October 2007 UHF Contest

The Hepburn Tropo map for the weekend looked promising, but in practice the enhancement was nowhere near as good as had been expected. Checking beacons before the contest I could hear the LA beacon in JO28 on 432MHz, but not very loud, and no stations from that area were heard or worked. Beacons to the east were a few dB up on normal, and this seemed to be the best direction from here.

The main focus on Saturday was on 1.3 and 2.3GHz. Early on in the contest DK6AS (JO52) was worked with good signals on 23cm, whereas DK2MN (JO32) was weaker than usual. A good haul of German stations boosted the score on 1.3GHz, but contacts were harder to come by on 2.3GHz this year. Signals on 3.4, 5.7 and 10GHz seemed down on usual, resulting in failures with regulars such as PA0EZ on 10GHz. Nevertheless, overall numbers of stations worked on 1.3GHz were up, and inter-G conditions were above normal with very strong signals from G3OHM/P (IO82) and G3CKR/P (IO93).

On the Sunday I spent some time on 432MHz, using mainly search and pounce to find the DX. During the morning signals to SE Germany came well up, with DL9EE/P (JN67) very loud. Other good QSOs included OL8R (JN69), DL0GTH (JO50), DM7A (JO60), DF0MTL (JO61), DK7T, DR9A, DL2R (JN48), DF5GZ/P (JN47), DL0FM (JN57), DK1MFI (JN58), F6BHI/P (JN15), SK7MW (JO65)

There did not appear to be a lot of activity on 1.3GHz from the areas experiencing good 70cm conditions. DM7A came up well on an aircraft scatter peak, other good QSOs included DK0OX (JN48), DL0GTH (JO50), OZ1FF (JO45), DF0YY (JO62), F6BHI/P (JN15), DF0MTL (JO61), F/OK4W/P (JN38)

Signals were heard both ways with DM7A on 2.3GHz, but we never had a good enough peak to make a full QSO, and it was the same story with DL0GTH. DF0OL (JO40) and DK0ZB (JO42) were the best DX.

3.4GHz suffered from a failure of the T/R switching on Sunday. DF0OL was heard quite well and might have provided the best DX if the transmitter had been working.

Both 5.7 and 10GHz were very disappointing this year, with very weak signals that appeared to be well below normal levels, hence scores are well down.

Results:

Band (MHz)

QSOs

Claimed Score

Best DX

Locator

Distance (km)

432

51

24370

DL9EE/P

JN67DR

928

1296

81

28083

OL4A

JO60RN

867

2320

32

7899

DK0ZB

JO42ID

513

3400

9

800

PA0EZ

JO22OF

274

5760

11

2426

OT5D

JO30AM

378

10368

11

2127

ON4SHF/P

JO20KW

283

 

 

 

Back

Home