THE 64TH COMMONWEALTH CONTEST 2001

By Harold Owen, G2HLU, and Bob Whelan, G3PJT.

 

A splendid entry and few complaints about conditions this year! There were 158 entries in total, a figure which approaches that for the 60th Anniversary contest in 1997.   The HF bands (especially 10m) were very good, though 40m and 80m were disappointing, and the latter particularly noisy in most areas.  Numerous entrants said that they had achieved a personal best.

Scores were high: the total of points scored by the top ten in the Open section was 83,281 this year (73,104 in 2000), with 8502 QSOs (8150 last year). Yet the number of stations participating, as opposed to entering, was not as large as might have been expected, given the good conditions.

 

Welcome back to Jeff, 9H1EL With a record score, Jeff is the winner of the Open section, and the Senior Rose Bowl. It has been a few years since Jeff himself entered. He was winner in 1991 and he has generously made his QTH available to others who have used it to good effect. His skills are evidently undiminished even though they were thoroughly tested by. John, VE3EJ, always very near if not at the top, and who was beaten only by a whisker into second place.  Third was Bruce, ZF2NT, last year's winner.  Dave, VE2ZP, is closing up on the leaders and moved up to fourth (6th last year, 7th in 1999). And a welcome back too to Dave, VE3OI, who came fifth: his first BERU since he won in 1986 and 1974.  Bob, G3PJT as ZL4CC this year, gave many a valued bonus, often on several bands, and was sixth.  Vladimir, 9H1ZA and Lee, VE7CC occupy the same positions (7th and 8th) as last year, while John, VK4EMM, maintained his reputation of usually being in the top ten, and made ninth.   Andy, G4ZVJ as 9M6AAC, put out a splendid signal on all bands and, one might feel, deserved a better placing than tenth in gratitude for the bonuses he dished out.  The leading G station was again Jan, G0IVZ, in thirteenth place, and takes the Col. Thomas Rose Bowl again. But Jan was given a good run by Clive, GM3POI, just 108 points behind. Those 80m bonuses and aurora made all the difference. Third in the UK was Dave, G3TBK.

In the Restricted section the clear winner of the Junior Rose Bowl is George, 5B4AGC (second in the Open section last year). Second was Yuri, VA3UZ, up from eighteenth in 2000. Excellent entry, Yuri!  Bill, VE6BF again operated VE6JY (winner in the last two years), but - despite his best score in four years - had to settle for third place. While Barry, VK2BJ - usually well up in the Open section - had trapped nerve problems so settled for the Restricted section this year and came fourth.  Fifth, and another stranger to this section, was Dave, G4BUO, who had family commitments which prevented an entry in the Open section.  Dave just held out over Peter, G3LET ( winner in 1963 as VP8GQ), and Cris, GM4FAM, only 109 points separating the three of them.

Many thanks are due to the five HQ stations who were active, though logs were not received from VA6RAC and VU2UR.  Also deserving mention is Des, G3HKO who is some distance up from the foot of the Open section table, with 5 watts and a G5RV.

The Committee has decided that this year two Commonwealth medals will be awarded, one to John Tutton, VK3ZC, and one to Frank Cooper, G2QT. These two stalwarts of BERU have consistently supported the contest since 1935. Gentlemen, we salute and thank you!

 

Participation

 

Despite the good HF conditions and increased activity, slightly fewer callsigns were recorded than last year.  The total of 777 over all bands contained 500 Gs, 127 VEs, 52 VKs, 38 ZLs, 11 ZSs.  VEs were down on last year, ZLs up (thanks G3PJT/ZL4CC!); the number of ZSs worked will surprise many.  But of course the rarities were not available to all.  Call areas were the same in number as last year, but the composition was different:  3B8, 3D2/R. 5B, 5H, 5W, 7P, 7Q, 8P, 9H, 9J, 9M2, 9M6, 9V, G (including GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, M, MI, MJ, MM, MU, MW), GB (HQ), S7. V5, VE1-9, VE3(HQ), VE6 (HQ), VK1-9, VK4 (HQ), VO1, VP2V, VP6, VP8-9. VU, VU (HQ), VY0. ZB2, ZD7, ZF, ZK1-2, ZL0-4, ZL6, ZS1-3. ZS6.

 

Participation by band was:  80m 211 stations including 133 Gs, 33 call areas; 40m 340 (209 Gs), 43; 20m 528 (351 Gs), 43; 15m 490 (342 Gs), 36; 10m 467 (312 Gs), 42.  There were few marked differences from last year; total numbers were up for 80m and 10m; conditions on 10m were much better than last year, and they must have been better generally on 80m despite all that noise!  Call areas were down a little on all bands.

