VY1KX

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

VO1HP

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

BERU HQ station G5WS

Don Beattie, G3BJ 6:52pm

Here’s a short report on the contest from my perspective. I offered to run the England HQ station, using the call G5WS, so my results are not really comparable with those in the UK not able to work UK stations.

Firstly, from a personal perspective G5WS call could have been a better choice – in the early hours I found myself, when using the paddle, reverting to G5W and having to correct myself.  Also it brought back to me how important it is to have a call on CW which ends with a “hard” letter (a dash or two). I found the “s” getting misread too many times – I suspect G5WS will be busted in some logs. There seemed fewer problems with non-BERU countries trying to join the contest this year – perhaps word is spreading about what it’s all about.  

Conditions for me were mixed – generally good HF conditions combined with rather flat DX conditions on 80m and to an extent also on 40m. The auroral rasp was very prominent on many signals on Saturday evening. Also, the strong back-scatter on UK stations on HF meant that some were quite tricky to copy at speed. I hope however that UK stations were able to copy G5WS and get the band bonuses they wanted.

I think I’m quite a way behind Graham G4FNL running GB5CC, so well done to him – he seemed a big signal everywhere.

BERU is a great test of propagation knowledge and perseverance – I plan to be back as a “normal” entrant next year.

For what it’s worth, here are the numbers, and I’ve added an extra column so that the comparable QSO numbers can be seen when eliminating all UK QSOs.

Thanks to all for the fun.

Don, G3BJ

BAND   QSO Excl.UK DUP DXC  HQ  POINTS BONUS AVG

————————————————–

   80    97   43     1  16   2     215   560  7.99

   40   155   70     0  29   3     350   980  8.58

   20   187  120     4  31  11     550  1460 10.75

   15   167   89     3  29   7     445  1160  9.61

   10   140   71     0  29   5     355  1060 10.11

————————————————–

TOTAL   746   383    8 134  28    1915  5220  9.56

==================================================

            TOTAL SCORE : 7 135

Don Beattie G3BJ / G5W

10m conditions

Last night, Barry VK2BJ sent a text to say that 10m was open to EU on the long path.  Indeed, great LP conditions from 1000 to 1030 UTC. Many UK stations worked.

This morning 10m was very good from 2030 to 2020 UTC to NA and on the LP to the UK.  So, the Commonwealth Contest (BERU) could be good fun on the 10m band.

In contrast this week, the 80m band has been a poor performer compared to the last couple of weeks.

Good luck to all playing this weekend in the Commonwealth Contest.

.

73,
Allan Mason, VK2GR

Pre-BERU dinner near Paphos

Hello Bob,

Here’s a photo from last night’s pre-BERU dinner near Paphos:

Alan 5B4AHJ, David 5B4AJT, Bob 5B4AGN, Mike 5B/G3VYI and Nigel 5B/G3TXF

73 – Nigel G3TXF

Last-minute BERU entrant : 5B/G3TXF

Hello Bob,

Here’s a last-minute BERU entrant : 5B/G3TXF

Yesterday met up with Mike 5B/G3VYI, Bob 5B4AGN, Alan 5B4AHJ and David 5B4AJT.

This will be my 15^th BERU trip. The first after a pause of three years.

73 – Nigel 5B/G3TXF

VE7RAC Canadian HQ station will be active

‘ll be operating as VE7RAC.
73 Brian, VE7JKZ

Kevin’s latest podcast

Hello Bob 

Hope all is well with you, here is a link to my latest podcast

See you on the weekend

73’s Kev

VK6LW (VK6T)

5B/G3VYI Antenna at night

Suitcase antenna by the moon near Coral Bay

Commonwealth Contest – mults support updated

Hi Bob and all

The following software supports the updated mults (addition of 5V, TR and removal of Z2 for the 2023 running on the contest):

• Win-test v4.46 (if in doubt, there is CTY_CMW.DAT in the Win-test repo with the updated mults listing)
• DXLog – confirmed in the current version as of Feb 2023.
• N1MM+ v1-0-9826 onwards (version dated 7th March 2023).
  • NOTE: The previous version still included Z2 as a mult. TR and 5V are included as mults.
• SD – unconfirmed. Not mentioned in v21.80 release notes.
• Skookumlogger – although updated, the app may not appear in the App Store before the contest.

Mike

G7TWC