Report by David A Whitaker, BRS 25429, UKSMG Contest Manager
The two winter contests this year provided scant support from the membership although there were pockets of activity on both days. This is very disappointing to your committee.The first contest in December provided the most activity with 211 callsigns being extracted from your logs. UKSMG members totalled 72. Yes, just 72 members out of a UK membership of 400 +. Poor show chaps. The second contest in January of this year attracted 132 stations. Rather surprisingly the membership numbers were only six less than for the December contest.
G participation in the two contests totalled 276. Other countries were represented by 23 in Wales, 10 in Scotland, one each in Northern Ireland and Jersey, 3 from Belgium, 19 from the Netherlands, 2 from Denmark, 1 from France and 5 from Stateside.
An analysis of the counties worked showed that 52 were activated in December but only 36 in January. There was no activity recorded from Derbyshire, Shropshire and Merseyside of the larger counties and only one station was reported from Nottinghamshire.
This year very few stations were worked outside the UK. The ones who did were located near to the east coast of England. Mention must be made to PE1PZS for his entry which showed that he worked 13 UKSMG members. It was a great pity the majority of these members were not able to work into the UK. OZ5W plugged away calling CQMS but very few contacts were made. However yours truly did manage a ping and a five second burst from him.
Our old friend Axel N8XA sent a token offering showing just four stations worked in the December event. Thanks, Axel for your solid support. And thanks to Jim MM1BGI who heroically went mobile in the second contest. He had to plough through eight inches of snow to a height of 1500ft. His reward - not one single QSO. Members, this is what I call true ham spirit. It is a pity that we don’t have more members like this. Jim e-mailed me his December entry but regrettably it missed the closing date. However, I have used it as a valuable check log.
This year we have a new contest winner and also a new member who won both contests. So our congratulations go to Tim Booth G4YTD on this fine feat. Tim managed to ‘cross the channel’ by working OZ5W, ON4GG, PE1OXT and F1BHB in JN09 in the first contest. He also made it to GMØEFT, GM8BDX, GM4GUF and GI8AYZ (RSGB President). In the second test his best catches were PE1RCU, GM4WJA, MM1BVO and GM7OIN. So very well done Tim. For the record Tim was using a Kenwood TS690 with linear giving 400W output. His antenna is the Eagle wide-spaced six ele at 20 metres agl.
As usual Ela, G6HKM presented another well produced entry showing 75 QSOs in the December test. Thanks Ela and thanks to Martin G3VOF for his first contest as a UKSMG member. Regrettably, Martin had to work over the second contest.
I don’t have to remind you of the atrocious weather most of the country experienced in the second contest. With 70 mph wind gusts it was not at all surprising that most operators went QRT in mid afternoon. I do hope no one lost their beams or had any building storm damage.
Most of you will notice that some scores have been amended to take into account the two members who had actually applied for membership before the contests started. I felt this was only correct under the circumstances.
UKSMG Winter Contest, 7th December 1997
Section 1 - Single Operator
| Station | QSOs | Mbrs | QRA | DXCC | Total | Pos |
| G4YTD | 82 | 22 | 38 | 7 | 4680 | 1 |
| G6HKM | 75 | 35 | 32 | 5 | 4070 | 2 |
| G3VOF | 60 | 29 | 24 | 3 | 2403 | 3 |
| G3SNN | 40 | 22 | 22 | 2 | 1488 | 4 |
| G8HUM | 42 | 21 | 21 | 3 | 1512 | 5 |
| G4PCI | 38 | 19 | 20 | 2 | 1254 | 6 |
| G7OYW | 37 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 1102 | 7 |
| GW6VZW | 42 | 18 | 15 | 2 | 1020 | 8 |
| G4DCJ | 29 | 16 | 15 | 3 | 810 | 9 |
| G8ZRE | 18 | 8 | 13 | 2 | 390 | 10 |
| G1KCS | 15 | 11 | 12 | 2 | 364 | 11 |
Section 2 - SWL
| Station | QSOs | Mbrs | QRA | DXCC | Total | Pos |
| BRS32525 | 23 | 14 | 13 | 3 | 592 | 1 |
Section 3 - Rest of World
| Station | QSOs | Mbrs | QRA | DXCC | Total | Pos |
| N8XA/QRP | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
UKSMG Winter Contest, 4th January 1998 - Results
Section 1 - Single Operator
| Station | QSOs | Mbrs | QRA | DXCC | Total | Pos |
| G4YTD | 41 | 19 | 27 | 4 | 1860 | 1 |
G3HBR |
40 |
26 |
23 |
3 |
1716 |
2 |
GØAEV |
41 |
26 |
21 |
3 |
1608 |
3 |
G3COJ |
22 |
17 |
15 |
1 |
624 |
4 |
G3OIL |
18 |
13 |
10 |
2 |
372 |
5 |
G3SNN |
17 |
11 |
10 |
2 |
336 |
6 |
G4PCI |
16 |
11 |
10 |
2 |
324 |
7 |
GW6VZW |
17 |
10 |
9 |
2 |
297 |
8 |
G4DCJ |
17 |
11 |
8 |
2 |
280 |
9 |
G8ZRE |
13 |
8 |
8 |
3 |
231 |
10 |
MØATX |
13 |
9 |
7 |
2 |
198 |
11 |
G1KCS |
9 |
8 |
8 |
2 |
170 |
12 |
G7PEB |
9 |
5 |
8 |
1 |
126 |
13 |
Section 2 - SWL
| Station | QSOs | Mbrs | QRA | DXCC | Total | Pos |
BRS25429 |
21 |
9 |
12 |
3 |
450 |
1 |
Section 3 - Novice
| Station | QSOs | Mbrs | QRA | DXCC | Total | Pos |
2E1FUF |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
Section 4 - Europe
| Station | QSOs | Mbrs | QRA | DXCC | Total | Pos |
PE1PZS |
22 |
13 |
2 |
3 |
175 |
1 |
Well, there you have it, folks. I am not really inclined to run any more winter contests because of the minimal support it attracts from the membership. I believe we have filled a gap in the contest calendar by showing the ‘authorities’ that some activity can be generated even without the help of sporadic-E and meteor reflections etc. But, as I have said before, if you the members really want a contest in the winter then you must assure me you are going to support it 100%. So come on, put pen to paper and let me know what you want by way of contests. I do not mind being the adjudicator but let’s be fair these contests do take time to set up. I always enjoy reading your entries and comments and don’t mind the checking and writing up afterwards. BUT I am not prepared to do it for a paltry dozen entries. You can all do better than that!
Reminder. Just so that you can prove me wrong don’t forget the UKSMG Summer Contest on June 13 1998. 100 entries and you are all forgiven!
David A Whitaker, BRS 25429 UKSMG Contest Manager