 

Logs

For the first time paper logs were (just) in a minority: 49%.  E-mailed logs again increased, to 41%, with 11% sent on disk.  Of course some logs sent on paper owed much to the computer.  A few stoutly protested that theirs did not. There were several splendidly neat hand-written ones,  only a very small number of (paper) logs were of an unworthy character.  The highest scoring logs in which no errors were found were those of VE3VHB in the Open section and G3LZQ in the Restricted section.  Only a quarter of entrants had worked out their Band/Call Areas (BCA) total, some incorrectly.  Eighty-four entrants - the same number as last year so a smaller percentage of the entry -  qualified for the special certificate, which this year required a total of 64 or more BCAs to be worked.

 

Conditions (Bob, ZL4CC)

 

This was my first experience of propagation from the other far, far end of the G-ZL path and there is no doubt it is very different. I pulled out for your interest the hourly rate graph by band for ZL4CC. Look at the first hour, bearing in mind that 1200 UTC is the middle of the night local time in ZL. 28MHz isn’t often open anywhere from the UK at that time. I had been warned by Brian ZL1AZE, (ZL6QH) and Baz, ZL1DD, to look for Gs on 28 in short openings right at the start but I never expected that I would have to break off after an hour to go to LF ! As no such opening was indicated in the March RadCom propagation predictions I had a look using the W6EL programme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


What that showed was that the path needs flux in the 180 plus range with low K so there you are. It pays to run your own predictions. Operating from Waiheke, there seemed to be very little, if any, long path propagation. As everything was coming in from the North, I missed any African stations because they come in over the South Pole!. Like most others I found 80m very noisy and I gave up in the end as the score shows!

 

Tactics

We have changed the way the results are presented this year to show QSOs and bonuses for each band and the total of Band Call Areas. This gives a much better idea of the tactics employed by various entrants. There is no doubt that whilst many could exploit the good HF conditions the problems on 80 really pulled down all but a few of the leading stations.

 

Soapbox

‘Don’t expect such good conditions to be repeated, ever!’, G3GMM. ‘Best yet’, G3HEJ, ‘ What about a separate booklet for results..’, G3VDL (see below, John). ‘Worked more ZLs than ever before’, G4IIY. ‘ BERU is getting better and better’, VE2ZP. ‘I failed to learn it’s really worth going after the bonus points’, VE3QAA. ‘If only 80m had opened’, VK2AYD. ‘ Just gets better and better and the level of activity from India going up every year (tnx VU2UR)’, VK6VZ. ‘Conditions were appalling, at first I thought I had the wrong weekend’, ZF1WD. ‘ Haven’t worked such strings of Gs for years’, ZL1MH. ‘ Difficult to compete with high power stations, should have high power and low power sections..’ ZL2BR. ‘ Looking forward to next year’, ZL2TX. That this contest has a special place in the affections of many was brought out in the comments which accompanied logs.

 

Information

As usual, all of the non-UK entrants will receive a copy of the results, this report and details of next year dates. If any Gs want a copy, send an A5 SAE to Bob, G3PJT. We hope to be able to repeat the mailout again to non-UK stations, especially in ZL and VK. All special certificates were mailed out in August.

 If you enjoyed the contest why not do as VE3XN suggests, 'I was personally disappointed that more Commonwealth stations were not active.  I think it is up to each of us contesters to try to encourage and "work on" amateurs in Commonwealth countries where we know individuals who might make an appearance.’ And to say ‘thanks’ to those who do!

 

Rules and things for 2002

Several entrants commented that some stations, located in Commonwealth countries, would not give serial numbers. Whilst it’s a bit sad that they won’t join in, you can still claim a valid scoring contact and bonus as long as you log what info they do send; a blank is quite acceptable as a serial number in such cases.

We have had requests from some entrants to move the start/finish times forward by an hour or two. Whilst this would benefit stations in Oceania, it might prove troublesome for others, especially in Canada and the Caribbean. Please let us have your views on this suggestion.

 

Next year, 2002, is the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Therefore a special certificate will be sent to every entrant working more than 50 Band Call Areas. This will be a very attractive commemorative certificate for a very special occasion.

Dates to note are 9th and 10th March 2002.

 

We have had a word with the powers that be saying we would like the same conditions in 2002 as this year, but could he ask Thor to go easy on the crashes and bangs.

