The results of the Commonwealth contest were published.

 

As I member of the team Australia 2, I was quite pleased with the result.

 

 

 

Commonwealth contest know as BERU this last weekend 13th to 14th March 2021

 My one of the most favourite contests.  Only Commonwealth countries are invited and only CW mode is used.

Operator Category : SINGLE-OP
Assisted Category : NON-ASSISTED
             Band : ALL
            Power : HIGH
             Mode : CW

         Club/Team : VK Contest Club
       
        Band     QSOs     Pts     Cty   Sec  Pt/Q
         3.5           17        425     13    4  25.0
           7          128      1780     43   14  13.9
          14           73      1020     24   10  14.0
          21            7         175      5    2  25.0
       Total     225        3400     85   30  15.1

            Score : 3,400

Total Time On 14:30  (870 mins)

Unfortunately I did not do as good as last year.  The condx should have been better, since we are out of Solar minimum.  Must be, that I'm sliding down on the other side of the bell curve of age and abilities.

There was, in the middle of the contest allocated time,  increase in A index.  Increased close to number 20.  That indicates disrupted ionosphere.

The graph of my activity tells all:

Good going at the beginning and at the end of the 24 hours contest period.  Not much in the middle:

The highlight was a great run to G land on 40 m about three hours before the end.  The challenge was that we had a storm within relatively short distance from my QTH.

Plenty of signals and plenty or noise caused by the storm.

The speed was very good for a great number of minutes.  Very satisfying.

Heidi save "my life" by supplying a yummy dinner and I ate it while operating. Genuine multitasking.

Thanks everybody who called and gave me a number.

73

p

WIA Rembrance Contest

 For little bit of fun:

Murphy interfered big time.  In the evening when the 160 m band opened my hurriedly installed End Fed antenna for that band failed and I thought that the amplifier  "got sick".  Why it worked well on Friday and on Saturday morning and not on Saturday evening?

The good thing is that when I've removed the EF all was right again.  Amplifier is healthy.

73

Patrick

The WAEDC CW contest 2020

Very interesting contest, however a little bit slow.  The world is working only EU stations.  The "interesting bit" the passing of QTC.  It is easy as the logger makes most of the work for you and you get extra points (i.e. for doing very little) 

Dear YL, dear OM,

thank you for your log of the Worked All Europe DX Contest (WAEDC) CW. This message indicates
that your log was received in good shape on 2020-08-09 02:05:31 UTC.

If you detect any mistakes please correct your log and send it again.

Receipt-ID: WAECW.00005416

-------- Information from log header -------------
  Contest       : Worked All Europe DX Contest (WAEDC) CW
  Mycall        : VK2PN
  Category      : Single-OP high
  Claimed Score : 18468
  Club          : VK Contest Club
  Specific      : VK2
  Part          : 
--------------------------------------------------


-------- Check of log lines  ---------------------
  Total QSO lines                : 121
  QSOs without any complains     : 121
  
  Total QTC lines                : 110
--------------------------------------------------

You can now find your call in the list of received logs on our contest
website: https://www.darc.de/der-club/referate/referat-conteste/worked-all-europe-dx-contest/en/

This e-mail has been automatically generated. In case of questions, please
check the contest website or send an e-mail to contest manager as appointed
by DARC at Peter John, DL7YS <waecw-info@dxhf.darc.de>.

73 and thanks for taking part in the Worked All Europe DX Contest (WAEDC) CW!

CQ WPX CW contest 2020

Feeling little worn out.  Just finished the test.  Been mixture of good and not too good as always.

 ARRL Section : DX
        Club/Team : VK Contest Club
         Software : N1MM Logger+ 1.0.8418.0

        Band     QSOs     Pts  WPX  Pt/Q
         3.5          3          5       1      1.7
           7       165     902      94      5.5
          14      369    1043    239     2.8
          21        29       81     10       2.8
       Total      566    2031  344     3.6

            Score : 698,664

Comments:

Conditions were better than expected. US and EU signals were huge when the bands
opened.  Managed few very pleasing runs.
Unfortunately "Murphy" had his day.  My radio failed on Sunday
afternoon.  Lost time putting my portable rig in the service.  Later on had
computer (Windows) problem.
However the result is quite OK considering the circumstances.
Thank you all who called.
73
Patrick VK2PN

CQ WW CW contest 2019

Quite pleased with this piece of wallpaper:

Little bit of hard work.

