VHF antennas at DR9A contest station
Welcome to week two hundred and six of NARC’s contest news.
Results:-
On VHF
The results of the 70MHz UKAC of 21st August came out on 1st September. We only managed 3 entries in this one and our score was unfortunately rather low. More help is desperately needed on several bands especially 4m. Our overall score was 1113 points which put us in 6th place overall and although we remain in 6th on this band we have now, as feared, been overtaken by Gower/Gwyr in the overall UKAC. Link to 70MHz results here
In the VHF AFS league championships so far NARC are in 6th place out of 73 clubs. Link to this here
In the overall UKAC we are now running 6th in section out of 55 clubs so far. Link to this here.
On HF
No new HF results I am aware of.
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
The 2m UKAC ran on Tuesday 2nd September. Participation from NARC members was very good with 9 logs received at RSGB from NARC members. It was good to have contacts with several other club members during the contest as well. Overall, so far, 178 logs have been received at RSGB. Conditions were surprisingly good with contacts to the Check border in Germany, Ireland, Cornwall, Wales, France and Scotland. It was pretty busy all the time. Link here to claimed scores.
The 2m FT8AC ran on Wednesday 3rd September. Active NARC members were Colin G0ODR and Roger EI8KN. Link here to claimed scores
On HF
On Monday 1st September the first of the Autumn Series ran with the 80m SSB contest. This was well attended in general with 162 logs received at RSGB and 16 logs received from NARC members. Top scorer for us was Stewart G4AFF with a claimed 156 contacts. It looks like we should have won this one. Link here to logs received
Alan, G8OO participated in the CQ WW DATA contest on 30th August. His report is below:-
Hi Phil G4LPP
I am aware that you like to keep abreast of contests that the NARC members have entered, so after many years of not entering a WW contest, and on the spur of the moment, I decided to enter 30-31/8/25 weekend 24-hour WWDATA contest. I was somewhat surprised that this was an FT4/8 mode so I hurriedly setup N1MM+ for logging as a single Opp with Telnet assistance. I used a FT991a with only 40w output into a Hexbeam for 10-15-20-40m and long wires on 80-160m and after staying awake for the whole contest, I managed to end up with 548 QSO’s with 130 multipliers and a final Score of 141.310 points.
73 gdx de Alan g8oo
Value
Callsign G8OO
Country England
Locator JO02KS
Sunrise ◑ 05:03
Sunset ◐ 18:51
Contest WW-DIGI
Category
Operators G8OO
Start date 30-Aug-2025 12:01
End date 31-Aug-2025 11:56
Participation time 23:55 (1435 min.)
Break time 11:05 (665 min., 46.34 %)
Operating time 12:50 (770 min.)
QSOs 548
Dupes 0 (0.00 %)
Unique callsigns 511
QSOs per station 1.07
Kilometers per QSO 4,359 km
Countries 73
Fields 59 (18.21 %)
Moves 19
Claimed score 0 pts
Software
Sunspot number (SSN) 183
Callsigns not found in sh5.master 186 (36.40%)
Prefixes 361
Link here to Logs received WW DIGI contest
A report was also received from Tracey, 2E0CEY who has been particularly active on RTTY this year. This report from her entry in the SCRY RTTY test in the Sunday 31st August session from 12:00 to 23:59. She dipped in and out managing a total of 156 QSOs. Link here to RTTY OPs daily uploaded log stats.
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.
Upcoming contests in the next 2 weeks (all times in UTC):-
On VHF / UHF / SHF
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.