 

Website is http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Bob_G3PJT/.

 

 

Possible pics

Brian, ZL1AZE with Bob, ZL4CC at Quartz Hill, ZL6QH

 

2001 Commonwealth Contest

 

Open Section - Results (Q/B)

 

Pos

Call

80m

40m

20m

15m

10m

Total

QSOs

BCAs

1*+

9H1EL

84/19

160/35

228/62

268/57

270/54

9562

1010

128

2*

VE3EJ

83/25

195/45

240/55

248/47

246/51

9489

1012

119

3*

ZF2NT

65/19

163/40

266/53

239/48

255/44

8975

988

111

4*

VE2ZP

69/28

160/37

238/66

199/53

210/41

8807

876

130

5

VE3OI

30/19

169/42

206/50

259/49

195/45

8329

859

106

6*

ZL4CC

12/11

108/40

257/55

218/48

205/55

8062

800

134

7

9H1ZA

84/11

150/31

224/53

239/43

226/39

8058

923

103

8*

VE7CC

26/22

105/43

219/54

205/44

132/47

7592

687

120

9*

VK4EMM

13/13

73/37

237/54

197/44

169/42

7209

689

111

10*

9M6AAC

15/13

76/25

239/55

201/54

127/49

7198

658

108

11*

ZL6QH

36/22

98/29

224/52

168/37

149/46

7080

675

105

12

VE3QAA

63/18

163/27

204/51

161/26

177/22

6677

768

87

13*++

G0IVZ

36/26

68/44

107/61

78/52

76/45

6341

365

127

14

GM3POI

28/22

74/47

93/61

68/51

65/49

6233

328

131

15*

VK2AYD

12/12

44/28

243/52

175/32

115/37

6150

589

99

16*

ZL1MH

21/16

55/35

149/41

165/38

112/45

6006

502

101

17

VE2AYU

28/15

100/20

185/39

163/23

196/29

5866

672

74

18

G3TBK

20/16

44/36

91/61

71/52

64/48

5694

290

122

19*

ZL2BR

12/12

30/26

156/47

166/32

84/45

5474

448

99

20*

VO1MP

66/15

95/21

147/35

143/28

101/26

5241

552

77

21

VE3VHB

28/15

48/24

98/42

85/43

107/40

5110

366

98

22

G0ORH

11/11

44/35

66/49

52/36

60/44

4649

233

108

23

G0WAT

15/13

50/33

81/54

51/40

35/25

4453

232

99

24

G3GLL

12/12

32/29

64/48

55/42

48/39

4448

213

106

25

G3IAF

13/12

34/27

59/47

48/41

48/40

4341

202

109

26

ZL2AZ

22/18

63/32

88/31

53/31

52/35

4328

278

92

27

VE3XN

7/7

21/18

118/25

131/29

115/31

4135

392

72

28

G0CKP

4/4

20/20

79/55

64/42

43/33

4120

210

90

29

GW3HGJ

13/13

31/27

56/46

56/45

31/27

4086

187

101

30

G4CZB

12/9

29/26

56/45

49/43

42/33

4058

188

96

31

G4IIY

9/9

28/23

52/42

59/45

42/13

3983

190

94

32*

ZB2EO

-

11/7

207/43

174/26

24/17

3935

416

68

33

G2QT

14/14

36/28

45/42

46/34

49/33

3907

190

97

34

VE7UZ

4/4

40/28

70/32

75/22

82/38

3822

271

76

35

G2HLU

16/12

30/24

47/39

44/36

36/32

3725

173

93

36

VE7JKZ

8/7

38/30

68/32

71/27

43/28

3620

228

77

37

VE3KP

19/16

29/17

120/22

