seemed down on last 2 years: no GMs heard and few from the South coast.

G6IPU/P
Good steady activity but a bit slow towards the end. Tnx all for the points.

G6ZXN/A
Ts2000; fc902; doublet apex at 12metres; pwr 14dbw.

G7ODJ
ICOM 706IIG dipole

G7SKR
Very noisy homebrew centre loaded vertical (TX/RX) and 80m OCF (RX). IC-7400. This contest is the only reason I go on topband!

G7SRA
FT847 1/2 wave dipole. Enjoyable contest. We had 2 operators totally new to contesting at G7SRA this year.

G8ATO
Poor number of contacts due to broken joint in aerial.

G8NEY
IC-746 + long wire. Very high level of QRN made it extremely difficult to copy anything other than strong stations. Will go portable next year!

G8VJU
IC756 Pro III 133ft Inverted L Power 15dBW
MY scoring based on ((8 point X 24 Members) + (28 Points X 16 Club))

GC3XEJ
Equipment -- Orion 2 inv-vee dipole at 50 ft.

GC4CC
Equipment: Icom IC-775DSP to an inverted-V half wave dipole at 80 feet.
A nice friendly contest as usual! Good to work some 40 club stations.

GM4AAF/P
TS830 off-centre fed dipole

GM8GAX
Elecraft K3; Inv L at 10m; earth/counterpopise - 150 metres of wire fencing around paddock!

GW4JUN
Forgot the contest was on and my antenna SWR would match so built a hasty antenna tuner half an hour before the start – worked a treat. As I was using GQRP as Club I used 10 watts from my K2 into a dipole. Nice to hear Topband full of activity. Ve
ry enjoyable contest. Must use computer logging next time ! Thanks to Adjudicator for help with log submission.

GX0RGH
FT2000 dipole

GX1DSP
Nice to be able to suport the club and to be allowed to
run the club station

GX1ONE
Operating Club Station from home QTH. Very high noise-level maybe due to nearby petrol station

GX3CNX
Struggled with very limited antenna for top band.
Dipole bent around the gardenaverage height 7 Mtrs.

GX3GWB
Sent code NORT by mistake. Noted most club codes were the first four
letters of the club name so got that fixed in my mind and didn't check
before starting. My only excuse is getting home 2 hours before the
start and still had to put the antenna up!
(Adjudicator's note: GX3GWB sent "NORT" consistently throughout. I worked him as an early QSO and instructed him to continue to send this same code. All logs with anything else as recorded code have consequently been disallowed as this is NOT what was sent [erroneously or otherwise])

GX3NJA/A
TRIO 830 170 ft.DOUBLET

GX3RAL
FT857 Dipole at 30 feet

GX3SDC
FT1000MP dipole

GX3VER
FT1000MP Inverted-V dipole centre at 28m ends at 5m
Good fun contest and pleasing to hear so many clubs participating.
Tnx to the adjudicator and committee for their excellent work. 73 David.

GX3WOR
Operating levels seemed to be much better than in previous years. The use of 4 letter club abbreviations much improved exchanges. Some excellent QSO totals being heard. The contest has definitely improved.
Rig FT1000MP (32 watts) + Dipole at 60ft
GX3WOR operator was G4FNL

GX3ZME
very good

GX5XV
Rig K3 to dipole at 50 ft.At G3LLKs QTH.

M0BLF
FT1000MP, dipole

M0CHK
Elecraft K3 & a 300ft end fed. Good contest again. High noise level. God bless The National Grid!

M0CNP
Plasma TV interference beat me in the event.

M0ICK/P
Conditions seemed down on last year, good fun and friendly reporting. Thanks to M0UFC for the company

M0MGF
Bands noisy as usual.
Number of contacts waned drastically after 2200.
Still a fair amount of fun.

M0MMI
FT950 Doublet

M0WAF
Hurried erection of long wire & a noisey city centre
location gave trouble hearing stations. If there is a
next time on HF ~ maybe portable operation may be an
answer???

M1EBV

M1MHZ
A first on HF. I'll maybe continue with the AFS series but not for me.
Logging was not intuitive [as we are used to with VHF] and frustrating
Thanks to the adjudicator for help on logging.

M3YXM
First time in a contest!

MX0ORO
Busy friendly enjoyable contest. Good to hear so much
activity on 160.

MX0YCG/P
TS570 + Dipole + Nice bottle Bordeaux.