UKAC_Contest

The RSGB UKAC Tuesday evening contests finished off 2015 with considerably more interest and activity overall than it began the year with and many more clubs and contest groups are gearing up for 2016 with increased members and improved systems.

The Wirral & District Amateur Radio Club finished in 6th Position out of 132 affiliated Clubs in the UK. (Up from 10th in 2014). This was a tremendous result and due in no small part to the continued enthusiasm and guidance from Denis G3UVR and Frank G8REQ towards club participants.

Behind those 132 affiliated clubs/contest groups there were no less than 679 individuals who picked up a microphone and made contact with someone else during the year of Tuesday evenings and logged a call, which is a tremendous achievement.

This year we had the added generosity from our country member Bob G1ZJP (operating as M1MHZ) donating his points to WADARC. We thank him for every one of those points which helped our position no end .. and we also offer Bob our added congratulations as he came 2nd in the overall individual scores for the 3rd consecutive year ! A great achievement .. well done.

It cannot go un-mentioned that Frank and Denis finished 16th & 17th respectively out of the 679 which were both excellent performances.

This is primarily a Club event, however, the following table shows a summary of each WADARC member who took part together with their individual scores for each band they operated during 2015. Lets be clear, many people have jobs, family and other interests which make operating every Tuesday more difficult than for some. Also, not everyone has every band available due to limited radio's, antennas and space, but to use a well worn phrase .. "Your contribution is still very important to us" and much appreciated.

We hope that there may still be more club members who might be persuaded to join us in 2016 ? and certainly there have been murmurings of station improvements including new radio's, higher masts, better antennas and coax etc !! so fingers crossed.

If you are thinking you might like to join in for the 2½ hours on a Tuesday night - even if it is only for the 144MHz contest .. but would like more information on any details of the activity .. please do ask anyone of us shown in the list at either a club meeting or a Drink & Waffle as we would all be only too pleased to share our experiences and enjoyment with you and help get you started.

Finally .. a BIG thank you to everyone who has helped us achieve such a good result and put our Club firmly on the UKAC Contest map in 2015.

						Individual Scores

Pos	Call	50	Logs	70	Logs	144	Logs	432	Logs	1296	Logs	SHF	Logs	Total
Pos	Call	MHz	Logs	MHz	Logs	MHz	Logs	MHz	Logs	MHz	Logs	SHF	Logs	Total

2	M1MHZ	987	11	966	4	984	11	983	11	924	10			4844
16	G8REQ	757	11	695	3	831	12	837	12	889	12			4009
17	G3UVR	647	11	632	4	720	12	888	12	761	12	323	17	3971
114	G4OAR/A	376	11	247	4	458	11	344	12	176	6			1601
130	G6XHF	490	9			353	9	535	10					1378
131	M0WBG	440	11			532	12	403	12					1375
207	G4WUA	377	8			219	9	194	6					790
242	G4BKF	155	5			349	10	115	3					619
315	2E0WBL	224	7			34	2	92	3					350
335	2E0PSO					158	5	141	5					299
340	2E0DHM	144	5			84	5	66	4					294
366	M0HWO	147	5			63	5	39	4					249
438	G3UFO			95	2	34	1							129
512	GW4OKT	30	1			29	1							59
584	M6CUL							25	1					25
627	2E0ILO					11	1							11

Recently, the VHF Manager has brought to my attention an error in VHF General Rule 1(b). This error relates to the change in status in the RSGB band plans from Calling Frequency to Centre of Activity. The VHF Manager has informed me that a designated centre of activity should have the same protection as a calling frequency from use during a contest. The only difference between a calling frequency and a centre of activity is a station can conduct a contact on a centre of activity whereas a station can only establish initial contact on a calling frequency but then must change frequency before continuing with the contact. Thus a centre of activity provides a hole in the spectrum for a non-contesting station to conduct a contact.

Hence VHF General Rule 1(b) should read:

1b. Entrants must abide by their licence conditions and observe the RSGB/IARU band plans. On bands where the RSGB band plan specifies a calling frequency or a centre of activity, this frequency, +/- 5 kHz, must not be used for contest QSOs or any other contest related communications. GB2RS and GB2CW frequencies (+/- 5 kHz) must not be used during the period of a scheduled transmission from these stations. On 50MHz, entrants must not call CQ within the DX window (50.100 to 50.130MHz) unless they only conduct QSOs with stations located in other continents (i.e. inter-continental QSOs only).

The VHF General Rules will be formally amended in 2016. However, for the rest of 2015, entrants are asked to abide by the band plans and not use frequencies designated as Centres of Activity (+/- 5 kHz) for any contest related communications.

Ian G0FCT