JI DX CW International

Call: VK2PN
Operator(s): VK2PN
Station: VK2PN

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Home
Operating Time (hrs): 5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:           
   80:           
   40:   38    16
   20:   64    27
   15:   10     9
   10:   33    19
-------------------
Total:  145    71  Total Score = 12,638

Club: VK Contest Club

Comments:

Interesting contest (this time) and varied propagation.  It was a pleasure to
work/run JA stations.  Very easy to manage.  
Nice surprise was 10 m run in the afternoon, very productive hour.  Signals were
not strong, but easy to copy.  15 m was a let down, I thought that will be the
best band.
Thank you all for calling.
Patrick VK2PN

73
de VK2PN

Steve's VK6VZ post about BERU

For the fourth year in row Australia has won the team section of the Radio Society of Great Britain’s Commonwealth Contest.

Australia One finished the contest with 35,683 points, with the top Canadian, World Traveller and New Zealand teams finishing second, third and fourth respectively.

Australia Two finished fifth overall in the team section, with 24,453 points

The CW-only Commonwealth Contest 2020 ran from 10.00 UTC on 14 March until
10.00 UTC on 15 March.

The stations in Australia One were Kevin VK6LW, John VK4CT, Barry VK2BJ, Steve VK6VZ and Alan
VK4SN, while Australia Two were Allan VK2GR, Brian VK3MI, Patrick VK2PN, Steve VK3JA and Rob VK6HG.

In addition we were ably supported by four Wireless Institute of Australia headquarters
stations, consisting of VK3WIA, VK4WIA, VK5WIA and VK6WIA. Many thanks to Lee VK3GK, the Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club, Grant VK5GR and Peter VK6RZ, who helped us by operating these HQ stations for as long as they could.

There were also some outstanding individual performances from Australia. Brian VK3MI was world second in the Restricted Unassisted section with 6,092 points, while Kevin VK6LW top scored for Australia with 8,060 points and finished eighth in the Open Unassisted section. Honourable mentions go to Barry VK2BJ and John VK4CT who tied for sixth place in the Open Assisted category, while Steve VK6VZ and Allan VK2GR respectively finished in tenth and eleventh places in the Open Unassisted category.

Overall, the conditions during the contest were typical for bottom of the solar cycle conditions, with 10m just about dead, 15m showing barely a pulse, 20m only giving brief openings into the UK on both short path and 80m providing both local and DX contacts. Thank goodness for 40m being in such excellent shape and providing up to half the points score for many competitors.

A big ‘thank you’ goes to all the other Australian stations who took part in Commonwealth Contest 2020.

The Radio Society of Great Britain’s Commonwealth Contest is one of the
oldest radio contests in existence, having been first run back in 1931
when it was known as British Empire Radio Week and lasted for six
days!

I hope to see you in Commonwealth Contest 2021.

73s from Steve Ireland, VK6VZ, Australian One Coordinator

Australia win by bobg3pjt

Russian DX CW contest.

Just for fun and two hours spare;

Class: SO CW HP
QTH: HOME
Operating Time (hrs): 2.5

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Countries  Oblasts
----------------------------------------
  160:                               
   80:                               
   40:   62     0        18         3
   20:   41     0        14        13
   15:                               
   10:                               
----------------------------------------
Total:  103     0        32        16  Total Score = 28,416

Club: VK Contest Club

Comments:

Just for little fun and to give boys/girls number and multiplier.  20m to US was
big for a short time.

Thanks all who called.
73
P

 The band is in a good shape.  There is more than 20 station within the 10 kHz window.

 Very good rate for short while running stations to Us

 Quite satisfying for couple of hours at the bottom of the solar cycle.

cheers

73

p 

BERU Commonwealth contest 2020

Another BERU is over.  One of my most favored tests.  Been mix of fun and frustration.  Fun when the condx were good frustration when one worked 4 QSOs per hour.

Thank you all who called.

This year I've done slightly better than last year. I could work practically everybody I could hear.

Yes there was slack time for a coffee.

Small list of interesting DX calls:

ZF2CA
VK3JA
3B8XF
VP8NO
9V1YC
3B8XF 
V31GX
VY2ZM 

Been fun.

73

p

The VP8PJ DX expedition to South Orkneys is just about to pack up and go home.

I've been neglecting  this blog lately.
I had lots of things to do in the new house.  It will take longer before I can declare that all is done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boys at South Orknes are just about to pack up and go home.  I think that it was very successful expedition, however not much for us here in VK.

I consider myself lucky to work them only once on 30 m.  For me it was ATN.

My friend Barry VK2BJ was luckier.

On the other hand Luke VK3HJ did rather well:

I had the privilege to meet two members of the expedition two years ago at Fridirchshafen fair in Germany.

Gene is on the left, Les in the middle and the ugly one on the right is me.

The pleasure of working US and JA stations

Hi all CW practitioners,

Yesterday Luke VK3HJ and I VK2PN had three hours of bliss.  Working US and JA on 17.  Then the same on 30 next day.  The rates were around 100 per hour or so.  The callers responded our prompts and all was just SOOOOO EASY.

Thank you all who called on those bands.

This is the fun we are here for

73
Patrick

On DX expedition Norfolk Island as VI9NI

The beautiful Norfolk Island.

