by Harold Owen, G2HLU. A place in the sun, in the Caribbean, or failing that the Mediterranean, again seemed to offer a good chance of success. That said there were eight different Commonwealth countries and ten different call areas in the top ten stations this year. Top place in the Open section, and the Senior Rosebowl, goes to Bruce Sawyer, ZF2NT, followed by George Beasley, 5B4AGC (third in 1999 and winner of the Restricted section in 1998), with John Sluymer, VE3EJ (winner in 1998, for the latest of several occasions), a very short distance behind. Bob Whelan, G3PJT, as VP5C made it to fourth place, and Andy Chadwick, 9G5VJ, had to settle for fifth: Andy did not prosper as well in Ghana as he did in Malta in 1999 (winner) and 1998 (second), though he came third in 1997 when operating from 9G. Barry, VK2BJ, turned in a VK record score despite poor conditions and has been awarded this year’s Commonwealth medal for this and consistent top class entries for many years. The Col. Thomas Rose Bowl goes to Jan Fisher, G0IVZ, in thirteenth place, this time. Dave Lawley, G4BUO, sacrificed his chance of the award for an umpteenth time by operating his station as GB5CC, with G4TSH. Top place in the Restricted section is again filled by Bill Metcalfe, VE6BF, operating VE6JY, who is awarded the Junior Rosebowl; Bob Nash, VE3KZ (fourth in the Open section in 1999) is second, and Steve Ireland, VK6VZ, usually found in the Open section, was compelled by other commitments to enter the Restricted section, where he put in an excellent log to reach third place. We had a record number - eight - of HQ stations. Thanks to them all. Despite uncertainty about 5Z4WI and VK5XE they have been scored as HQ in all contacts - not that it made much difference, since there were no other 5Z4s and VK5s were not thick on the ground! VP6BR, on Pitcairn Island, was a new bonus for many entrants. ZS0E has been given separate call area status. Comments about conditions varied, but entrants were unanimous in deploring poor propagation on 80 metres, and nearly all were disappointed with 10 metres; only ZL1MH and ZL2CD had good words to say about that band. Despite the record number of QSOs made by the top three stations in 1999, the total number of QSOs made by the top ten stations in 1999 (6740), was appreciably lower than the corresponding figure of 8150 in 2000. This must mean something! There were again several first-time entrants, who enjoyed themselves and promised to be back. Many entrants commented on their appreciation of the unique character of this contest . The year 2000 brought the largest total entry of recent years, 138, excluding the record number for the 60th Anniversary Contest in 1997. Compared with last year there was a small decrease in numbers for the Open section and a small increase for the Restricted. VK3MR's comments last year about it being probably his last BERU were unhappily prophetic: we have now lost another of our stalwarts. Many will remember his outstanding DX performance of years past when he 'covered the world with rhombics'. PARTICIPATION The total number of callsigns recorded was up this year, to 791 over all bands (498 G, 155 VE, 51 VK, 32 ZL, 10 ZS). Some of the rarer prefixes were as usual available only in certain parts of the world, except for the most well-equipped stations, and - again as usual - some participants only made a few contacts. Call areas were up again, to 60: 3B8, 4S, 5B, 5H, 5Z (HQ), 9G, 9H, 9J, 9M2, 9Y, AP, AX2 (HQ), G (including GI, GM, GU, GW, M, MM), GB (HQ), J6, P2, P2 (HQ), S2, T32, V3, V4, VE1-9, VE1 (HQ), VE2 (HQ), VE5 (HQ), VK1-8, VK4 (HQ), VK5 (HQ), VO1, VP5-6, VP9, VQ9, VU, Z2, ZC4, ZF, ZL1-4, ZL6, ZS0, ZS1, ZS6. Participation by bands was: 80m, 182 stations including 97 Gs, 39 call areas; 40m, 348 (207 Gs), 48; 20m 573 (356 Gs), 50; 15m 506 (334 Gs), 47; 10m 418 (303 Gs), 47. The LF bands showed little change from 1999, but figures are up for 20m and 15m (totals and Gs), and the totals for 10m are surprisingly a little higher than in 1999, despite the much poorer conditions. LOGS Paper logs were in the majority (55%), though the proportion of logs sent by e-mail increased again, to 35%, and 13% were sent on disk (total exceeds 100% because a few used two formats). All are transferred to paper for checking. We had a problem with some e mail logs being received incomplete. This resulted in two stations being unplaced as it was not possible to score their logs. Grateful thanks are due to those entrants who provided dupe sheets (and bonus lists), especially to such as 9J2BO and ZB2EO, with large logs, who put callsigns in alphanumeric order without benefit of computer (and ZB2EO's entry, as ever, a model of neatness and clarity). Regrettably, much time was expended by the adjudicator in making dupe sheets for those many logs which did not provide them. Eleven unmarked duplicates were found - one station had three, at 55 penalty points each! All would have been avoided if the entrants had kept dupe sheets - verb. sap.! Only 29% provided a Band/Call Areas total, so that too had to be calculated for the majority. Eighty-four entrants qualified for the special certificate, by working 63 or more Band/Call areas (64 will be required in 2001.) It is pleasing to record that in a number of logs no error was detected: VO1GO had the highest-scoring 'perfect' log in the Open section, GM3POI in the Restricted section (for the second year running). There was also a fair number of entries which lost only 2 or 4 points, through a single digit error in one or two exchanges. SOAPBOX ‘ Not yet mastered bonus gathering’, 5B4AGC. ‘ I worked more VK stations over the weekend than in the last 5 years … fantastic contest for DX’, G0VQR. ‘ Have the gods got something against us: reasonable conditions in the week, then the dreaded aurora strikes’, G3HZL. ‘ Best ever score’, VE2ZP. ‘ Serious snow static on Saturday night’, VE3EJ. ‘Restricted section is a terrific idea for overworked dads like myself’, VK6VZ. ‘Band (15) swarming with low level Gs half an hour before close..’, VK8HA. ‘ Plagued by storms and five power cuts’, 9J2BO, and ‘ we did not have power supply the whole of Sunday…’, VU2UR. ‘A big hats-off to all the VEs, from me’, ZL1MH, and so say all of the rest of us ! NEXT YEAR The next Commonwealth Contest will be from 10th to 11th March, 2001. A number of stations have requested changes of time to allow an earlier finish in VK/ZL but no change will be made at present. Minor corrections to the call area list, ZD9, Tristan da Cunha, and ZS0 for South Africa, will be made. You will require 64 band call areas for a certificate. Some have asked for a multi-op section and in effect we already have this in the HQ stations table. Why not enter a HQ station from your call area ? It is becoming easier to mount contest DXpeditions these days. So why not activate some of the more unusual Commonwealth call areas around the contest weekend ? It can be a lot of fun and you can get pretty high up the table. Many parts of the Commonwealth are rather sunny and a good break from the northern winters.Here are the FINAL scores for BERU 2000.
Thanks to the adjudicator, Harold, G2HLU, and the RSGB HF Contest Committee.
