[UK-CONTEST] 144Mhz Trophy --lack of activity

Fri Sep 9 10:57:17 PDT 2011

Hi,

"Over the w/e in Kent we installed a 4 aerial system with one ant
permanently beamed to N/NW UK to GI & GM etc"

Were all the antennas energised at the same time or did you switch between 
Europe and the UK?

Bob G8HGN

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Parnell" <chris-g0hfx at hotmail.co.uk>
To: "UK contest Committee" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 10:40 PM
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 144Mhz Trophy --lack of activity

>
>
>
> Hi Guys,
> Ive been following this thread with interest & several factors stated by
> others are very relevant.
> For the UKAC (2m) contests I operate from IO80WX on the Dorset/Wiltshire
> border. Usually the IO80 square
> is only operated by a few "big" stations with good locations ie
> G3ZVW/G4RRA/ & me G0HFX, quite often I`m the only
> one on thus 80 sq is highly sought as a multiplier and thus I get a
> reasonable score.
>
> This site is, however, totally unsatisfactory for a "trophy" entry and of
> course as there are no multipliers in this contest one has to look for the
> best location where most stations are likely to be heard and also the best
> distances.
> This is inevitably Central Europe ( DL/OK/OL/OE/F/HB etc), these are not
> and would not be worked in sufficient quantity from a S-West or N or N-W
> location to provide a competitive score in the open section.
> Hence I travel, along with others, to JO01 to be assured of a good chance
> of a win or high results position.
>
> For a club or group to stand a chance of winning the trophy and being
> highly placed in the IARU rating, one definitely  needs to be located
> on/near the East Coast whatever others might think, even in the UKACs and
> other contests many of the high scores are achieved with numerous Kms from
> QSOs with the continent.
>
> Over the w/e in Kent we installed a 4 aerial system with one ant
> permanently beamed to N/NW UK to GI & GM etc (I`m sure we wkd you Steve),
> However the majority of our Q`s came from Europe where there is more
> commitment to VHF.
> I dont have this years log in front of me but of the circa 800 Q`s made I
> would guess that ,as in previous years the %tages would be approx 50%
> DL--30% rest of Eu and at best 20% UK.
>
> As for activity in the UK, yes it might be unsuitable to have HF NFD & 2M
> Trophy on the same w/e but even if not I doubt if this would ensure
> greater activity for the Trophy.
>
> There are probably two basic types of operator that enter the Trophy--the
> serious types who hope to be well placed at the end of the event and the
> other type who are just gaining experience, giving points away or looking
> for the unexpected DX.
>
> To enter with a hope of winning needs a dedicated and committed team who
> are prepared to travel somewhere to give themselves an edge, have access
> to a huge amount of equipment that is required to put up a competitive
> station, and be prepared to put up with a lot of discomfort and to cope
> with all the things that can and do go wrong in the field.
> For instance in last w/e`s Trophy we suffered V high winds, torrential
> rain, Thunder & lightning, staic rain QRN, and MCB/RCD tripping due to
> lightning, which probably cost us circa 4 hours of operating time overall.
>
> My home club (Trowbridge DARC) has a membership of 40/50, of which about a
> dozen or so show any interest in contests whether Trophy/AFS/UKCCs and
> much fewer with HF contesting.
> Most of the equipment for this years VHF NFD restricted entry was provided
> by 2 members M0GHZ & myself, and no other member has sufficient equipment
> to put on anything other than a lower average UKCC station, except for a
> few hardy /p operators (see latest claimed scores), However their
> commitment and accumulative scores in the 2m UKCC is very valid and is
> indicative of the Trowbridge Club`s 2nd position in the present UKCC 2m
> table.
> As for the Trophy contest I think the only club member active for a
> reasonable period was Peter 2E0NEY operating from home.
> There must be several if not numerous clubs in a similar position, that
> can get members to get on with their small home or /p small set-ups for a
> couple of hours but cannot/do not commit for a full w/e.
