Cheltenham Amateur Radio Association
G5BK CARA
Many congratulations to the CARA “SHF Group” for their success in the RSGB 10GHz UK Activity Contests 2015. Members taking part were Stewart G0LGS, Graham G3VKV, Nick G4WLC/P and Matt 2E0MDJ. This is the second year running that the group has taken first place in this annual event, and in 2012 and 2013 they were runners up. A commendable achievement. Well done!
This weekend, 7/8 June, clubs and groups throughout the British Isles, and also throughout Europe, will be heading for the countryside to operate under portable conditions to take part in the long running National Field Day event. This is a CW only contest which takes place on the six main HF bands and runs from 1500utc on the Saturday to 1500utc on the Sunday. Although the origins of the event are based on emergency communications, these days many regard it as an enjoyable and special contest where one can operate with decent aerials and away from the fog of urban QRM.
CARA will be represented by G5BK/P operated by Iain M0PCB, Peter G4ENA and Martin G4ENZ.
G3NKS/P will also be active, reviving the Great Western Contest Group which won the Restricted Section of NFD in 1981, 1982 and 1983.
Both stations will be entering the 12 hour Low-Power/QRP Section.
The dates for the next series of the RSGB’s Club Championship Contests are:
5th May – SSB
14th May – Data
22nd May – CW
Each contest runs from 1900-2030utc. Exchange RS(T) and serial number.
The full set of rules may be found on the RSGB website at:
https://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2014/r80mcc.shtml
CARA is doing reasonable well in the Local Clubs category but more support would help the club to climb further up the results table! All scores, no matter how modest, will be welcomed.
G3NKS
This year’s RSGB 80m Club Championship has been running for a couple of months now. CARA is climbing up the league table but more support would be much welcomed. The next contests are:
7th April: CW 1900 to 2030 utc
16th April: SSB 1900 to 2030 utc
24th April: Data 1900 to 2030 utc
Full rules may be found on the RSGB’s website.
Please get on the air, support your club and have some fun!
G3NKS
Once again CARA will be taking part in these annual contests for clubs affiliated to the RSGB.
Clubs may enter one or more teams of up to four stations in each team.
CW: Sunday 12th January 1400 to 1800utc.
Band: 3510 – 3560kHz. Note change from previous years.
SSB: Saturday 18th January 1400 to 1800utc.
Band: 3600-3650 kHz and 3700-3775 kHz. Note change from previous years.
In each contest, exchange: RST plus serial number starting at 001.
The full rules may be found on the RSGB website at www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2014/rafs.shtml
A summary of the rules appeared in December’s CARA News.
Although among club members we now longer have any really “big gun” stations, we are still capable of putting in a decent team score, particularly for the CW session. So please support your club and join in the fun.
Derek – G3NKS
The annual, and very popular, CQ Magazine’s World Wide DX CW Contest will take place over the weekend of 23/24 November. It runs from 00.00utc on the Saturday to 23.59utc on the Sunday and covers all of the six main HF bands from 160m through to 10m. Exchange RST (invariably 599) and your CQ Magazine Zone (14 for the UK). We are hoping to get CARA listed in the Club section this year, so if you send in an entry please put your club as “Cheltenham Amateur Radio Association” – providing you are a member, of course! We need at least four CARA entries to achieve a listing. So please join in the fun!
Google “CQ Magazine” to find the rules.
The results of HF CW National Field Day in June are now available on the RSGB website.
For various reasons G5BK/P was active for just a few day-time hours on the Sunday instead of the planned 24 hour period of the contest. The revised plan had been to enter the Low Power Section (5W, 12 hours max) but a misunderstanding of the antenna rules (by G3NKS!) meant that the entry had to go in the Restricted Section (100W and 24 hours). Not unexpectedly G5BK/P came 20th out of 20. Had the entry been eligible for the Low Power section the result would have been much better: 6th out of 10, not bad for just 7 hours of operation out of the 12 allowed and with no operation on 160m where there was a “times-two” points bonus for each QSO. However the exercise proved that QRP operation was fun and could produce good results, something to remember when future CARA entries in this annual event are being considered. The operators were G3NKS and G4ENA. The rig was an Elecraft KX3 and the antennas were dipoles for 40m and 20m on a common feeder. See photos elsewhere on this website.
Derek-G3NKS
The final results of the RSGB 80m Club Championship 2013 are now available.
For those not familiar with this annual competition, here’s a brief outline. Every month from February through to July there are three short 80m contests held during weekday evenings, one each on SSB, CW and data (PSK and RTTY), the days on which the contests take place vary from month to month (and often clash with CARA meetings). Clubs can field as many stations as they can muster. There are two categories: Local: where members taking part normally reside within 35km of the club’s meeting place, and General for clubs with a regional or national membership.
CARA enters the Local Club category and this year we achieved 8th position out of a total of 37 clubs in that category. This is a very pleasing result considering that we did not participate in three of the 18 sessions and that several of our higher scoring members missed other sessions too (often because of a clash with our meetings). Six CARA members contributed to the total score of 15,323 points: Martin G4ENZ (4,382 points), Derek G3NKS (3,914), Peter G4ENA (2,912), Gordon G3MZV (2,645), Ian M0ITF (1,286), Don G3ZKN (184).
Derek – G3NKS
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.
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