Contesting

2019 CQ WW CW contest - VARC cabin with four stations running.

A Journey To Contesting

I wouldn't really regard myself as an obsessive contester, but I do enjoy getting involved in certain events. You do hear some people complaining about the 'contesters' and a common criticism is that they don't see the point of endlessly calling for contacts and shouting 5 9 9 - it seems so mindless to them! But there is a lot more to it than that! There is a lot of skill to be gained from contesting, from understanding propagation to understanding your radio and antennas to get the best from them and yourself. There is also the thrill of getting that hard to get contact and running a pileup and getting the best results you can. You can easily see why some people really get 'the bug' for it. (there might be a pun there!)

I never intended to get into the contesting thing, but I kind of accidentally fell into it. Before I joined the VARC (Verulam Amateur Radio Club) I went along to a couple of meetings and joined them on that years CQ WW CW contest. I helped out with the set up and tear down (as well as getting my first taste of contest operating - a steep learning curve!) and while we were packing up one of the club members (G4HsO) said to me 'how would you like to be our contest manager'! Well I think they must have been desperate!! But I did duly join the club and have been their contest manager for the past 5 years or so.

CQ WW CW

The highlight of the year has always been the CQ WW CW contest which runs for 48 hours. In the past we have made a big effort to fill the full duration with four stations running and around 10 to 14 operators on a schedule to fill the slots. This has involved inviting members from outside the Verulam radio club and has been very successful.

Since Covid and the move of site to a new location we have not had the chance to put on such a big show. The feeling with the other club members seems to be that they would prefer to scale down the work involved in setting up such a 'big show' with all the setting up and taking down that is required.

We are also looking at running in the CQ WW SSB contest, which comes up at the end of October. While the CW contest happens at the end of November.

RSGB Club Championship and Autumn Series contests

The main contests that we concentrate on is the 80m RSGB contests. The nice thing with these is that they allow for multiple stations run by club members to add their scores into the total for the club. We have done very well in these in the past number of years and is a great way of involving other members of the club.

Club Calls Contest

The club calls contest happens on the 160m (top band) in the middle of November. Originally the contest was organised and run by our club, but was handed over to the RSGB some years ago. We still like to get on the band and put in a good showing and usually run that one from the cabin site of the club. It's only a 3 hour contest, originally just SSB but they now have added CW to it as well. So another 'must' to enter.

VHF & UHF Contests

Since the move to this QTH I have managed to erect a small tower with my rotator on it. (see the VHF tower under the Aerials page)

I am not so serious about doing these contests, but I like to get on and have a dabble at times. It's all a question of balance, and can't afford to spend too many days of the week in contests for long stretches of time. The station manager might not be so impressed with that!