>
> Its a pity but few either in Trophy or UKCC appear to use KST or whatever
> and very few advertise their intention to be active or when.
> In UKCC during my CQing I always state square location and often direction
> beaming, but many dont.
>
> One final thought, it is far easier for a G3 or M3 or any other call
> variation to set up a reasonably simple but effective station at home with
> a G5RV & up to 100w and have a warm & comfortable few hours fun on the
> radio possibly working a few 100 stations, however very few of the same
> stations could set up an 8 ele beam, rotatable at 40ft with 100w on 2m and
> expect more than a couple of dozen Q`s for their effort, but at least they
> would have a dry bed at night and could watch TV if things got boring.
>
> If there are any comments that others do not agree with , then please dont
> whinge, this is just how someone who has had an interest in Ham radio
> since the mid 1950`s sees things and are related to my own experiences.
>
> Chris G0HFX
>
>
>
>
>> From: uk-contest-request at contesting.com
>> Subject: UK-Contest Digest, Vol 105, Issue 10
>> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
>> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 12:00:20 -0700
>>
>> Send UK-Contest mailing list submissions to
>> uk-contest at contesting.com
>>
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>>
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>> than "Re: Contents of UK-Contest digest..."
>>
>>
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>> 1. Re: 144MHz Trophy - lack of UK activity (Regwoolley at aol.com)
>> 2. Re: 144MHz Trophy - lack of UK activity (David G3YYD)
>> 3. Re: 144MHz Trophy - lack of UK activity (Rob Harrison)
>> 4. SSB FD G4ARN/P (Roger Cooke)
>> 5. Re: 2m Trophy etc (Ken Eastty)
>> 6. Re: 2m Trophy etc (Rob Harrison)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 06:57:40 -0400 (EDT)
>> From: Regwoolley at aol.com
>> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 144MHz Trophy - lack of UK activity
>> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
>> Message-ID: <398bf.6d1dbb48.3b99f9a4 at aol.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>>
>> I am I guess the closest station to the centre of England! It is now
>> deemed
>> to be a spot near the A5 close to Nuneaton, I am about 1km from it!
>>
>> I only came on during the Sat to do a bit of S&P I found there to be not
>> many fixed stations taking part in a serious way. However I found there
>> were a good few portables out there! The days of big activity like the
>> 80's
>> are now gone! However I myself do not think it was as dire a weekend as
>> many
>> are making it out to be!
>>
>> The more moans on reflectors saying oh there was no one to work. The less
>> folks well make an effort to get on. In other words you are the makers of
>> your own destiny! Maybe we should employ a spin doctor to put things into
>> a
>> better light!
>>
>> Reg G8VHI
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 08/09/2011 11:48:17 GMT Daylight Time,
>> g3yyd at btinternet.com writes:
>>
>> I came on first using my G3YYD callsign and after a dozen or so QSOs
>> could find no one else to work. I then worked a few more again using my
>> SCC M7T but got bored with it being so slow so went QRT to do something
>> more productive with my time.
>>
>> So for me John's analysis was spot on. I suspect others probably went to
>> HF and worked a lot more QSOs then they could on 144MHz. Personally
>> unless I am a serious entry, I only put an appearance in other contests
>> for practice purposes.
>>
>> 73 David G3YYD
>>
>> On 08/09/2011 07:04, John Lemay wrote:
>> > Probably a lot
>> > of them were coming on for a short period and giving away a few points
>> > before finding something else to do. It means that one must regularly
>> beam
>> > inland to sweep these guys up.
>> >
>> _______________________________________________
>> UK-Contest mailing list
>> UK-Contest at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:12:43 +0000
>> From: David G3YYD <g3yyd at btinternet.com>
>> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 144MHz Trophy - lack of UK activity
>> To: UK-Contest at contesting.com
>> Message-ID: <4E68A32B.5070106 at btinternet.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>
>> Stewart
>>
>> You always have a moan about not being heard down south.
