[UK-CONTEST] Commonwealth 2004

[Peter Hobbs]

I agree that the "Restricted" Section (originally "Junior" with 25 watts, in the days of home brew) has become a bit of a joke as it stands, even though organising your time is a challenge.  However, the one factor experienced by the vast majority of UK amateurs that limits the performance of their stations is lack of space or permission to install any antenna with significant gain (cf the March Radcom article on how to work a dxpedition from a suburban garden).  

OK, I have to declare an interest here, but a single element antenna category, with power limitation, in BERU (or any other contest for that matter), would encourage the owner of a basic station to compete on more equal terms, while still providing scope for innovative station design.  I would suggest, to secure the widest participation, that the power limitation is set at 100w, to correspond with today's universally popular rigs.

73

Peter G3LET