Good morning Bob,

What a pleasant surprise to find your email when I opened my mailbox this morning. 

This comes 50 years after making it to 5th place in the 1974 BERU Contest. I first took part in the contest in 1971. BERU was very different then as was the equipment used. It was a 48 hour contest and my first participation was made with an AR88 receiver, a home brew 2×807 cw transmitter, and a wet strings on the roof. TX/RX antenna switching was manual and the home brew electronic keyer was a bit of a marvel in itself, with a modified switch from a telephone system used as a paddle, but given your G3 callsign you probably know all about this. Nonetheless, around 450 QSOs were made. By the time 1974 came, a Trio TS510 was in use and this time round an ICOM IC7300.

Band conditions were not at their best this time round, but did provide some good dx QSOs. I would love to see some more Commonwealth countries participating in BERU. There is activity, though not as much as in the old days, but there are stations across the Commonwealth who could easily put in an appearance if not be there for the whole contest. Unfortunately CW activity has declined across the board, and disappointing band conditions in this and last cycle have not helped either.

I will let you have that picture you requested by this weekend.


73, Joe 9H1CG