On March 5th & 6th the RSGB & IARU R1 - 144 MHz & 432MHz International Trophy Championship Contest took place. I was out active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T" from Locator square JO01KJ. There was a lot of preparations to be made for this contest so we arrived on the site Thursday Night with half the group and started put together our station for the weekend. With weather conditions against us we worked hard all day Friday and finally got all antenna systems built and working by Saturday afternoon just in time for the start of the contest at 14:00UTC.
Mike G8TIC on 144MHz
144MHz - 6 x 3ele DK7ZB Array
144MHz - 6 x 3ele DK7ZB & 4 x 10ele DK7ZB array & 2 x 14ele Array
144MHz - 4 x 10ele DK7ZB Array
144MHz - 2 x 14ele DK7ZB Array in the sunshine
432MHz - 4 x 17ele LFA Array & 21ele F9FT Tonna
432MHz setup
As for the contest conditions they were well down compared to last year, there was no Tropospheric ducting throughout the weekend and on 144MHz our Preamp failed on our 4 x 10ele system which didn't help us and as for 432MHz contest conditions were very poor but with some surprises in the log. UK activity very poor on both bands over the weekend, it was very cold overnight but we managed to keep warm with a gas fire.
We finished up the contest with the following claimed score:
144MHz:
587 QSO's with 406 Points Per QSO - Totaling 238,175 Points, ODX - DL0HTW @ 874km
432MHz:
118 QSO's with 340 Points Per QSO - Totaling 40,064 Points, ODX - DM3F @ 869km
Once again thanks to everyone for the QSO's and Points, looking forward to working you in the next one.
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UPDATE 04/04/2016
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March 144/432 MHz 2016
Conditions in this event were generally described as "poor", "awful" and "dire". Together with this many entrants commented on the low levels of activity, particularly in the UK. The number of entries was 30% down on 2015, mainly in the fixed station sections. Portable entrants had to endure low temperatures, rain, sleet, snow, freezing fog and muddy ground.
On 144MHz 85 squares were worked. There were only 11 tropo QSOs greater than 800kms and a further 42 QSOs between 700 and 800kms. The best contact was between M0HRF/P and DR1H at 875kms. Six MGM contacts were completed with the best QSO between GM8IEM and OH6KTL at 1523kms.
On 432MHz 63 squares were active. There were 17 contacts over 700kms and a further 18 between 600 and 700kms. The best contact was between G3M and DM5D at 825kms.
Logging standards were relatively poor with 6.6% of QSOs being disallowed. For the first time in this contest, logs were exchanged with our European neighbours and the logs from DL, F, ON and PA were used in the adjudication. Entrants will notice that this showed high numbers of discrepancies in their longer distance contacts.
Congratulations go to:
The Blacksheep Contest Group, G8T, who won the open section for the second year running;
Roger, G3MEH, who won the single operator fixed section;
Alastair, G4RUL/P, for winning the single operator others section;
The Vecta CG, M0VCT/P, who won the six-hour open section;
Richard, GD8EXI, who won the six-hour single operator fixed section for the third year running;
Roger Dixon, G4BVY
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