| Every BERU weekend we have a strong storm. No exception yesterday with high winds and heavy wet snow! Early on, my remote fan dipole was impacted with high SWR and the ATU was going crazy trying to keep up. I moved to the high bands early as aresult. Later around dusk the situation had resolved itself somehow and I could operate on 80 and 40 but with reduced power to 200W. The expected promise of a wide open 10M did not materialize for me but 20 and 15 were very productive. Suprised by calls from 9J2REK 15M and 5H6PJ 20M ..thanks! The storm dumped about 20cm here at home and I took two breaks to clear snow during the day. A number of requests for QSY were gladly accomodated. Managed to break 500 Q’s in the 12hrs which is better then last year by a nice margin. Many thanks to all who called and especially those who called me by name! I was able to recipocate in several cases. 73 Frank VO1HP |  |
VO1HP
30 Thursday Mar 2023
Commonwealth Contest 
Hello Bob,
I was very pleased to receive the results of the 2023 Commonwealth Contest a few days ago. In the past I have often struggled to make more than a few tens of contacts in the contest so this year I was very surprised and excited to make 160 contacts, about 100 more that I have ever achieved before. For the first time conditions were such that I could operate as a “run” station instead of strictly “search and pounce”. From my QTH near Whitehorse it is also difficult to make contacts in AfricaI so it was very special to contact 5Z4VJ in Kenya. I also really appreciate the summary I received that shows my errors. I think these summaries are really helpful because they show common errors that suggest improvements for next time.
At the time of the Commonwealth Contest the weather here is often cold with morning temperatures in the mid minus 30C range, although it tends to warm up quite a lot by the afternoons. It is nice to be inside enjoying the contest and the sense of friendly comradeship that seems to me to be a feature of this contes.
73,
Allen, VY1KX
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