>>
>> The first QSO in my log was GM3ZUK at 595Km as invariably I start out
>> beaming up the "spine" of the UK. Never heard you even though I swept
>> the band many times while beaming your way. You are slightly closer than
>> ZUK at 574Km. From memory he was a very good signal. I also worked EU
>> stations at 600+Km with best being 732KM.
>>
>> From my QTH, conditions were neither good nor bad just normal
>> troposcatter range. Seems to me you were just not on the band when I was
>> on from 1930 to 2040.
>>
>> 73 David G3YYD
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 13:53:09 +0100
>> From: "Rob Harrison" <robharrison at g8hgn.freeserve.co.uk>
>> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 144MHz Trophy - lack of UK activity
>> To: "David G3YYD" <g3yyd at btinternet.com>, <UK-Contest at contesting.com>
>> Message-ID: <7AF11FA8A1AE4240B846B7DCD011BD15 at G8HGN1442PC>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
>> reply-type=original
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> David raises a valid point, not all stations are on the band at all
>> times.
>> Plus for a 500+ km contact to take place you've both got to be beaming in
>> the right direction. Many stations were doing 6 hours only, so they could
>> be
>> on at any time, then there's the casual op's who come on when they can,
>> and
>> the Backpackers mid Sunday morning to finish time.
>>
>> You both could be calling CQ or both searching, either way you won't make
>> a
>> contact. A lot of the continentals will beam inland for long periods, as
>> that's where the most potential contacts are for them. They may not beam
>> your way when you're active. Many variables to consider.
>>
>> For me, doing a 6 hour stint, the WX and conditions seemed to favour
>> Saturday over Sunday, so that's when I operated in two 3 hours sessions,
>> Saturday afternoon shortly after the start and the evening form about
>> 1830z.
>> I suspect more casual ops would have come on Sunday, but that's just my
>> opinion. My tactics were S&P as calling CQ with 50W in a major contest
>> doesn't bring the rewards, and there are more Europeans to work than UK
>> at
>> considerably longer distances, from here in JO01. With 6 hours only it
>> was
>> the best way to maximise the score. Other contests need different
>> tactics.
>>
>> What's going to change it? Not a lot I fear. If you're a new group you
>> need
>> a good site, most are "taken" or full of comms anennas. So you go to a
>> site
>> you feel might work, try it out don't feel you've done well, and go HF.
>>
>> I do look for GM, but with not too many on the band, and weak here, it's
>> a
>> law of diminishing returns. I did work Stewart and GM4ZUK/p. Whether
>> anyone
>> else was active I don't know. Nothing heard from EI/GI this time.
>>
>> I felt there was good EU activity and fair UK activity on flat band.
>>
>> 73 Bob G8HGN
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "David G3YYD" <g3yyd at btinternet.com>
>> To: <UK-Contest at contesting.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 12:12 PM
>> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 144MHz Trophy - lack of UK activity
>>
>>
>> >
>> > Stewart
>> >
>> > You always have a moan about not being heard down south.
>> >
>> > The first QSO in my log was GM3ZUK at 595Km as invariably I start out
>> > beaming up the "spine" of the UK. Never heard you even though I swept
>> > the band many times while beaming your way. You are slightly closer
>> > than
>> > ZUK at 574Km. From memory he was a very good signal. I also worked EU
>> > stations at 600+Km with best being 732KM.
>> >
>> > From my QTH, conditions were neither good nor bad just normal
>> > troposcatter range. Seems to me you were just not on the band when I
>> > was
>> > on from 1930 to 2040.
>> >
>> > 73 David G3YYD
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > UK-Contest mailing list
>> > UK-Contest at contesting.com
>> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 4
>> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 16:42:56 +0100 (BST)
>> From: Roger Cooke <g3ldi at yahoo.co.uk>
>> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] SSB FD G4ARN/P
>> To: "uk-contest at contesting.com" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
>> Message-ID:
>> <1315496576.95085.YahooMailNeo at web28309.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>>
>> Norfolk ARC uses this contest primarily as a training ground, and a
>> contest for
>> the inexperienced to have some fun operating a decent station and do some
>> contest
>> operating. We entered the open section with a reasonable antenna
>> selection and a
>>
>> linear to enable them to work some DX and also use RUN to some extent,
>> something
>> that most of them cannot do with limited antennas and stations.