Click here to go to the write up
>Restricted Section >HQ Stations >
Country Placings
Open Section
Posn Call 80 40 20 15 10 Total QSOs BCAs
1*+ ZF2NT 836 1658 2873 2375 1668 9410 1003
72/24 164/43 317/65 264/53 186/37 134
2* 5B4AGC 683 1397 2755 2228 1808 8871 1001
65/18 141/35 301/63 264/45 230/33 121
3* VE3EJ 914 2070 2575 2178 1096 8833 837
72/28 204/53 253/66 236/50 72/37 146
4* VP5C 637 1582 2245 2263 1883 8610 883
54/19 167/39 235/55 221/58 206/43 122
5* 9G5VJ 200 984 2504 2510 2373 8571 929
8/8 102/24 246/64 274/57 299/44 120
6* VE2ZP 909 1657 2360 1923 1018 7867 730
74/28 157/44 228/62 221/41 48/39 133
7* 9H1ZA 711 1338 1949 1963 1541 7502 879
76/17 148/31 216/44 221/43 217/23 110
8* VE7CC 508 1126 2228 2209 1379 7450 601
22/20 57/42 200/62 231/53 90/47 126
9* VK2BJ 705 1303 2489 1595 1030 7122 566
29/28 89/43 255/61 143/44 50/39 132
10* G3XTT/VP9 808 1429 2098 1433 1050 6818 721
81/21 147/35 224/49 139/37 130/20 101
11* ZL6QH 768 1363 2146 1616 843 6736 565
43/28 108/42 214/54 151/44 49/30 106
12* VK4EMM 678 1235 2181 1658 973 6725 543
28/27 101/37 215/57 144/47 55/35 121
13*++ G0IVZ 440 1285 1909 1814 779 6227 343
24/16 67/48 113/68 106/65 33/31 142
14 VE3QAA 344 1416 1917 1386 618 5681 563
27/11 158/33 202/47 148/33 28/24 98
15 G3OZF 438 1158 1794 1481 721 5592 279
21/17 60/43 92/67 73/56 33/28 137
16* ZL1MH 551 960 1711 1110 910 5242 357
23/22 60/33 161/51 58/41 545/32 110
17* ZB2EO 155 680 1991 1093 1041 4960 597
11/5 81/14 232/42 144/19 129/20 67
18 VE3VHB 513 785 1663 1058 845 4864 342
35/17 49/27 133/50 84/32 41/32 100
19 G3TBK 401 757 1584 1435 655 4832 247
17/16 38/29 86/58 79/52 27/26 119
20* 9J2BO 25 405 1279 1405 1490 4604 484
1/1 26/14 106/38 157/31 194/26 76
21* VO1GO 555 1080 1390 1115 345 4485 409
47/16 104/28 130/37 107/29 21/12 79
22 VE3XN 453 645 1675 961 549 4283 335
19/18 29/25 152/46 112/21 23/21 83
23 VE2AYU 240 1130 1569 1063 175 4177 447
17/8 124/26 166/38 133/20 7/7 68
24 G3IAF 355 808 1345 1218 400 4126 191
15/114 39/31 61/52 60/46 16/16 111
25* ZM2AZ 621 1061 912 965 535 4094 261
25/25 82/33 70/29 567/34 27/20 94
26 G2QT 348 734 1335 1079 565 4061 210
15/114 36/28 71/49 61/40 27/22 107
27 G0WAT 318 806 1526 1128 248 4026 222
16/12 46/29 88/55 62/41 10/10 96
28 G3GLL 348 778 1200 1150 500 3976 184
14/14 32/31 60/45 58/43 20/20 106
29 GW3HGJ 371 820 1280 888 325 3684 174
15/15 36/32 68/47 42/34 13/13 96
30 VA2FB - 1018 1045 835 598 3496 285
- 84/30 91/30 80/22 30/23 71
31 G2HLU 223 665 1205 1058 323 3474 160
9/9 29/26 57/46 52/40 13/13 92
