The 2001 PW Contest was understandably cancelled due to the Foot and Mouth crisis. As a result, those of us that are keen contesters were looking forward to the 2002 event more than ever. Our aim each year, apart from having a good time, tends to be to improve on the previous year’s position in the results table.

Planning, as always, began a couple of months before the event. The PW Contest is not too demanding in terms of equipment. The 3 watt limit means that we can easily power the station from a car battery. The 7 hour duration means that we can keep the station on the air with just a few operators.

We have been able to use a good site at Thurrocks Farm, near Clavering, (JO01BX) for both the PW QRP Contest and VHF NFD for a number of years. This is thanks to the good relationship between Neil Harris G3TXC and the owner of the farm. Previously we have always used the farm yard itself, but this year it was not available. However, the owner offered us the use of an alternative spot near the slurry tank. Several of us visited the site and agreed that we should try it out.

Neil kindly allowed us to use his caravan this year, which saved us erecting a tent. It also meant that we could make use of the cooker for making tea and coffee. For the main transceiver we used my trusty old IC251E with Mutek front-end, with the power reduced to 3 watts. The antenna was the club’s 13 element Tonna. As in previous contests, we used paper logs, there being no 240v supply to run a computer.

We were blessed with fine weather for the duration of the contest but band conditions seemed fairly average. The site seemed as good as the usual farmyard location and I am sure we would use it again if it were offered. 

The scoring is calculated at one point per QSO, with a locator square multiplier applied. The distances worked in this contest do not affect the final score, but it is interesting to use this as a measure of how well we were ‘getting out’ and how propagation compared with previous years. The best DX was MI0STE/P in IO64PH at 524km, followed by DG6PY/P in JO30JF at 504km, not too bad for 3w. An interesting QSO and useful multiplier was PA6FI/MM in ‘wet square’ JO12. 

The log was converted into electronic form after the contest using EI5DI’s Super Duper contest logging software. The log was sent to the adjudicator by e-mail, with all the additional details being submitted using the form downloaded from the contest website.

The final tally was 62 scoring QSO’s in 21 squares, giving a total of 1302 points. This resulted in a position of 16th out of 67 entrants. This was our best position to date. The 2003 contest is on Sunday 15th June and we are hoping to improve on this year’s position. Congratulations to this year’s winner Tim Boon M0AFC/P who worked 197 stations in 30 squares from his excellent site in IO84. Further information on the PW QRP Contest, including archives of previous years, can be found on the website www.ntay.com/contest/index.html