>>
>> ?Chris, G0DWV towed a trailer tower to our location together with an A4S
>> beam. We
>> strung up two delta loops for 80m and 40m. We used the Club's Pro III and
>> linear.
>>
>> We did not have a spotting station, nor any of the other sophisticated
>> assistance, just
>>
>> bare-bone operating, using N1MM. We didn't make a huge score, but
>> considering some
>> had not even been on HF before, let alone done any serious contesting, it
>> wasn't a bad
>> score. Heck, some person with a camera even got a picture of me in front
>> of a thingy,
>> oh yes, a microphone! Just testing prior to the contest. I did not make
>> any QSOs in the
>> contest, just talked a lot outside the operating van.
>>
>>
>> We had bacon butties for breakfast courtesy of David, G7URP, whose field
>> it was. It
>> was a typical summer day, cold, windy and raining at the end when we were
>> packing up.
>>
>> This is our effort:
>>
>> ??? Band??? QSOs??? Pts? DXC
>> ???????? 3.5???? 227??? 1013?? 22
>> ?????????? 7???? 238???? 984?? 26
>> ????????? 14???? 206???? 717?? 38
>> ????????? 21????? 36???? 113?? 24
>> ????????? 28????? 11????? 34??? 8
>> ?????? Total???? 718??? 2861? 118
>>
>>
>> ??????????? Score : 337,598
>> ?????????????
>> ?? Operators: 2E0GOL, 2E0DJR, 2E0CEY, 2E0GAX, 2E0RHT, M0UMH, G3XLG
>>
>> ?? Operators but mainly supervising: G0KYA, G0DWV, G4WUG, G3YLA
>>
>> ?? Nagging and coordinating only: G3LDI
>> ????
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards from Roger, G3LDI
>> Swardeston, Norfolk.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 5
>> Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:57:02 +0000
>> From: Ken Eastty <ken.g3lvp at btinternet.com>
>> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 2m Trophy etc
>> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
>> Message-ID: <4E68E5CE.6060902 at btinternet.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>
>> I agree,
>>
>> There's just not enough interest (especially among our club members) to
>> take part in portable contests except HF NFD, even that we can only just
>> manage, mixing HF & VHF wouldn't work for us, maybe there are now just
>> too many RSGB contests to fit in the available weekends.
>>
>> I spent a short time on 2m this weekend with the intention of giving
>> points away but got fed up with trying to decide which way to beam. This
>> was made more difficult as hardly anyone (as usual) gave a clue as to
>> their approximate location when calling CQ, the increasing number of
>> weird callsigns being used (which I fail to see the point of) doesn't
>> help when trying to decide which way to beam either. Is it really so
>> difficult to program the stations location into a voice keyer?
>>
>> From the depths of Cheltenham I never heard more than a handful of
>> stations at any one time which leads me to ask where the 7-800 stations
>> being worked by some were located, were most of them across the Channel?
>> I'd be surprise of many of them were in the UK. Perhaps a map of all of
>> the stations worked could be produced.
>>
>> Finally.....I notice the lack of Foundation & Intermediate calls
>> appearing in the entries for VHF contests, maybe not surprising when
>> these licensees are expected to compete with others running full legal
>> power. Perhaps separate sections for these licensees might encourage a
>> few more of them to have a go on on VHF instead of spending all of their
>> time on 80 & 40m etc.
>>
>> 73...