Chris VK3QB, Luke VK3HJ and David VK3BDX offered me a spot in the four members team.  I've accepted fast and gratefully.

After few days of operating and handling the pileups I have to release this:

-----o-----

Dear EU operators,

How come that I/we can work rates up 100 Q's per hour working US and JA stations? How come the rate drops below 50 Q's or as it was this morning to 25 Q's per hour?

Believe we try to work as many as possible, but you guys are making it just so hard. Please respond just with you call sign and try not to transmit over each other.

There is most obviously a new game in town. With the use of panadaptor (most radios have one) you can easily find where I/we are listening. Great feature. But why are you “dropping” on me/us before I/we complete the QSO. I can't hear the station I'm working and I can't hear you. Both signals are on top of each other. NO QSO then. Too many repeats and the rate is a quarter of what it was with the other continents.

Please wait for the QSO to finish and then call. I'm happy to hear you on the same frequency (saves me reaching for the tuning knob). BUT DON'T CALL ON TOP GOING QSO.

If I call with a part of your callsign I need your callsign only once.

I don't need the 5NN more than once. Actually I don't need the 5NN at all, but it is convention so send it only once.

With your panadaptor, please find a free slot and put your signal there I'll find it. It may take a minute, but I'll find it.

In the picture above there are approx 19 signals. Should be easy. It is not if you don't spread and if you don't keep dropping on going QSO.

Please reconsider. We are, all of us you and us the DX in it for the fun. The battle we are facing is NOT FUN.

Cheers

73

Patrick VK2PN your humble operator and the rest of the team.

RSGB Commonwealth contest aka BERU results are out.

Let's congratulate to team Australia One for winning the contest. The whole team performance was amazing. The boys from WA (killer Kevin 6LW and killer Steve 6VZ). Then John 4CT and the rest of them.All have done a great job. So congratulations to Australia One team.
 
Well done our Canadian friends too.

 Third place was the Australia Two:

 

Well done everybody and hope to see us in 2020
73
patrick

Commonwealth contest BERU 2019

One year older and we had another BERU contest.

Thanks everybody for your calls. Great fun to meet you again.  The result this year was better than last year. Not by much but significant because we are in the solar minimum. However I was amazed how strong some of the DX signals were. Just BIG that is mainly on 40 m.

Band	QSOs
80:	20
40:	149
20:	52
15:	3
10:	0
Total:	224	Total Score	3,560

Below is last year result

Band	QSOs
80:	22
40:	116
20:	48
15:	3
10:	0
Total:	189	Total Score	3,025

Both scores are very similar however one would expect this year should have been not as good.  We are deep in the minimum.

Steve VK6VZ did some hard work by organizing HQ stations from each state.  I believe that gave us all more points.

The 40 m band was the band.  As you can see it was almost busy.

73
Patrick

Merry Christmas and Happy new Year.

Dear Santa,

As you know I was a good boy the whole last year. I've attended quite
a few contests even the small ones just to give a few numbers to fellow
contesters. I've tried to chase any DX I could hear and thanks to you
 I even worked some of them.

My wish for the stocking is: I want my own freqency in the CW portion
of any HF bands. That will give me unfair advantage when I take toilet
and food break during the contest. I also need clear spot exactly
1.342 kHz above the DX frequency so I can call them without being QRMed.

The abovementioned frequencies should be free of QRM, QRN,LIDs and
DQRM as well.
Ah... almost forgot the XYL QRM too.
Thank you Santa

de VK2PN

The CQ WW CW contest 24th to 26th November.

I got an invitation from Steve VK3JA to do the contest from his QTH.  Impossible to refuse.  Steve has one of the best antenna farms I know.  We get well together and the XYLs have fun together as well.

We got set up on Friday and tested the condx a little that day and mainly gave ourselves some proper training:

Alicja Steve's XYL is excellent cook so we had a ball.  Thank you Alicja.

This is the prediction for the weekend of the contest.  If we believed it, we would QSY to the bottle of red and would not switch the radios on at all.  However the
prediction turned to be totally wrong.  How lucky we were.











The morning started well.  Steve had taken the 20 m band and I was running the 15 m.  Started slowly, but within a few hours we were "flying".

Above is my operating position

Here is Steve smiling while "piling" the QSOs on.

Busy on 15 m

Busy on 20 m

Our best band was the 15 m (believe it or not).  We both thought that 40 m will bring the best result.  Steve has full size wire three element yagi on 40 pointing towards EU.  The antenna can put big signal into the center of EU.

Above you can see the situation on Sunday early morning.  Would you say there is no space to start calling CQ?

Our final result was:

We both think that it is pretty OK for the bottom of the solar minimum.

73
Patrick VK2PN

https://www.facebook.com/patrick.novak.169/videos/2316720625094758/