32 VE7JKZ 50 865 835 1110 485 3345 185
2/2 41/33 39/32 82/35 21/19 80
33 VE7VF 25 474 875 1235 575 3184 246
1/1 20/29 57/30 125/31 43/18 69
34 G4CZB 355 495 995 900 325 3070 142
15/114 23/19 47/38 44/34 13/13 80
35 G3LIK 298 375 1143 895 348 3059 139
12/12 15/15 54/44 43/34 14/14 85
36* VE1AYY 285 815 968 783 182 3033 310
23/9 77/23 96/26 104/17 10/7 61
37 G4IIY 225 693 853 963 175 2909 147
9/9 35/26 43/32 53/35 7/7 78
38* VE4IM 195 528 1150 621 221 2715 141
11/7 26/20 66/41 29/24 9/9 68
39 G3EBH 25 421 1050 808 398 2702 122
1/1 17/17 50/40 38/31 16/16 76
40 VK6HQ 146 685 1556 300 - 2687 201
7/6 34/26 248/42 12/12 - 55
41 G3KKP 150 475 915 698 423 2661 117
6/6 19/19 43/35 32/27 17/17 77
42 G2VJ 223 480 884 713 250 2550 112
10/9 20/19 38/25 34/30 10/10 79
43 G3GPE 221 425 884 771 223 2524 113
10/9 17/17 43/34 35/30 9/9 74
44 G3IGW 125 679 555 918 225 2502 122
5/5 32/29 29/24 47/37 9/9 79
45 G3DEF 223 453 730 774 298 2478 111
9/9 19/18 35/28 36/39 12/12 70
46 G5MY 248 556 924 568 171 2467 116
10/10 29/21 43/36 27/22 7/7 71
47 VE1LS 296 603 668 628 250 2445 135
12/12 37/21 38/24 38/22 10/10 68
48 G3JJG 75 596 613 875 223 2382 111
3/3 24/24 35/22 40/34 9/9 77
49 G3VDL 198 460 763 705 198 2324 102
8/8 20/28 33/30 33/27 8/8 72
50 G3MPB 25 605 743 808 125 2306 103
1/1 25/24 34/29 38/3`1 5/5 67
51* VK5GZ 275 346 1238 360 75 2294 145
11/11 14/14 97/38 20/13 3/3 52
52 G3JKY 98 296 725 788 325 2232 100
4/4 12/12 33/28 38/30 13/13 68
53=* VK3ZC 271 498 923 440 75 2207 103
11/11 20/20 49/34 20/27 3/3 54
53= G3TEV 50 425 680 877 175 2207 98
2/2 19/17 29/27 41/34 7/7 66
55 G3ICH - 321 991 434 175 1921 88
- 1113/13 47/38 20/17 8/7 57
56 VK2DID - 498 673 583 100 1854 98
- 24/20 44/23 26/23 4/4 51
57 G3BPM 221 473 467 551 125 1837 83
9/9 20/19 22/21 27/22 5/5 56
58 VE1EP 246 400 546 450 150 1792 72
10/10 16/16 22/22 18/18 6/6 66
59 G4IDL 23 223 592 614 244 1696 69
1/1 9/9 34/24 25/25 10/10 54
60 G3NAN - 246 593 611 225 1675 77
- 10/10 27/23 31/23 9/9 53
61 ZL1HV 75 150 710 577 100 1612 76
3/3 6/6 34/27 29/22 4/4 40
62 G3HKO 75 325 530 450 125 1505 70
3/3 13/13 27/20 22/20 5/5 48
63 VE1KB 148 123 613 230 75 1189 79
8/6 6/5 46/20 16/8 3/3 37
64 G3ZDD - 239 519 317 71 1146 57
- 11/10 29/21 14/13 3/3 39
65 GM3PPE - - 1101 - - 1101 49
- - 49/43 - - 26
66 VK3KS 50 323 394 - - 767 31
2/2 13/13 16/16 - - 23
67 G0VQR - - 406 75 150 631 28
- - 19/16 3/3 6/6 20
68 VK5HO 125 150 198 25 - 498 20
5/5 6/6 8/8 1/1 - 16
69 G3KSK - - - - 173 173 7
- - - - 7/7 7
# ZL2BR 225 585 1580 1255 805? 4450? 306?
9/9 33/21 124/48 99/38 41/30? 89?