* Sat 6th Sep. 1400 for 24h 144MHz Trophy contest - link to rules here
* Sat 6th Sep. 1400 for 24h IARU region 1 2m contest - link here to rules
* Sun 7th Sep. 1000-1400 WAB 2m Phone contest - link here to rules
* Sun 7th Sep. 1100-1500 5th Backpackers contest
* Tue 9th Sep. 1900-2130 432MHz UKAC
* Wed 10th Sep. 1700-2100 432MHz FT8 AC 2h and 4h sections
* Thu 11th Sep. 1900-2130 50MHz UKAC
* Sat 13th Sep. 0000 to Sun 14th Sep 2359 ARRL EME contest 2.3GHz and up - rules here
* Sat 13th Sep. 1800 to Mon 15th Sep 0300 ARRL September VHF contest - includes 50MHz - link to rules here
* Sun 14th Sep. 1300-1330 IRTS (Ireland) 70cm Counties contest (FM, SSB) - link to rules here
* Sun 14th Sep. 1330-1500 IRTS 2m Counties contest (FM, SSB) - link to rules here
* Tue 16th Sep. 1900-2139 1.3GHz UKAC
* Thu 18th Sep. 1900-2130 70MHz UKACAlso of interest for some on the vhf / uhf bands are the EU FT8 activity tests – see the following link for 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
NB:- Note the RSGB has changed several of the rules for HF contests in 2025 – Link here to changes.
* Sat 6th Sep. 1300 for 24h RSGB (and IARU region 1) SSB field day - link to rules here
* Sat 6th Sep. 0000 to 2359 in 3 sessions CW Ops CW Open contest - see below for rules
* Sat 6th Sep. 0000 for 48h All Asian DX Contest Phone - link here to rules
* Sat 6th Sep. 0800 for 26h (yes, 26h!) SARL Field day contest CW, SSB, Digital - link here to rules
* Wed 10th Sep. 1900-2030 80m Autumn series CW
* Sat 13th Sep. 0000 to Sun 14th Sep. 2359 WAE DX contest SSB - link to rules here
* Sat 13th Sep. 1200 for 36h SKCC Weekend Sprintathon - link here to rules
* Sat 13th Sep. 1500-1800 Africa FT4 DX contest (80m, 40m and 20m) - link to rules here
* Mon 15th Sep. 1900-2100 RSGB FT4 contest
****************************************CW Open – Sept 6, 2025
The CW Open annual contest is now just around the corner. If you have not yet cleared a few hours to operate, it is now time to compare the Session schedule and your schedule and perhaps make a few adjustments so you can join in the fun. As most of you already know, the CW Open contest is comprised of three individual sessions, each four hours long. These sessions are all on September 6, and spread across a 24-hour period to level the propagation playing field globally. Here is the schedule for the three sessions.
Session 1: Sept 6 (00:00 – 03:59 UTC)
Session 2: Sept 6 (12:00 – 15:59 UTC)
Session 3: Sept 6 (20:00 – 23:59 UTC)
Below are a few of the contest details, but for a complete description go to: https://cwops.org/cwops-tests/cw-open/
Each session is separately logged, checked and awarded. 3 separate contests!
o Please check to see how the award qualification process has changed for 2025.
Who: Open to all amateur radio operators, worldwide
Modes: CW only
Operator categories: Single operator
Power categories: HP (more than 100 watts); LP (more than 5 watts up to 100 watts); QRP (5 watts of less)
Use of spotting: No limitations on using clusters, RBN or skimmers, but please, no self-spotting.
Exchange: QSO number + given name (e.g. 12 John).
Scoring: 1 point per QSO per band (each session); 1 multiplier for callsign the first time it is worked (each session). Scores start at 0 for each session. Work someone once per band per session.
Reporting: Separate logs for each session. Logs must be in Cabrillo format and may be submitted via https://cwops.contesting.com/ Paper logs are NOT accepted!
Logging: CW Open is supported by many logging programs. See https://cwops.org/cwops-tests/cw-open/
Teams: Team competition is supported (see https://cwops.org/cwops-tests/cw-open/#team for signup). No geography limitations. (PLEASE REGISTER YOUR TEAMS EARLY TO AVOID THE LAST-MINUTE RUSH!!)
Hope to get you all in my log on all 3 Sessions and on many bands!!
73,
Bruce N1LN
CW Open Manager
****************************************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
Look to WA7BNM’s contest calendar for other contests and links to rules etc at WA7BNM weekly contest calendar
A link to John 2E0TWQ’s site’s Narc contest history page – 2E0TWQ’s NARC contest results page
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!
Submissions or comments for this news to thedoctorphil@gmail.com
73 until next week,
Phil G4LPP