News 2012 (22 Feb 2012)
VA3RAC: Will be on the air as a Headquarters station for Ontario (VE3/VA3). Details are still being worked on, but permission to use the callsign has been granted. 73 Mike Kelly VE3FFK
J88DR: .......I carried out replacement valves for the old linear - unfortunately a wasted effort. The case containing the amp had been destroyed by termites - which nested in the amp! Despite some hours spent cleaning it and attempting to thoroughly dry out it failed very quickly after switch-on. Mains transformer insulation broken down. So it looks as though I will be running 100W again in BERU. A second case containing the rotator controller, key and some other bits had also been attacked, but everything was salvaged. The two ski-bags containing antennas were not touched, although positioned alongside. 73 Dave J88DR
GB75CC: The special callsign GB75CC has been issued to the UK HQ station this year, to celebrate the 75th BERU contest. This UK HQ station counts as a separate call area on every band, as do the several other Commonwealth HQ stations who will be active during the contest. All HQ stations will be sending '599+serial number+ HQ'. Important note : UK stations are allowed to contact GB75CC for points and bonuses, but all other inter-UK QSOs do not count for points or bonuses. GB75CC will be operated from the GM2V contest station near Inverness, by Chris GM3WOJ / ZL1CT and Vic G4BYG. A special commemorative Certificate will be available for anyone working GB75CC during the contest - please e-mail your log details to : gb75cc@gr2hq.com and the Certificate will be sent to you as a PDF file for you to print out at home. All GB75CC QSOs will be uploaded to LoTW after the contest. Please work GB75CC on all bands ! Thanks - 73 Chris 'WOJ
6Y0A: N2KW will be in Jamaica March 5-23, vacationing. He will have the 6Y0A callsign and will operate 160-10, mostly CW, including 30, 17 and 12, but no 60M. He says he will make a serious effort in the BERU (British Empire) event March 10th from the “well-equipped shack of 6Y5WJ,” where there is a TS-590 to a TL-922. QSL via WA4WTG,
Teams Paul, EI5DI is again sponsoring the team prizes . Many thanks Paul.
Teams - Please note the number of entrants in a team is FIVE not as is on the RSGB Contest website.
9H : Peter, G3PHO, will be operating with the call 9H3C
J88DR : Bob, J88DR will be QRV from 15th Feb. until 14th March. I will be taking replacement "tubes" for the linear - last year in Commonwealth Contest I ran barefoot! I hope to have the 160/80 dipole a little higher this year, possibly the Beam too! 73's Dave
C5: Hi Bob,
I've been planning on going to the Gambia and playing radio for some time. After several blind alleys I came across a Dutch guy who had operated EME from down there. He stayed at the old AM broadcast station, Radio Syd. ...... Anyway, the Swedish couple who run the Radio Syd apartments have been kindness itself and have walked through a licence application for me. I've booked a (dead cheap) flight with Thomas Cook and I'll arrive on 27th February, although it will take me several days to get on eh air. I'll be making an entry in BERU, so please tell folks to listen out for me as C56XA. 161, Alan G3XAQ
GB75CC will be the special HQ station this year - it will be operated by Chris, GM3WOJ.
ZL7: Bob:
I've just settled my plans for BERU. I'll be in the Chatham Islands operating as ZL7/VO1AU. Right now, it looks like 100w with simple antennas, but I will be one for the full 24 hours.
You may want to add this info to the BERU site. I will let Frank ZL2BR know so he can add me to teh ZL team, if there's room.
73, Dave VO1AU/BY1
6Y5: Hello Bob,
I plan to be a (first-time) entrant to the upcoming 75th BERU Contest. I have requested 6Y75BERU, 6Y75A, and 6Y0A ...no idea which they will approve.
I will be trying for the VP8GQ plaque, or a "Travellers Certificate."(Any award that I win, will reside on 6Y5WJ's wall/mantle...)
73 Allen N2KW
Note from the Umpire
Final team details don't need to be posted until the day before the event, but they do need to be accurate, e.g. as a minimum callsign details must be final, preferably with names to facilitate acknowledgements during the event, for which there is usually time in BERU!. This, and team selection / organisation are really the only duties of the team captains. There were a couple of late entries from team members last year, which affected the result - I hasten to say not from the Med region - but this also needs checking up on after the event.
Please also note that team reserves only come into play up to the day before BERU. One or more "floating" reserves are not allowed once the contest has commenced, i.e at that time the final team must be notified.
As Team competition umpire, for the past several years while Bob has been travelling, I have maintained the team news page, linked from beru.org.uk, for the last week or ten days before the event, but I'm not sure how possible this will be in 2012, as MiFi service is untested in the sparsely populated area of Gozo where I shall be located. Hopefully Bob and I between us will find a non-travelling volunteer (other than one of the team captains) to take this temporary duty on.
Hi Bob Just had my 9H3ET licence through from MCA - a very painless procedure as you indicated. I had asked for 'GQ which was unavailable, but I suspect what I got will be better! They were interested to learn about the 75th Jubilee running of BERU and supportive of my plan to operate a one-man field-day style operation from a cliff-top on the NW coast of Gozo. 73 and MX Peter G3LET
Hi Bob Great news about the prize draw and the change to teams of just five. I have no doubt that us ZL's will be able to muster a team for 2012 and who knows what with the vast improvement in the SFI and the lure of winning the prize draw, we may have two or even more teams ! I will of course ensure that the CC news is given as much publicity as is possible in NZ. 73, Frank ZL2BR/ZM2B NZART Contest Manager
Latitude factor for 2012 will be 1.79
Teams: Please have a look at the rules - team size is now reduced to 5 entrants.
ZD7 : G3TXF will be operating from ZD7XF
ZF: Martin G4XUM will be operating from ZF1UM
VP9: I will be operating as VP9/G3PJT
9H: Peter G3PHO reports: I plan to operate from 9H3 on the island of Gozo from 6-15 March inclusive I've already booked the rental accommodation and air tickets but am still waiting for the callsign. The chosen location is about 2 or 3km up the hill from the Gozo end of the Malta-Gozo ferry. My CC entry will be in the Restricted section using the same gear and antennas as I did in VP2V this year. The rest of the week should see some casual holiday style operating but not a lot as 9H isn't a rare entity . If there's enough room I might even get a topband longwire out.
J7 : Simon reports : Having read your Radcom article (VP2V/G3PHO) and heard all about BERU at the RSGB Convention, I'm planning to operate from Dominica - J7 for BERU. I've booked the same QTH that John G3LZQ used between 7th-15th March. I'll be booking flights etc once we've arranged our stay with friends in 8P6 which will either be before or after BERU - I also hope to do some operating from there too. It will be my first DX operation so may be rather rough and ready rather than a serious entry! Any tips regarding radios and antennas would be appreciated! 73 Simon - G7SOZ