Commonwealth Contest 2013

The RSGB’s annual Commonwealth Contest takes place every March on CW the main HF bands. This year, as usual, several CARA members took part, with the following results.

Open Section (full licenced power, any aerials) – 159 entries

69th G4ENZ 12 hours 163 QSOs 101 call areas 3515 points
101st G3TEV 12 hours 108 QSOs 69 call areas 2400 points

Restricted Section (100W, simple aerials)- 111 entries

13th M0PCB 24 hours 186 QSOs 101 call areas 3580 points
25th M0NQN 12 hours 139 QSOs 88 call areas 2955 points
27th G3MZV 24 hours 138 QSOs 79 call areas 2870 points
74th G3NKS 12 hours 51 QSOs 38 call areas 1155 points
92nd G4MEM 12 hours 30 QSOs 16 call areas 570 points 20m single band

Team Section – 17 entries

13th Cheltenham ARA (M0PCB, G3MZV, G3TEV, G3NKS)

Apologies to Martin G4ENZ who should have been included in the team, but was inadvertently omitted. With his score included, we would have been much higher up the table.

Advance Exam Course

The Wythall Radio Club, B47 6LX, south west of Birmingham, will be running an Advanced Course for 14 weeks commencing Monday 2nd September.

Classes will be in the shack on Mondays from 8pm – 10pm. There are a couple of Saturday mornings, week 7 for test equipment measurements and week 13 for revision. The exam will be on Friday Dec 6th at 7pm.

The cost of the course will be £60 which includes course book, course materials, exam fees and admin costs.

If anyone is interested in going on this course then please contact the Training Coordinator, Chris, G0EYO AT blueyonder.co.uk

CQ WW DX CW Contest 2012

The results of the very popular CQ Magazine’s World Wide DX CW Contest held in November 2012 were published in the May 2013 edition of the magazine and are also available on the CQ Magazine website.

Contests may not appeal to all, but they certainly produce activity which otherwise is often, unfortunately, at a low ebb these days. The old saying “Use it or Lose it” still applies so in my view contests, DXpeditions, special event stations etc are a very good way to promote much needed activity and band usage.

The 48 hour CW contest produced 7,227 entries from across the world, with 218 DXCC entities being worked.

One of the attractions of the CQWW series of contests is that there are many sections and it’s possible to select one which meets one’s own interests and/or station capabilities. Perhaps this is why the contest attracts a good number of entries from CARA members. Here’s a listing and apologies if I’ve missed anyone:

Results for England:

All Band High Power:
6th: M0VSQ (op M0PCB) 575,082 points,1349 QSOs.
8th: G4SGI 420,072 points, 842 QSOs.

All Band Low Power (100W):
7th: G3NKS 323,890 points, 754 QSOs.
15th: M0NQN 21,420 points, 104 QSOs.
17th: G3XMM 6,868 points, 53 QSOs.

20m Single Band Low Power:
3rd: G4MEM 11,600 points, 161 QSOs.

40m Single Band Low Power Assisted:
1st G1N (op G3MZV) 51,175 points, 399 QSOs.
Gordon wins a certificate for leading this section, well done!

Other local Gloucestershire stations listed include:
G0HVQ, 2nd in All Band Low Power section.
G4KFT, 3rd in All Band Assisted section.
G3YEC, 15th in All Band Assisted section.

In total there were 98 entries from England, indeed an indication of the popularity of the contest.

“Assisted” means that DX cluster, RBN etc were used, i.e. not true single operator.

The 2013 CQWWDX CW takes places on 23rd/24th November. The SSB equivalent takes place on October 26th/27th October.

Derek – G3NKS