96/19

93/17

3593

357

54

38

VO1GO

35/12

49/24

84/24

117/22

24/19

3565

309

57

39*

9J2BO

-

11/10

40/28

118/16

211/26

3486

380

58

40

G3IGW

10/10

32/24

48/37

33/29

39/31

3415

163

90

41

G3LIK

10/10

21/19

51/40

44/33

33/28

3375

157

80

42*

VE1AYY

28/12

88/21

74/19

99/16

86/8

3330

375

44

43

VE2AWR

6/6

46/18

76/21

108/24

78/18

3300

314

52

44

G3JJG

8/8

24/23

41/37

36/30

33/27

3208

142

88

45

G3HEJ

9/9

14/11

47/37

46/37

36/28

3195

152

87

46

VE7NH

2/2

74/27

64/24

78/21

28/23

3154

246

60

47

G3KKP

4/4

17/16

51/40

45/37

24/19

3019

141

75

48

VE3HX

9/8

22/15

38/23

47/24

72/26

2858

188

63

49

G3DEF

9/9

14/13

42/36

31/28

30/25

2840

126

70

50

G3JKY

5/5

19/16

37/32

37/31

29/25

2808

127

74

51

G3TEV

-

19/19

37/35

36/30

29/25

2763

121

77

52

G3NAN

-

9/9

40/35

40/34

37/29

2758

126

71

53

G3EBH

4/4

14/13

44/38

39/30

28/20

2720

129

68

54

G3MPB

1/1

25/21

33/29

43/38

19/15

2684

121

73

55

G5MY

4/4

21/15

50/33

37/32

21/17

2683

133

70

56*

VK6HQ

-

21/15

135/33

35/26

22/5

2598

213

48

57

G3VDL

10/10

17/14

39/31

32/27

18/16

2536

116

70

58

VK2YN

8/8

14/13

83/33

55/19

10/10

2503

170

55

59

VE3NXB

8/8

19/13

55/22

37/19

33/17

2331

157

47

60

VE3EZP

20/12

50/26

31/21

35/19

2/2

2255

138

53

61*

VK3ZC

7/7

24/22

47/30

17/17

8/8

2181

103

57

62

G3HZL

4/4

11/11

36/36

17/17

17/16

2097

85

61

63

VK2EL

-

12/12

53/28

35/18

16/15

2011

116

48

64

G3ZDD

11/10

26/20

20/15

24/18

18/17

2047

99

53

65

ZL2TX

-

23/13

92/36

10/10

-

1901

125

35

66

VE1LS

10/9

24/12

32/11

32/16

25/7

1699

123

36

67

VE1EP

6/6

8/8

17/17

18/18

15/15

1600

64

61

68

G3GMM

-

-

27/21

28/25

21/16

1597

76

42

69*

VE4IM

-

-

136/41

-

-

1500

136

23

70

G3HKO

5/5

7/7

25/22

17/14

14/11

1496

68

44

71

VK2DID

-

12/12

30/22

8/8

11/11

1341

61

43

72

VE3MQW

-

1/1

30/21

23/13

16/8

1204

70

26

73

VK4XW

-

3/2

24/18

25/9

13/13

1152

65

28

74

VE1KB

-

-

-

-

97/32

1078

97

20

75

VA3TTT

-

111/28

-

-

-

1077

111

18

76

G0VQR

-

3/3

27/22

8/8

9/9

1075

47

32

77

VE2AQC

2/2

11/8

64/14

2/2

-

910

79

18

78*

VK8HA

-

4/4

-

-

46/28

886

50

22

79*

VK5HO

1/1

15/14

8/8

7/7

-

736

31

22

80

VA3IX

-

4/4

13/13

8/4

8/7

708

34

20

81

VK3KS

-

-

22/21

-

-

519

22

13

+ Senior Rose Bowl     ++ Col. Thomas Rose Bowl     * Certificate of Merit

 

 

Restricted Section

 

