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 |
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