[UK-CONTEST] G0MTN New Year Message 2012

[Lee Volante]

Hi all,

 

Apologies, I'm a bit late this with this missive this year, so we'll have to call this a "New Year" message instead of the more traditional Christmas one!  As usual, I'll give a summary of what I achieved (or didn't), what have been some other trends during the year, and some hopes for this next year.  

 

I'll also try to keep this relatively short, as it seems that not many people made it to the end of last year's lengthy 7000 word posting. In order to not be misinterpreted it's often necessary to be quite verbose, but I'll aim to be more succinct this time.  Last year's message is in the archives here:  http://lists.contesting.com/pipermail/uk-contest/2010-December/017762.html  Most of the comments seem to still be valid now - it's interesting to see what changes and what stays the same after another 12 months have gone by - so perhaps give it a read if you skipped it originally.

 

For 2011, the numbers show that 77 contests were entered, with 16,645 QSO being logged in total. These are bigger totals than the previous last year, although below average considering the last few years. All time QSO totals for G0MTN sit at 214,000.

 

As I look back through the log and my summary spreadsheet, most of the activity was at the start of the year, with 27 contests entered in the first 3 months. No events particularly stand out - it seems I dropped into many weekend HF contests for a few hours, but I was not operating many of them particularly seriously. 

 

In AFS CW I was only part time, and from my summary comments in AFS SSB either I didn't fight hard enough for, or camp out early enough for a run frequency at the start and made for a mediocre result there as well.  I see I made a few hundred QSOs each in ARRL DX CW and SSB on the high bands. I did log 1300+ QSO in the Russian DX Contest in March in 16 hours - the activity here is growing year on year so I will try to see if it's possible to squeeze in a full time entry in 2012.

 

I found some focus and free time in the CQ WPX RTTY contest, making 687 QSO in the 20m Low Power category. This ended up being the Leading Tribander/Single element entry in the world, but against only a handful of competition. Whilst still gratefully received, that certificate sits in a folder, and I'm not sure whether I should have operated all band and made more contacts which may have been more fun.

 

RoPoCo SSB was a new arrival in the calendar this year. Despite a few worrying moments right at the start when it appeared that very few people were taking part, a steady number of contacts enjoyed exchanging post codes on SSB - truly something different which added a bit of variety to the calendar.

 

In contrast to the single band entry WPX RTTY, for WPX CW later in the year I turned on the amplifier to see what I could achieve in the SOAB HP category. 1840 QSOs were logged, but I was trailing significantly behind great scores from G6PZ and G5W which was to be expected.

 

In the summertime, I logged some NFD QSOs from home, and submitted my log to the Germans for entry in their tables. For VHF NFD I was out portable with the Wythall team, where alongside the QSOs we enjoyed some good team bonding - including what looked like a family Christmas dinner when we all gathered under a gazebo to eat our evening meal.  Wythall also fielded a team for SSB Field Day, blowing the cobwebs off the mobile Versatower for a change. Despite great high band conditions various hardware issues kept the operators off air for too many hours - but there's been a promise made that things will be bigger and better for 2012.

 

>From home, more part time entries notched up another 400 QSO in IARU, 125 in IOTA. At this time 10m and even 15m were not shining as they have been recently, and it seems I ran out of steam in IARU and starting chasing GR2HQ band slots as a bit of fun instead.  In IOTA I remember the frustration of waiting for IOTA stations to give their callsign, and then further queuing trying to break their pileups. Just calling CQ would net QSOs far more easily, but as I proved last year that's not a winning formula by itself. IOTA remains one of the more frustrating contests to operate in during the year. I'd entered most of the 80m CC series alongside several of my local club teammates, but very few of the VHF/UHF UKAC this year. I did a little 'reverse guest operating' in the 80mCC to demonstrate how PC logging / keying work for a friend, which was an eye opener and they've be brave enough to call CQ since.

 

August brought the EU HF Championship, a contest for which my antennas are 'optimised.'  I also tried High Power in this one for a change, racking up 916 QSO in the 12 hours. However, I only reached 50th place in this category when the results were published. I am more usually a little more competitive in the Low Power category, but it was a fun entry nevertheless. The end of the summer and the start of autumn were filled with the All Asian, RSGB Sprints, and the BARTG 75 contests, which I was just trying to give some points away when I had some time.

