Welcome to week two hundred and fifty five of NARC’s contest news
Submissions or comments for this news to g4lpp.1@gmail.com (note new e-mail address). I particularly need any contest related photographs, you may be prepared to share, to head the news each week.
Contesting can be great fun but I know there’s a reluctance to step into unknown waters. It’s a great way of improving many aspects of our hobby including one’s own performance and the quality of your station. If you have any interest whatsoever please call in to the contest net on Friday evening at 9pm on 145.250MHz FM or speak to any of the regular contesters on 450. Or indeed email me!
Quite a busy week this week once again:-
Results:-
On VHF
The results of the 2m FT8 AC 2 and 4h sections of 5th August were released on 17th August. In the 2h Open section Roger EI8KN was 4th. In the 2h Restricted section Terry G0BIX was 11th. In the 2h Low Power section Colin G0ODR was 3rd. In the 4h Restricted section Terry G0BIX was 7th. Link to 2h results here
The current VHF championship placings are at this link here
In the overall UKAC we are currently 5th, but a long way behind Wirral in 4th. Interestingly Parallel lines group have a perfect 6000 score so far! Link here
On HF
The results of the DATA 80m CC of 23rd July which was the final CC of this year’s series are now out. In the DATA contest NARC’s team of 13 won buy a considerable margin , scoring 7,368 points. Bristol were second with 4,155 points. Highest points scorer for the club was Ray G3G, 2nd in the 100W Assisted section – more about him later. In the 100W Unassisted section Tracey 2E0CEY was leading Intermediate station. More later about her too. Link to these data results here
In the overall CC results, NARC have once again stormed to a considerable lead with a total score of 145,962 points and Bristol second on 92,224 points. We, once again, win the G5RV memorial shield. Individual credit goes to Ray G3G, who was the leading station overall in the 100W Assisted section and the leading intermediate station in the 100W Unassisted section was Tracey 2E0CEY. Congratulations to both of them.
A report from Ray here:-
It’s a rare occasion when I can blow my own trumpet, but I see from the RSGB Data results that amazingly I have come top for the season in the 100W Assisted section!
Mike (M4N) is top in the 10W assisted section.
I know that Martin missed two Data sessions and I only missed one which is very fortunate for me but all thanks must go to Yuri’s software rather than any skill from me.
73
Ray G3G
Not bad for an “old bird on a wire” 🤭
Link here to overall CC results for 2026
The results of the Eclipse contests were released on 19th August. These contests were arranged to run simultaneously, CW on 80m and FT8 on 40m to coincide with the Solar eclipse of 12th August partly for the purpose of eclipse propagation study. NARC interest was strong in the CW event. I am pleased to report G4LPP in second place in the CW followed by Roger G3LDI 3rd, Peter M0RYB/P 5th, Bob 2E0OBO in 12th place as top Intermediate station, Jim G3YLA 15th, Mike G4DYC 25th, Tracey 2E0CEY 27th, Tony G0OOR in joint 31st and John G8VPE in joint 35th place. Here’s hoping some useful propagation information can be gleaned from the results. I think most of us who took part spent quite a bit of time in the garden during the contest watching the eclipse, I know I did! I didn’t spot any NARC member in the FT8 section but of note, Nick G6P (G4FAL) who won the CW test also came second in the 40m FT8 test so that was quite an achievement! Link here to CW results
This year’s HF championship results to date are at this link here
If people are entering other contests of whose results I am obviously unaware please e-mail me to let me know the outcome and I’ll mention it here.
Contests:-
On VHF
From Wednesday to Friday last week the MMMONVHF meteor scatter contest took place. NARC members G4CDN and G6ELF along with G4DML and using the call M0KUM operated from the Trimingham site.
I enclose a report about this from Wilson, G6ELF here:-
The MMMonVHF meteor scatter sprint ran from 07:00 utc Wednesday till 07:00 utc Friday. This was my first meteor scatter contest so this was a real learning curve. I operated from Trimingham with G4CDN and G4DML using 2 x 14 el yagis at 80ft and QRO.
