Despite 2003 being on the downslope of solar activity, the 66th Commonwealth Contest managed to produce one of the highest scoring contests of recent years. Coming at the end of winter in the Northern hemisphere the second weekend of March often produces some good conditions. Taken with a steadily increasing level of participation then the stage was set for some high scoring performances by the leading stations.
With the two leading stations in the Open section, Bruce, ZF2NT and Yuri, 9H1ZA, both exceeding the 10,000 point level, it is quite clear that some new standards have been set. If you want to win the Open section of this contest it looks as if you have to aim to exceed 10,000 points from now on.
Congratulations to Bruce, ZF2NT, for securing first place in the Open category and winning the Senior Rosebowl. Yuri, 9H1ZA came second, also with a score above 10,000. Bruce’s margin over Yuri came through more Qs on both 80 and 10m. It has always been the case that it is the bands at the ends of the spectrum, where the openings are often short and selective, which make the difference between the leading stations. In third place came John, VE3EJ, always amongst the leaders. VO1AU came fourth seemingly missing out on conditions on 15 and 10m. Dave, J88DR, was fifth and Brian, ZL6QH, and Kevin, VK6LW, tied for sixth place. When you realise that seven different countries from all parts of the world are represented in the top 10 it is clear that this year was hard fought. Congratulations to Andy, G4PIQ/P - the highest placed UK station in 8th place. He takes the Col. Thomas Rose Bowl at his first attempt! He was closely followed by Dave, G4BUO and Clive, GM3POI.
George, 5B4AGC, takes the Junior Rose Bowl with a comfortable win over his nearest rival VE3DZ. George comments, ‘Good conditions on HF but rotator stuck on Europe due to lightning strike!’ The leading UK station was again Peter, G3LET who wins the Ross Carey Rose Bowl. Peter paid great attention to operating times and propagation, which clearly paid dividends. A creditable performance, as he used a single wire antenna. The Restricted Section is showing steady growth in numbers but there are some suggestions for how this section might be improved, ’Perhaps in the future recognition should be made for the lesser-equipped stations rather than just pure operating hours’, from Dave, G3YMC, and ‘Isn't it about time that restricted meant 100 watts? ‘, adds ZC4DW. On the other hand, ’The Restricted section is a great innovation’, says VK6VZ.
View from the QTH of 5B4AGC. An unrestricted take-off for the restricted section winner.
This year no fewer than 6 HQ stations were active from G, VE and VK. These stations create a lot of extra interest. They provide a great opportunity for a club, multi-op effort or as a way of bringing new operators into contesting. GB5CC, operated by Chris, GM3WOJ, and Gavin, GM0GAV, led the section. Many thanks from all of the entrants to the operators who put on these stations. We would like to encourage more HQ stations in the future. And it can be fun too, ‘Did better with the HQ call than I did last year with my own call!’, said Dave, VK2DYD.
This year the committee have awarded the Commonwealth Medal to Chris ,
GM3WOJ, for activating GB5CC over the past few years. Many thanks for
the bonuses, Chris. 
. 1300 different stations were in the logs this year but these included nearly 500 "uniques", corrupted calls and stations not in the Commonwealth. Just over half the active stations were from the UK. Here are the 55 call areas that were contacted during the contest: 3B8 7Q7 9M6 J88 VE3 VK1 VK6 VO2 VY2 ZF2 ZL4 4S7 8P6 9V1 P29 VE4 VK2 VK7 VP2E YJ8 ZL0 ZL6 5B4 9H1 9Y4 T31 VE5 VK3 VK8 VP8 Z24 ZL1 ZS1 5X1 9J2 G&M VE1 VE6 VK4 VK9N VU2 ZC4 ZL2 ZS3 5Z4 9M2 J37 VE2 VE7 VK5 VO1 VY1 ZD9 ZL3 ZS6
This year I had the chance to operate from VK1. People had said that this should be a good one for BERU as VK1 was a rarish bonus. I operated from the shack of Mike, VK1MJ, and he allowed me to use his callsign and thus avoid the need to visit the ACA for licence purposes. Conditions were rather mixed I thought and were not helped by a big thunder storm in the last few hours. This knocked a hole in my 15m score. Still it is very quiet during the day in VK – I could easily have had a few hours sleep. However some keen competition from Kevin, VK6LW, Barry, VK2BJ and John, VK4EMM kept me awake. Some outstanding signals from the UK – Andy, G4PIQ/P, was very strong during the first few hours on 15m. As Mike, VK1MJ, does not operate CW many of his friends called into congratulate him on his new found skill! And thanks to all the VKs for great hospitality during our trip.