# VE2AWR - 915 610 1055 275 2855 247
- 83/25 42/20 111/25 11/11 58
+ Senior Rose Bowl
++ Col. Thomas Rose Bowl
* Certificate of Merit
# Claimed scores: unchecked
Restricted Section
Posn Call 80 40 20 15 10 Total QSOs
1*+++ VE6JY 100 1305 1651 1597 816 5469 430
4/4 85/45 159/43 142/45 40/31 106
2* VE3KZ 537 951 1669 1484 650 5291 483
33/19 79/28 159/45 178/30 34/24 94
3* VK6VZ 100 828 1916 598 557 3999 428
4/4 74/23 204/45 69/13 77/9 64
4* GM0GAV 298 725 1231 1163 573 3990 177
12/12 34/28 55/48 53/45 23/23 107
5 G3LZQ 400 775 1228 1035 503 3941 183
16/16 37/30 58/47 51/39 21/20 110
6* VK2APK 250 1166 1515 510 488 3929 291
10/10 65/43 1678/35 26/19 22/19 78
7 VE3FU 300 515 1180 980 605 3580 273
12/123 28/19 108/32 100/24 25/24 81
8* VE7UZ 150 555 945 1170 730 3550 212
6/6 24/22 68/31 76/40 38/27 84
9 VE3UOL 192 681 1098 974 453 3398 296
8/8 45/23 104/29 120/19 19/18 66
10 G3KZR 248 746 933 1100 350 3377 157
10/10 30/30 43/36 60/40 14/14 88
11 G3LET - 505 1430 860 419 3214 152
- 21/20 70/54 44/32 17/17 84
12 G3LHJ 175 628 938 913 505 3159 161
7/7 30/24 48/35 55/32 21/20 85
13 G3JYP 246 585 982 912 394 3119 141
10/10 25/23 46/38 44/35 16/16 91
14 G4AZN 173 398 1120 1000 425 3116 144
7/7 16/16 52/43 53/27 17/17 84
15 G0ORH - 451 1235 821 473 2980 153
- 21/18 67/46 46/30 19/19 80
16* ZL2CD 326 592 754 880 397 2949 191
14/13 35/22 51/27 74/27 16/16 64
17* VK4TT - 425 983 818 533 2759 147
- 17/17 45/38 60/26 25/21 65
18 VA3UZ - 790 876 558 521 2745 155
- 50/27 48/32 36/19 21/21 70
19 G2AFV 175 698 1023 645 175 2716 124
7/7 32/27 45/40 33/24 7/7 77
20 GW3NJW 150 533 875 725 325 2608 120
6/6 23/21 43/33 35/28 13/13 77
21* ZL1PC 55 749 754 725 204 2587 132
7/6 40/29 43/28 33/28 9/9 70
22 G3VYI 125 604 1080 615 150 2574 119
5/5 26/24 49/42 31/23 6/6 70
23 G3YEC 90 495 1315 450 223 2573 60
2/2 11/11 32/29 10/10 5/5 47
24* VK8HA - 153 1051 773 486 2463 151
- 7/6 5938 59/24 26/18 61
25* VE5SF 25 298 835 1003 296 2457 181
1/1 16/11 75/23 77/31 12/12 49
26 G3RSD 98 380 800 928 225 2431 112
4/4 16/15 36/31 47/35 9/9 69
27 GM3CFS - 425 1008 771 175 2379 97
- 17/17 42/40 31/31 7.7 66
28 VE3STT 200 305 748 630 425 2308 134
8/8 13/12 42/27 54/18 17/17 60
29 G3KNU 48 325 866 751 275 2265 112
2/2 13/13 46/33 40/28 11/11 63
30 GM3POI - 1485 305 150 275 2215 107
- 77/55 13/12 6/6 11/11 60
31 G3HEJ 100 300 760 741 275 2176 92
4/4 12/12 32/30 33/29 11/11 64
32 G4CXT 100 335 803 710 200 2148 94