I have come to the conclusion that these contests are a bit like fishing. You know the fish are there, but you don’t know when or if you will catch one! So it was with this contest. QSOs come at random and take between 1 minute and half an hour or more to complete. You never know when the next reflection is coming or how long it will last.
The Perseids (which is the name of the shower that coincides with this contest) did not live up to expectations, with the peak at 03:00 Thursday giving better reflections but no real improvement in rate. Still, over the course of the contest we managed 101 QSOs with best DX was RA1AEP in KO85 at 2310 km followed by RO3X in KO73 at 2219km.
73
Wilson G6ELF
Link here to the website for information
On Tuesday 18th August the 1.3GHz UKAC ran. Four NARC stations were in evidence. Myself, Stewart G4AFF, Graham G3SGC and Roger EI8KN. Conditions were poor and very patchy. There was some DX from here across to OZ and DL and also down to France but inland was truly awful. Graham did very well considering a small low power setup from his new QTH near Gorleston and very low antenna scoring a new PB. Link here to claimed scores
On Thursday 20th August the 70MHz UKAC took place. Conditions were the worst I’d ever experienced and would definitely reinforce G3LDI’s opinion of the band! Only one station over the north sea was worked from here and many stations were failed QSOs as their very high noise levels on the band meant they couldn’t hear me. In conditions like there stations here in East Anglia really are at a disadvantage with 2/3 of the surroundings being sea with zero amateurs! NARC was represented by G4LPP, G4AFF, G4DYC, G8VPE, G3SGC and EI8KN. Link here to claimed scores
On HF
Over the weekend of 15th / 16th August the Swedish ARTG RTTY contest took place. This was in 3 sessions.
Wilson, G6ELF participated and his report is below:-
The SARTG RTTY contest took place in three 8 hr blocks starting at 01:00 local time Saturday through till 5pm Sunday. Conditions were not great possibly due to the aurora on Saturday? I managed to work 449 stations across 80m to 10m but concentrated on 40m as both an all band and single band entry are permitted in this event. The three 8 hour blocks made it feel like a three day weekend which I am not sure was a good thing considering the difficult operating conditions. The long duration did give me a good chance to get to grips with the SDC logging software. It really is a powerful piece of contesting software. The ability to switch seamlessly between running on one band and then to pick up wanted contacts on S&P in another band with a single key press makes a huge difference to the run rate. Although I did get in a muddle a few times until I got the hang of it. Not much DX about on this contest for me compared to others but several American stations were worked on all bands. I think this reflects the fact that there is a limited number of participants all chasing each other for points.
73
Wilson G6ELF
Tracey 2E0CEY tells me she operated 12h with 278 QSOs under difficult conditions. She found being tied to 3 x 8h sessions difficult.
I know several other NARC members were involved but have no other reports. Link here to the SARTG site logs received
On Monday the 17th August the RSGB FT4 contest ran. The only NARC stations I could see in the logs received were Ted G4OZG and Kevin M0KKM.Link here to logs received
Please let me know if you were on in any other VHF or HF contests and I’ll put a summary in next week’s news.
Apologies if I have missed any emailed reports, some go to spam and some get lost in the huge quantity of junk mail! I try to be diligent!
As an addendum and not strictly contest related I received these reports about lighthouse activity over the last weekend’s Lighthouses and Lightships on the air event:-
A brief note from Gordon GI3PXT:-
Hope you had fun at light house ended with 400 qso in log 6m opened 140qso on 6m ft8 ssb
73 gordon
And from Bob 2E0OBO:-
Hi Phil,
ILLH….GB2CLH was activated over the weekend which kept me, (2E0OBO), Tim (G0OOD), Mike (G3YPP), Richard (G4ZRN) and Chris (G8IMI) busy with 434 qso’s spread between cw, ssb and ft8.
Also, managed my usual 50 qso’s on SARTG RTTY with, apart from Europe, Brazil, St. Lucia, US and Aruba.