Pos

Call

80m

40m

20m

15m

10m

Total

QSOs

BCAs

1*+++

5B4AGC

44/10

90/23

215/52

161/41

180/35

6644

690

94

2*

VA3UZ

26/13

81/27

139/47

169/41

149/37

6097

564

102

3*

VE6JY

4/4

83/28

203/36

195/40

119/39

5892

604

87

4*

VK2BJ

13/13

66/28

146/37

145/30

113/36

5287

483

93

5*

G4BUO

26/22

42/33

78/54

56/43

42/36

4946

244

109

6

G3LET

20/17

41/34

72/54

56/45

45/37

4899

234

109

7

GM4FAM

13/13

32/28

63/51

64/52

55/41

4827

227

114

8

G4OBK

16/15

33/29

71/50

69/48

47/39

4790

236

110

9*

VK6VZ

16/10

65/15

170/37

120/19

133/27

4642

504

72

10

VK2APK

9/9

30/27

207/40

94/30

45/28

4587

385

85

11

VE6JO

6/5

36/29

107/40

131/28

67/31

4359

347

79

12

G3BJ

14/12

26/23

63/47

62/43

48/37

4300

213

99

13

VE3STT

3/3

40/15

122/34

130/22

115/32

4153

410

67

14

GW3NJW

10/10

36/27

58/45

44/36

35/30

3865

183

99

15

G3LZQ

16/14

39/34

46/39

42/35

33/24

3795

176

91

16*

ZL2CD

8/8

30/20

77/30

95/26

36/31

3501

246

70

17

GM3CFS

4/4

26/20

46/43

45/39

34/25

3384

155

83

18

G3KZR

10/10

23/18

35/30

52/44

30/27

3315

150

83

19*

VE7VF

2/2

30/22

65/35

65/22

79/24

3259

241

66

20

G3LHJ

10/9

23/17

40/35

39/31

41/32

3241

153

82

21

G4AZN

6/6

17/14

37/33

41/36

41/33

3143

142

85

22

G2VJ

5/5

16/15

40/40

37/35

30/28

3089

128

82

23

GW0GEI

10/10

37/24

34/29

24/22

39/29

2968

144

76

24

G3KNU

1/1

8/8

44/37

55/40

34/27

2960

142

74

25

VK6AJ

-

6/5

121/32

40/21

104/22

2922

271

53

26

G3TXZ

5/5

21/17

42/37

34/31

24/20

2828

126

78

27

G2AFV

9/9

23/19

45/34

36/29

21/16

2803

134

66

28

G3KKQ

5/5

15/15

37/33

30/28

24/23

2631

111

75

29

GW3WWN

4/4

9/9

44/37

29/27

28/22

2521

114

69

30*

ZL1HV

4/4

15/14

39/29

34/26

24/24

2514

116

67

31

GU3SQX

7/7

15/14

29/28

37/31

22/16

2465

110

68

32*

ZF1WD

5/5

16/9

52/21

54/17

88/18

2450

215

46

33

GW4MVA

-

13/13

40/36

32/26

22/17

2371

107

66

34

VA3NR

2/2

29/15

54/27

51/16

27/18

2355

163

55

35

G3RSD

5/5

16/13

23/22

26/24

31/27

2316

101

65

36

G4OGB

-

8/8

40/36

36/30

17/16

2293

101

57

37

G3VYI

-

17/16

41/34

30/26

13/11

2243

101

62

38

G3ZGC

3/3

8/7

28/23

32/29

30/22

2183

101

61

39*

VE5SF

3/3

14/10

67/19

79/19

18/10

2081

181

35

40

G3GMS

1/1

9/9

29/25

29/26

23/20

2073

91

51

41

GW3KJN

-

17/15

37/29

19/15

25/20

2065

98

53

42

GW4XXF

-

8/8

30/27

24/21

25/24

2030

87

58

43

G4DDX

-

7/7

35/29

30/25

20/17

2018

92

56

44*

VK5GN

2/2

6/6

23/21

54/23

60/14

2012

145

49

45

GW4HBK

1/1

17/16

21/20

19/15

24/23

1905

82

56

46

G0UKX

-

10/9

26/24

31/27

19/15

1916

86

50

47

M0AJM

1/1

4/4

25/21

34/31

18/17

1868

82

57

48

G3UFY

10/10

27/21

39/27

-

-

1536

76

37

49

ZL1AIH

-

-

12/11

28/23

29/26

1535

69

41

50

G4GCI

-

8/8

22/20

26/23

10/9

1523

66

43

51

GW3SB

1/1

7/6

23/21

26/22

12/9

1519

69

41

52

G4BJM

-

-

17/14

23/21

25/24

1490

65

49

53

G3VQO

2/2

8/8

23/19

16/14

12/12

1405

61

42

54

G4UZN

3/3

4/4

11/11

27/23

14/14

1395

59

42

55

G3JJZ

3/3

15/13

17/17

10/10

13/12

1385

58

47

56

G3GC

-

-

23/22

21/18

19/14

1370

63

36

57

VE3FU

4/4

18/13

4/4

22/6

52/16

1355

100

35

58

G0RDO

-

-

5/4

32/26

26/20

1301

63

33

59

G4EBK

3/3

11/11

7/7

21/21

9/9

1275

52

42

60

G4ZME

-

3/3

22/20

14/12

11/11

1161

50

34

61

G3RZP

-

-

-

-

29/27

685

29

18

62

G0MRH

-

-

9/9

12/8

4/3

534

25

18

63

G4XPE

-

-

4/4

10/10

6/6

500

20

15

64*

ZB2/G4FDC

1/1

22/4

14/5

1/1

1/1

455

39

8

 

+++ Junior Rose Bowl * Certificate of Merit

 

 

 

HQ Stations

 

Pos

Call

80m

40m

20m

15m

10m

Total

QSOs

BCAs

1

VA3RAC (VE3KZ)

75/22

172/39

250/59

242/45

228/40