29 Thursday Mar 2018
Posted in DXpeditions, News, Reports
Hello Contesters,
Here are some photos from the 3B8XF BERU entry….
http://www.g3txf.com/dxtrip/3B8XF/3B8-Mar-18.html
As can be seen from the BERU Score summary….
http://www.g3txf.com/dxtrip/3B8XF/BERU-DX-ped-scores.htm
…. this year was an all-time low (521) in QSO numbers and in score.
[The nice 80m vertical shown in these photos was unfortunately not being used during BERU].
73 – Nigel G3TXF
23 Friday Mar 2018
Posted in News
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2018 15:21:29 GMT
Just to add to the discussion – VP8RAF/100 will active from the 1st April 2018 until the 31st March 2019 operated REMOTELY from the UK courtesy of Babcock Communications. Whether it will be active during BERU is another matter.
73
Colin, G3PSM
19 Monday Mar 2018
Posted in DXpeditions, News
KISS why I love the seaside QTHr when DX. Still cannot beat the C5 one sand bar 3 miles into the Atlantic
The VDA was in same place…. 20 sec view (in the dark!) seemed to indicate that the driven was not working properly and BOTH sides, so centre and outer of the feeder were bonded… how the heck that happened I dunno. Anyway, grabbed a PL239 dipole centre and made up a 20m gp fast, and put it up… and it worked 1st time, no time to think about other fixes it worked.
The sparking from the 80m and 40m coax was worrying and meant no 80m and 40m just when probably needed it…. maybe I need to think about lightening in next build
Still qrp I seemed to do OK. No BS really was just KX3 5W, prop was odd later in week some W5 guy said I was 599+20 and then 10 mins later 319 if lucky. QSB was complex mix of fast and slow too. I had a few qso with QRP guys in UK one he was not even 1W to an EFHW (using RG174) on 20m and he was on a hill so I KNOW propagation was there.
How the heck some of the mega guru DXers with all the antennas etc say they couldn’t hear me I dunno. On 20m RBN was saying I went from 46dB at one point with a GW to -1dB same station and I changed nothing ZL2iFB QSO on 20m as well. GL on the 4sq.
72 Dom M1KTA
Contest : RSGB Commonwealth Contest
Callsign : C6AKT
Mode : CW
Category : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay : —
Band(s) : All bands (AB)
Class : QRP
Zone/State/… :
Locator : FL15OJ
Operating time : 6h57
BAND QSO DUP DXC HQ POINTS BONUS AVG
——————————————–
80 10 0 4 3 50 200 25.00
40 20 0 4 5 100 280 19.00
20 59 3 17 7 290 700 16.78
15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
——————————————–
TOTAL 89 3 25 15 440 1180 18.20
============================================
19 Monday Mar 2018
Posted in DXpeditions, News
Hi all,
Back in UK since Sunday pm and unpacking through bit of jetlag. Might be
a day or so (got to be at the salt mines sadly earning more DX travel
tokens) but I’ll create a report for Bob et al.
In short tnx for adding me to team Carribean hope I wasn’t too far off
the pace.
Barring logging errors I should have c85-90 QSO in the log. Pretty sure
I logged the HI9/F… stn as non-Beru doh! Not too bad show given
conditions as a QRP station, zero internet so unassistaed not that it
would have made any difference the local mobie tower was taken out it
seems. I was QRT for much of the last 5 hours through thunderstorms so
missed the expected G run on 40m sadly. I had no choice after couple
close strikes once the first storm passed over just after midnight but
the two 80m and all four 40m GP’s for the 4SQ HAD to come down, the coax
was sparking to ground. Must work out how I might keep them up next time?
The 20m VDA was replaced by a simple 20m GP that I put right at the
waters edge that performed much better, got to work that one out for
sure as should have been the other way around!