 

The big events in the autumn are the three CQ WW DX contests on RTTY, SSB and CW.  I was fired up for the first RTTY event, managing to stay in the chair for 42 hours in the All Band Low Power category. Conditions were excellent on 15m, and better than they'd been for years on 10m.  The G record fell with many hours to go, and I was working new US States for multipliers right in the closing minutes on 20m at 1 a.m. local time before I closed with 1571 QSOs and 1.9m points. Other UK High Powered and/or Assisted entries did even better. Considering it was the first CQWW RTTY contest in recent memory with good 10m conditions, when the overall participation in contests, especially RTTY contests, has been growing, many commentators said it was the 'best RTTY contest ever.'  The weekend long JARTS event that followed soon after seemed to have even better conditions, but perhaps not as many entrants.

 

Things were looking very good for CWWW SSB. Facebook was full of comments from friends who were looking forward to the contest, either from home, their local clubs, or making travels around the world. This was going to be a party and you didn't want to be left out. Unfortunately I was just too tired to "go for it" 100%. So I left the horrendous pileups alone, and called CQ far more often that I would otherwise. 1489 QSOs were logged, but with none on 40m (TVI) or 160m (antenna stuck in tree.)  After the event it seemed that records were falling left, right and centre - it was a magical year for CQ WW - the later summer improvement in sunspot activity coming just in time, and the A and K indices were playing ball and letting LF still run also. If I remember 40m was the star band for many people and groups.

 

I had planned to operate seriously for CQWW CW too. I'd had a very kind offer to travel to the US to operate multi-multi, but I had to decline through work pressures, and also through trying to save some money. So my usual plan was to book the afternoon off work on the Friday so I could prepare antennas in the light, and spend Monday dozing and reading 3830 reports. But I was still in the office after 6pm, and not feeling like spending the whole weekend at the radio. So again focussed on the high bands, with a little bit of 80m on Sunday night, not worrying about multipliers too much, and logged a personal best of 2136 QSOs in just over 20 hours. I still had fun, but it would have been really great to have operated full time with a big score, rather than a high QSO tally being the goal.

 

Brownie points were starting to run out soon afterwards, so I had a few hours in the ARRL 10m contest and notched up 441 QSOs. Conditions weren't quite as good as during the CQWW test, with lots of echo, reflections and multipath hampering QSOs. I hadn't planned on being particularly active, but finally with some good conditions it would have been a shame to miss out, especially after struggling for so many year's previously to get to even 50 QSOs.

 

I put a small horizontal antenna up on my small tower for 144 MHz AFS, but this gave disappointing results, probably due to the length of the lossy feeder involved. Must think 'bigger and better' for next time. I noticed I had variable SWR on 20m on my Force12 C3SS mini-beam. I've seen this before, normally due to worsening contacts between the linear loading parts and the main element from rain and greenery from the garden. Taking it all apart, rubbing everything down, crossing fingers and spraying with WD40 normally does the trick. To my horror when I came to undo one of the linear loading parts I sheared the metal rod. Bending a new rod to shape looked tricky, replacing with an official part looked expensive, and my efforts to rejoin the break in the garden were frustratingly not successful. To date, an integral part of the lashed up repair is tape, and this appears to be holding so far (!) Note to self: Murphy is guaranteed to pay a visit just before the next contest I really want to operate in, so I'll need to prepare a more robust repair sometime soon.

 

That brings us pretty much up to date in terms of operating. For 2012, I expect to be on the air less as work and family life compete even harder against radio time. I should try more VHF and portable activity next year - this year I've been operating mostly from home.

 

What else has happened this year?  Contest University went well for another year at the RSGB Convention, thanks to Mark M0DXR and his team of presenters. Whilst a number of the presentations are staple topics and useful for anyone attending for the first time, finding brand new topics for the regular attendees must be a growing difficulty. One suggestion has been whether there could be new audiences for CTU by considering additional or alternative venues, such as the RSGB National Hamfest. One highlight from this year was the Contest Exchange, which has now enabled more Guest operation to occur than might have done otherwise.  Back in May I also watched one of the opening Dayton USA CTU presentations live over the Internet during my lunchbreak at work - that was fun.

 

I volunteered to take over the UK CQWW liaison role from Roger G3SXW. If you have any queries about the CQWW SSB and CW contests please get in touch and I'll see what I can do to assist. Thanks again to Roger for his 20+ years of being in this role.  I'm also still writing for the CDXC Digest. With the experience of a few years behind me, it seems that asking the public at large for material or suggestions very rarely brings a reply, although by politely asking individuals to write a few words they're normally very happy to oblige. I may come calling in 2012!