>>
>> Ken
>>
>> G3LVP
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi, Simple answer move SSB FD, the Trophy is a IARU co-ordinated event
>> so all of Europe is on the air that weekend. I'm assuming FD is not
>> co-ordinated outside the UK. I've never understood the logic of having
>> seperate VHF & HF contests over the same weekend, some people find it
>> difficult to get any time at all, let alone 24 hours, and then to have
>> two conflicting contests on the same weekend is just plain daft. I did
>> the Trophy in two 3 hours stints Saturday evening, virtually all S&P,
>> only worked one G, one GD and two GM's, all the rest from Europe. Like
>> John, no propogation to EA either, heard 5P5T for long spells, but
>> couldn't raise them.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 6
>> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 18:03:07 +0100
>> From: "Rob Harrison" <robharrison at g8hgn.freeserve.co.uk>
>> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 2m Trophy etc
>> To: "Ken Eastty" <ken.g3lvp at btinternet.com>,
>> <uk-contest at contesting.com>
>> Message-ID: <4082012E101B401B969AF54AD5A49417 at G8HGN1442PC>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
>> reply-type=original
>>
>> Ken,
>>
>> A single band effort on 144, or any other band, should be within your
>> clubs'
>> compass. Multi-band's a different thing.
>>
>> The bulk of the entrants were in Europe, UK activity was limited. For
>> reasons see my other post re times etc.
>>
>> The UKAC's on Tuesday evenings are well supported by Foundation &
>> Intermediate licencees. But this is 2+ hours on a weekday night, not
>> rather
>> longer over a weekend.
>>
>> 73 Bob G8HGN
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Ken Eastty" <ken.g3lvp at btinternet.com>
>> To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 4:57 PM
>> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 2m Trophy etc
>>
>>
>> >
>> > I agree,
>> >
>> > There's just not enough interest (especially among our club members) to
>> > take part in portable contests except HF NFD, even that we can only
>> > just
>> > manage, mixing HF & VHF wouldn't work for us, maybe there are now just
>> > too many RSGB contests to fit in the available weekends.
>> >
>> > I spent a short time on 2m this weekend with the intention of giving
>> > points away but got fed up with trying to decide which way to beam.
>> > This
>> > was made more difficult as hardly anyone (as usual) gave a clue as to
>> > their approximate location when calling CQ, the increasing number of
>> > weird callsigns being used (which I fail to see the point of) doesn't
>> > help when trying to decide which way to beam either. Is it really so
>> > difficult to program the stations location into a voice keyer?
>> >
>> > From the depths of Cheltenham I never heard more than a handful of
>> > stations at any one time which leads me to ask where the 7-800 stations
>> > being worked by some were located, were most of them across the
>> > Channel?
>> > I'd be surprise of many of them were in the UK. Perhaps a map of all of
>> > the stations worked could be produced.
>> >
>> > Finally.....I notice the lack of Foundation & Intermediate calls
>> > appearing in the entries for VHF contests, maybe not surprising when
>> > these licensees are expected to compete with others running full legal
>> > power. Perhaps separate sections for these licensees might encourage a
>> > few more of them to have a go on on VHF instead of spending all of
>> > their
>> > time on 80 & 40m etc.
>> >
>> > 73...
>> >
>> > Ken
>> >
>> > G3LVP
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Hi, Simple answer move SSB FD, the Trophy is a IARU co-ordinated event
>> > so all of Europe is on the air that weekend. I'm assuming FD is not
>> > co-ordinated outside the UK. I've never understood the logic of having
>> > seperate VHF & HF contests over the same weekend, some people find it
>> > difficult to get any time at all, let alone 24 hours, and then to have
>> > two conflicting contests on the same weekend is just plain daft. I did
>> > the Trophy in two 3 hours stints Saturday evening, virtually all S&P,
>> > only worked one G, one GD and two GM's, all the rest from Europe. Like
>> > John, no propogation to EA either, heard 5P5T for long spells, but
>> > couldn't raise them.
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > UK-Contest mailing list
>> > UK-Contest at contesting.com
>> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> UK-Contest mailing list
>> UK-Contest at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>>
>>
>> End of UK-Contest Digest, Vol 105, Issue 10
>> *******************************************
>
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