Catch you on cwt Wed
Best 73
Bob…2E0OBO
Of course Happisburgh lighthouse was activated as well by NARC – report elsewhere on the website
Upcoming contests in the next 2 weeks (all times in UTC):-
On VHF / UHF / SHF
% Tue 25th Aug. 1830-2130 SHF UKAC
% Tue 1st Sep. 1900-2130 144MHz UKAC
% Wed 2nd Sep. 1700-2100 144MHz FT8 AC 2h and 4h sections.
Before each of the 2m and 70cm UKACs there is an FM leg starting 1 hour before for 55 minutes. I hear almost no activity in this from here but others may have more luck! Rules etc on RSGBCC site.
Also of interest for some on the vhf / uhf bands are the EU FT8 activity tests – see the following link more information. These are on the first (144 MHz), second (432MHz) and third (1.3GHz) Wednesdays of each month. 1700-2000 Hrs EU FT8 series website
On HF
% Sat 22nd Aug. 0600 for 24h Türkiye HF contest CW and SSB – link here to rules
% Sat 22nd Aug. 1200 for 24h YO DX HF contest CW and SSB (Romania based) – link here to rules
% Sat 22nd Aug. 1200 for 24h ARSI DX contest CW and SSB (India based) – link here to rules
% Sat 22nd Aug. 1800 for 27h CVA (Brazil Military) DX contest SSB – link here to rules
% Fri 28th Aug. 2200 to Sat 29th Aug. 1200 and Sun 30th Aug. 1200-2359 SCRY/RTTYOps WW DX RTTY Contest (Sweden) – link here rules
% Sat 29th Aug. 0000-2359 Feld Hell Sprint – link here to rules
% Sun 30th Aug. 0600 to Mon 31st Aug. 0559 ALARA (Australia and New Zealand based) Contest. CW and Phone – link here to rules
% Sat 29th Aug. 1200 for 24h World Wide Digi contest FT4/8 – link here to rules
See Link to WA7BNM for other contests not mentioned above. There are several to choose from!
Wednesdays throughout the year, CW OPS 1 hour mini tests 13:00, 19:00, Thurs 03:00 and 07:00, exchange Name and G if not a member or CW OPS number if you are a member.
See CWOPS website for more details.
Also on Fridays 2000 to 2100 and Mondays 0000 to 0100 each week CW OPS runs the K1USN slow speed CW contests. Any speed up to 20wpm is acceptable. For rules see :- CW OPs SST page these contests are open to anyone.
All RSGB contest rules and further details plus log submission at RSGB contest site
A link to John 2E0TWQ’s site’s Narc contest history page – 2E0TWQ’s NARC contest results page
Finally possibly a new section as there doesn’t seem to be any other NARC pages dedicated to this; here is a list forwarded by Alan G8OO of the DX activity planned courtesy the ARI DX bulletin:-
till 30/09 9A10SOTA: special callsign 1795
till 30/09 YR100RC: special callsign 1820
till 10/11 PA50JT: special callsign 1803
till 31/12 9A44FF: special callsign 1808
till 31/12 9A69AA: special callsign 1809
till 31/12 CT100REP: special callsign 1810
till 31/12 DA100LH, DL100LH, DK100LH: special callsigns 1808
till 31/12 DA100TV and DL100TV: special callsigns 1808
till 31/12 DB100FT: special callsign 1807
till 31/12 DL25WIKI: special callsign 1807
till 31/12 DQ30GDXF: special callsign 1811
till 31/12 DR170TESLA: special callsign 1826
till 31/12 EM50AR: special callsign 1811
till 31/12 GB50PUNK: special callsign 1809