 

After a spot of bother with politics and clashing personalities earlier in the year which was threatening to overshadow events at my local Wythall club, the "having fun with RF" motto is back and working well. The traditional Christmas contest, a fun even where club members work each other over the week between Christmas and New Year has been well received. It's been giving club members a reason to dust off their radios and get on air, pass greetings, intermixed with a little competitive activity. Finding 'rare club members' who act as multipliers has been fun. To spice things up a little, bonus points for operating on different HF and VHF bands and modes, as well as operating mobile and portable have been thrown into the mix. This has triggered some inventiveness from club members trying to earn these points, and if several have tried PSK63 on 10m for the very first time, it means they will have the ability and more confidence to try some new bands or modes in 2012 working other people too. It's a mini version of the ARRL Field Day, which is still a competitive event, but with the emphasis more on the 'taking part' than on the winning, and promoting a diverse spread of operating on digital, satellite, passing greetings messages and so on. Traditional UK contesters have not warmed to this idea when suggested at previous RSGB Convention forums, but perhaps something similar may appeal to 'clubs' one day.

 

Other good news I've heard recently is that my old University radio club, G3KMI in Southampton, is enjoying a revival after falling silent for several years as the 'radio club' became involved with 'wifi networking' rather than what we enjoy as mainstream amateur radio. I agree with earlier comments that many clubs are on the wane in the UK, but those with a training programme generating new licensees, and those with an activity programme have never been in better health.

 

On UK-Contest, the rules debates have continued to run and run. Entrants from different parts of the country have expressed their views, but largely with stalemate resulting. There's no perfect set of rules so that the time spent / skill used / equipment invested by each entrant proportionately translates to a results table. Many entrants are not expecting to win anyway. A number of contesters have asked that the contest committee be more open and transparent in future when rules changes are made, perhaps with some discussion with a variety of potential entrants before any changes are published.

 

We had a kerfuffle over the revised 160m contest rules, complaints about lack of non-Tuesday VHF contest activity, some old favourites such as "when does the contest end", why do we put up with PSK for contests, and lots of general confusion and mixed messages about any HF and VHF rules changes. Not too many reports of operating or station building intermixed with this, but thanks to those that have posted upbeat inspiring messages. There was a lot of discussion about the anti-contester letters to RadCom, which was 'resolved' in RadCom by printing some letters from both sides. Whilst more 'facts' were able to be put across by contesters, it didn't definitively close the 'debate' and no doubt there will be more of the same to come in the future.

 

I've no particular axe to grind with the committee myself - the views I've expressed querying some (to my mind) unusual decisions in 2011 are the same as I would have done when on the committee itself a year or two ago. My overall message to the committee is a) well done on the day to day management of contests, the log entry robot, website, and results turnaround, b) please try harder with communication and how/when rule changes are considered and announced, and c) please consider more about 'UK contesting' i.e. information, multi-media, more acknowledgement of non-RSGB events, as much as 'running the RSGB contest programme.'  

 

Internationally, the Skimmer furore from previous years is settling down. More stations are now using panadapters to find openings and gaps in busy bands. This caused some comments from stations entering NFD, where perhaps the latest technology requiring Internet connectivity was not within the spirit of the event, and this has been taken into consideration for the future. Elsewhere, leading contest sponsors continue to crack down on cheaters with more disqualifications, reducing the log submission times, and also speeding up the results production. Individual UK SCC's are seen in many contests, but some do appear to be quite rare on the bands. VK, ZL and EI have seen some contest specific or general power increases recently - I wonder if we would ever see the same here, or is maintaining the status quo easier for the regulatory authorities, so "John in suburbia" with a G5RV won't try an Alpha amplifier with inpunity because he incorrectly thinks "his licence says he can" ?

 

UK and Worldwide participation continues to increase across all sorts of events. In the UK it's good to see a number of clubs inspiring more people to try contesting - but this needs to spread further. HF conditions are improved, and VHF activity levels are (generally speaking) no longer declining. The flies in the ointment on HF are continued power abuse from various parts of the world, the apparently growing number of 'point and click' operators with poor on-air pileup behaviour, and the DX stations not identifying frequently and in effect pandering to the 'cluster worshippers.' TVI, EMC and antenna issues plague more each year - how many people take part in their hobby from home with a sense of guilt!?

 

With best wishes for 2012 to everyone on the list, if they prefer to operate closer to DC or to light, and to those on contest committees and elsewhere that give their time so we may enjoy our part of the hobby, to improve radio contesting and ensure it will have a rosy future.  What did you do last year, and plan to do in 2012?

 

73,

 

Lee G0MTN