Bob , G3PJT with his hosts Mary and Mike Jenkins, VK1MJ
Steve, VK6VZ, comments, ‘Good conditions, but reflected the decline in solar activity - much shorteer SP openings into the UK and no LP openings into UK on 10m/15m during VK6 night-time. However, 40m and 80m conditions were better, with a very nice opening into the UK on 80m around my sunrise which lasted for an hour. Great fun as always and a great weekend.’
Apart from myself, others went on DXpeditions and added greatly to the fun. Dave, G3TBK, as J88DR, was very active again. Nigel, G3TXF, noted, ‘The call VP2EN was first issued to me 30 years ago and was re-issued in March 2003. Great fun doing BERU with 100w from Anguilla. Best bit was working over 50 UK stations on 80m with low dipole.’
‘Rig Elecraft K2 QRP 5W - antenna 60ft long wire at 20ft. This was a fairly casual entry with my intention just to work some new countries. I did not keep an eye on the clock and ended up with around 13 hours operating, hence this has to be in the Open section. But an enjoyable contest even though it was hard work for me at times.’, Dave G3YMC ‘First time …. I had a great time.’, VE3NBJ ‘Excellent contest (my first time).’, VE3OM ‘This is my first time using an e-mailed log entry in .ADI format. Next year…. a more ambitious effort. Enjoyable as always.’ Greg, VE3NXB. ‘Thank you for your time and effort in administering this contest.’, Jerry, VE3JCV. ‘My second time and will do it again.’, Hans Kappetijn, ZS6KR, ( and please encourage some more ZSs, Hans) ‘Great to talk to old friends. What no M3 calls on CW...! Do they really exist?’, David, VK2WHQ (VK2AYD) (Well, David M3NSB and MM3BRR were active) ‘Good turn out from VK land, not so much heard from Africa. Nice to work some old and new friends.,’ ZC4DW. ‘Thoroughly enjoyed myself and will definitely be a starter for next year's. Well done to the organizers!!’, Geoff, ZC4VG/ZC40VG/G0UVX
Jakey, ZL1JKY demonstrates that you don't need a fancy set-up to work 70 different UK stations in the contest.
Harold, G2HLU retired last year from this post deserving a well-earned rest. He spent an enormous amount of time cross-checking QSOs, compiling results and producing the reports over many years. I know because, as your new adjudicator, I have burnt a very considerable amount of midnight oil working on this task for the first time.
Computerised cross-checking was carried out. This meant keying in over 40 paper logs and I am grateful for some help in this by G4CZB and G4DJZ. The cross-checking software did not convert all logs successfully and much manipulation using spreadsheets and some re-typing of logs was needed to get them all to the cross-checking stage.
As a result of the considerable work involved in getting all the logs to the standard required I would like to make a plea to those of you who intend entering next year's BERU. If at all possible please seriously consider using the logging program CTJ written by 9H1EL. This is like CT and is designed for this contest (and others). It works extremely well with the cross-checking software. CTJ is free. Version 1.17 can be downloaded over the Internet from a number of sites including http://www.qsl.net/g4zvj/ctj.htm. If you would like the latest version (1.18) I am happy to email a copy. But please send in your paper logs if you can’t take advantage of this offer. We can sort ‘em out! Finally thanks to those who sent in check logs. These can easily be included in the computerised cross-checking and are most welcome.
Also many forgot to enter their band-call area total in order to qualify for the special certificates. Next year we will only send you a certificate if you claim one on the Summary sheet.
‘Thanks for organising an excellent contest. BERU is one of my favourite events of the year, and this past weekend was the best running of this great contest I can recall.’, Bruce, ZF2NT
The 67th Commonwealth Contest will take place on the 13/14 March, 2004. You will need 67 band call areas or more to qualify for a certificate. We hope to have the website up and running when Bob finishes his RSGB duties in December.