[UK-CONTEST] September 23cm UKAC - Report

[Ray James]

Activity appeared to be at an all time high during last nights contest.
Conditions appearred normal for longer range contacts though signals from mid-range (+/- 300Km) stations did show some enhancement.
Kept busy from the start to finish yet still missed a few that should have been possible to work which is a better position than twindling thumbs in the last half hour.

Whilst GI, GD, GW and GU activity continues to appear to centre around just one station active, G and GM is a different matter and Scotland in particular producing a very high level of activity considering the amateur popoulation numbers with at least 13 stations active this month!
Though not everyone uses ON4KST or DXC, there availability for use on bands above 70cm certainly has helped foster greater interest and we are now seeing more GM's active during UKAC's on 23cm than appear on 2m or 70cm events!
Whilst contest activity is great for generally keeping the bands active during quiet periods, the bonus will come when we eventually get a decent tropo opening with even more stations available to work DX and hence greater interest from UK and continental stations to look this way. It's almost 3 years since the last decent opening so a lot of the new blood that have appeared are in for a very pleasant surprise when the next one does eventually arrive. 
I'll be away from home during early October so knowing my luck!   

Kjeld OZ1FF provided my ODX again this month with a very fine contact using aircraft reflection which we completed very quickly and left him plenty time to make several CQ calls that went without answer before the Ryanair jet that made the contact possible went out of range.
Nothing heard from Bill G3JYP this month so the rare IO84 multiplier was missing as was IO82 which is increasingly joining the most wanted list!
Congratulations to John G3XDY who surpassed his previous record with 52 contacts on the night. A great result!

GM0USI     IO75      7
GM7GDE     IO75     22
GM0UHC     IO85     52
GM4PPT     IO75     56
GM4GUF/P   IO85     60
GM4YLN     IO85     68
GM4BYF     IO85     73
GM4JR      IO85    111
GM4LBV     IO86    141
GI6ATZ     IO74    199
G4KUX      IO94    214
GM3UAG     IO87    216
G1SWH      IO83    283
G1SMI      IO83    290
G4HGI      IO83    294
G4SCY      IO83    297
G8XVJ      IO83    307
GW8ASD     IO83    332
G3OHH      IO83    345
G4CBW      IO83    347
G3NEO      IO93    350
G0DJA      IO93    361
2E1EUB     IO92    367
G8OHM      IO92    425
G4KIY      IO92    466
G3NNG      IO91    511
G4BRK      IO91    517
M0GHZ      IO81    521
G0MJW      IO91    523
G3XDY      JO02    565
G4EAT      JO01    572
OZ1FF      JO45    782

A Google map of contacts can be viewed at http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/kml_files/2010/drBqwSdAn2cgAgHkZUoYluO4q52QfNf

73 Ray GM4CXM IO75TW