72
Dom
M1KTA/C6AKT
18 Sunday Mar 2018
Team 1 Australia
VK2BJ 308 4,815
VK4CT 332 5,005
VK4SN 212 3,700
VK6LW 505 5,930
VL6VZ 324 4,200
Total 1,681 23,650
Team 2 Australia
VK2GR 249 4,045
VK2PN 191 3,025
VK3JA 209 2,335
VK3MI 109 2,205
VK7BO 263 4,015
Total 1,021 15,625
Other VK Log Submissions
VK2EL 46
VK2IG 112
VK3GK 13
VK4FJ 9
VK4TT 45
VK5WIA 119 (VK5GR)
VK6HG 49
Regards,
Allan Mason, JP, VK2GR
15 Thursday Mar 2018
Hi all,
As usual another enjoyable contest from VK4. The poor band conditions certainly created a challenge. A long-path 20m opening to VE was a pleasant surprise, just before daylight on our Sunday morning.
That opening worked well with a dipole, having no front to back ratio.The best surprise was when 40m opened for a nice run between 06:50 and 08:00 UTC with 57 Q. The five band jackpot went to 9M6, VK2, VK3, and VK6. Four bands with 3B8XF, just missed on 10m
The 12 hour operation created an opportunity to experiment with strategy.
From VK4, under poor conditions, 12 hours can do better than 24 hours.
There are good reasons why that is the case from VK4. The reverse would be so under good band conditions.
Anyhow, there is always more to learn about 12 hour strategy.
Antennas: dipoles on all bands, rotary on 40, 20, 15, and 10m
Entry: Open Single Operator Assisted, 12 Hours
Claimed score: 5,005
From 332 QSO (raw)
80: 46 QSO, 31 Bonus
40: 167 QSO, 61 Bonus
20: 92 QSO, 49 Bonus
15: 20 QSO, 20 Bonus
10: 7 QSO, 7 Bonus
Thanks Steve and everyone for being part of another pleasant weekend.
73, John VK4CT
15 Thursday Mar 2018
I need to :
1. Properly understand propagation, especially the marginal openings
2. Sort out 40m. For the next few years I have to be able to exploit 40 to the fullest extent possible
3. Sort out a low noise RX set up for 80 together with as effective TX vertical as I can put up
4. All aspects of my operating style need to be sharpened up, QSYing DX, second RX operating, using skimmer, setting up the K3 properly, using WT …
And finally staying awake and motivated when the going gets slow.
What does your list look like?
73 Bob G3PJT
14 Wednesday Mar 2018
Posted in News
14 Wednesday Mar 2018
From: Graham G4FNL
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2018 19:34:30 GMT
A brief update from me from the Commonwealth Contest where I was operating as G6XX, located in Brighton, UK last weekend:
Despite the poor conditions I thoroughly enjoyed the contest – and being an HQ station meant that I was kept relatively busy throughout. Like others, I find 24 hours continuous operating quite difficult (especially after a long working week.) For this contest I considered my role as ‘cannon fodder’ and was there for the benefit of other entrants. I hope I did a reasonable job – but I am not sure. I almost always called CQ – but I did also have the cluster running and would occasionally chase a new mult and those that I thought might be able make multiple bands QSOs with me. It seems that I was partially successful – but I realised that after trying to call some of the more marginal ZLs, VKs and West Coast VEs that my DX signals on 80m and 40m just aren’t good enough. So further work to do next time. I did manage 11 x 5-band QSOs – but they were all with stations within the UK. 10m was tough with just a total QSO count of 19 on that band and my best ‘DX’ was with my friends at GD6XX! I did manage a total of 18 x 4-band QSOs including the following calls: 3B8XF, 9H3ET, G6HCC GB5CC, GM4Z, VE3FJ and VK2BJ. Other stats are 54 x 3-band, 58 x 2band and 105 unique Qs. The overall QSO breakdown band by band is below (hopefully the formatting remains intact).
BAND QSO CTY HQ
3.5 147 32 5
7 158 58 6
14 145 57 7
21 38 10 1
28 19 4 1
Total 507 161 20
My station consisted of an Elecraft K3 + Alpha 89 amp, with a TB3 triband Yagi for HF at 60ft and a dipole for 40m at 70ft and ¼ wave vertical or a doublet at 60ft on 80m and some dubious beverage RX antennae
Thanks to EVERYONE for the QSO in the contest. See you next time……
73 Graham G4FNL
13 Tuesday Mar 2018
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Commonwealth Contest 