till 31/12 LU1DMZ/Z and LU1ZA: South Orkney Islands (AN-008) 1818
till 31/12 LZ75HSC: special callsign 1818
till 31/12 OT26B: special callsign 1821
till 31/12 PG75HSC: special callsign 1824
till 31/12 YT170TESLA: special callsign 1814
till 31/12 ZL100AA: special callsign 1823
till December VK0TBC: Casey Station, Antarctica 1812
till ??/?? 9M2/KM9D: Rebak Island (AS-058), West Malaysia 1817
09/05-10/05 KD7WPJ: Santa Cruz Island (NA-144) 1827
09/05-15/05 HK4/PY8WW: Tutumate Islands (SA-093) 1817
10/05-16/05 VB3COPS: special callsign 1827
10/05-19/05 TF/WE9G: Iceland (EU-021) 1826
12/05-22/05 OX3LX: Aasiaat Island (NA-134), Greenland 1827
12/05-31/07 II0NRG: special callsign 1826
13/05-16/05 YB1RQX/p, YB1RET/p, YC1RIK/p: Singkep Island (OC-107) 1827
13/05-21/05 V4/EI7BR, V4/EI8KN, V49B: St. Kitts (NA-104) 1827
13/05-22/05 A31AA: Tongatapu Island (OC-049), Tonga 1826
14/05-26/05 A35RS: Tongatapu (OC-049), Tonga 1827
15/05-16/05 JI3DST/6 and JA4GXS/6: Danjo Islands (AS-056) 1826
17/05-23/05 VB3EMS: special callsign 1827
18/05-22/05 PA/OR5R: Ameland Island (EU-038) 1827
19/05-08/06 3G0Z: Robinson Crusoe Island (SA-005), Juan Fernandez 1827
21/05-23/05 EJ6KP/p: Arranmore Island (EU-121) 1826
22/05-24/05 9M26ISX: special callsign (West Malaysia) 1827
22/05-29/01 2027 8J70JARE: special callsign 1825
23/05-30/05 ZC4RH: UK Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus 1827
25/05-29/05 ZD8KX: Ascension Island (AF-003) 1827
25/05-03/06 ZL7IO: Chatham Islands (OC-038) 1825
26/05-06/06 CP7DX: Bolivia 1827
27/05-08/06 PJ4CB: Bonaire (SA-006) 1827
May T31TTT: Central Kiribati 1822
May XR0Z: Alejandro Selkirk (SA-101), Juan Fernandez 1827
May-October HF0PAS: South Shetland Islands (AN-010) 1825
01/06-14/06 VJ2L: Lord Howe Island (OC-004) 1827
01/06-30/06 II4PRCE: special callsign 1809
01/06-30/06 SP1373JA: special callsign 1807
01/07-31/07 II4JAFL: special callsign 1809
01/07-31/07 SP1183JO: special callsign 1807
01/07-31/08 LZ67PP: special callsign 1809
04/07-07/07 RI1PC: Chaichiy Island (EU-160) 1823
12/07-16/07 RI0BW: Vize Island (AS-055) 1823
18/07-21/07 RI0BU: Uyedineniya Island (AS-057) 1823
23/07-26/07 RI0BI: Isachenko Island (AS-050) 1823
01/08-31/08 II4KEMP: special callsign 1809
01/08-31/08 SP1905MFK: special callsign 1807
01/09-15/09 RI1FJL: Heiss Island (EU-019), Franz Josef Land 1812
01/09-30/09 II4PAGE: special callsign 1809
01/09-30/09 SP1373AB: special callsign 1807
01/09-31/10 LZ936BA: special callsign 1809
30/09-11/10 9T0MD: Democratic Republic of the Congo 1825
01/10-31/10 II4NTTI: special callsign 1809
01/10-31/10 SP1550SK: special callsign 1807
29/10-13/11 KH8A: Pago Pago (OC-045), American Samoa 1827
01/11-30/11 II4GCLB: special callsign 1809
01/11-30/11 SP1234KK: special callsign 1807
01/11-31/12 LZ911TD: special callsign 1809
10/11-19/11 C8K: Mozambique 1823
November ZK3: Tokelau (OC-048) 1822
01/12-31/12 II4SLRI: special callsign 1809
01/12-31/12 SP1835JK: special callsign 1807
February 2027 3Y0L: Peter I Island (AN-004) 1823
March 2027 VP0SG: South Georgia Island (AN-007) 1827
425 DX NEWS HOME PAGE
73 until next week,
Phil G4LPP