4/4 15/13 37/31 20/28 8/8 65
33 G3HZL 175 246 971 581 125 2098 90
7/7 10/10 43/38 25/23 5/5 62
34 VK6AJ - 171 1429 125 290 2015 173
- 7/7 131/39 5/5 30/7 44
35 G6QQ 25 355 620 641 300 1941 85
1/1 15/14 28/24 29/25 12/12 58
36 G3ZGC 225 383 643 375 150 1776 76
9/9 17/15 29/25 15/15 6/6 59
37* VU2UR - 175 978 525 - 1678 112
- 11/6 76/30 25/20 - 40
38 G3KKQ 250 380 540 250 225 1645 69
10/10 16/15 24/21 10/10 9/9 54
39 G3GMS - 175 565 663 225 1628 70
- 7/7 25/22 29/26 9/9 51
40 VK2BQQ 250 400 500 348 - 1498 64
10/10 16/16 24/19 14/14 - 45
41 GW3SB 75 223 548 505 100 1451 63
3/3 9.9 26.21 21/20 4/4 48
42* VK5GN 25 55 1019 75 80 1254 112
2/1 3/2 100/27 3/3 4/3 21
43 G0IGP - - 430 558 150 1138 48
- - 18/17 24/22 6/6 33
44 G4ZME - - 534 323 196 1053 45
- - 24/21 13/`13 8/8 35
45 G3GMM - 25 235 493 125 878 41
- 1/1 11/9 24/19 5/5 26
46 G4FDC - - 200 198 175 573 23
- - 8/8 8/8 7/7 23
47 VK4XW - - 444 90 - 534 28
- - 22/17 6/3 - 11
48 VK8AV - - 375 50 25 450 22
- - 19/14 2/2 1/1 14
49 VA3XRZ - - 398 - - 398 23
- - - 23/15 - - 12
50 G4XPE - - 210 125 50 385 17
- - 10/8 5/5 2/2 14
51 GW4XXF - - - 50 125 175 7
- - - 2/2 5/5 7
+++ Junior Rose Bowl
* Certificate of Merit
HQ Stations
Posn Call 80 40 20 15 10 Total QSOs
1 GB5CC (G4BUO, G4TSH)
917 1578 2095 1792 1028 7410 688
93/23 142/44 191/58 166/49 96/28 123
2 VK4WIA (VK4XA)
225 646 1884 883 913 4551 320
9/9 30/25 185/54 49/32 47/34 91
3 AX2OOO (VK2AYD)
175 560 1660 925 600 3920 280
7/7 28/21 1148/46 73/27 24/24 76
4 VE5RAC (VE5MX)
50 455 820 1043 806 3174 181
2/2 19/18 48/29 78/33 34/32 73
5 VE1RAC (VE1JS)
196 358 514 652 164 1884 168
8/8 31/11 45/15 77/14 7/7 35
6 VA2RAC (VE2GK)
95 351 601 335 275 1657 86
4/4 16/14 35/22 20/15 11/11 45
7 5Z4WI 120 306 285 - 433 1144 102
8/4 30/11 21/9 - 43/11 21
8 VK5XE 273 200 300 96 75 944 38
11/11 8/8 12/12 4/4 3/3 32
Checklogs from G2CIL, G3SXW, G3TXF, G3WP and G4OGB are gratefully acknowledged.
COUNTRY PLACINGS
Canada
Open
3 VE3EJ
6 VE2ZP
8 VE7CC
14 VE3QAA
18 VE3VHB
21 VO1GO
22 VE3XN
23 VE2AYU
30 VA2FB
32 VE7JKZ
33 VE7VF
36 VE1AYY
38 VE4IM
47 VE1LS
58 VE1EP
63 VE1KB
# VE2AWR
Restricted
1 VE6JY
2 VE3KZ
7 VE3FU
8 VE7UZ
9 VE3UOL
18 VA3UZ
25 VE5SF
28 VE3STT
49 VA3XRZ
Australia/New Zealand
Open
9 VK2BJ
11 ZL6QH
12 VK4EMM
16 ZL1MH
25 ZM2AZ
40 VK6HQ
51 VK5GZ
53 VK3ZC
52 VK2DID
61 ZL1HV
66 VK3KS
68 VK5KO
# ZL2BR
Restricted
3 VK6VZ
6 VK2APK
16 ZL2CD
17 VK4TT
21 ZL1PC
24 VK8HA
34 VK6AJ
40 VK2BQQ
42 VK5GN
47 VK4XW
48 VK8AV