Every race is different. QRP the race was known for the fact that the warm, beautiful weather drew fans of small feats to the hills, who with simple antennas hunted for connections with equally disabled colleagues. The Italians played through the loudspeakers cleanly and clearly, answering the first call, a number of stations from the former Yugoslavia, all spiced up by a crowd of Germans. Everything worked for decades - until something went wrong.
It started to rain during the race. The Italians, it is true, were still heard, but they connected a potato with a copper and iron wire of unknown diameter to the inputs of the radios. The Slovaks did not go to the canes, they stayed in the valleys near the plum tree. In Austria, wives planted geraniums in transceivers. The Germans stayed in the church. Only Hungarians, Slovenians and Croats remained. The result list in OK was halved.
What was the cause?
S počasím a podmienkami sa nedá nič robiť – sú také, aké sú. Hluchotu Talianov možno pripísať rozvíjajúcemu sa Alpe Adria Contestu, no zaujímavé je, že Chorváti tým netrpia. V Rakúsku je ústup z VHF visible for a long time. In OK, it's more complicated - you can't just blame it on the weather.
The first blow to the participation was given by the elimination of the race from the Championship. The following "mitigation" in the form of permission to power the equipment from the electrical network no longer prevented the outflow of large clubs, accustomed to the roar of turbines and the cracking of discharges in the final stages. For those, QRP is below their level - they used to participate only out of obligation. The last blow was the extension of the race to a meaningless 24 hours. After trying new propositions, it was clear that it was not going anywhere - just a tour of lost time. It is interesting that the decision to extend from 6 to 24 hours was passed in a minute, but the return to the original value has not been successful for years. The race was in danger of disappearing due to lack of interest and being replaced QRO competition.
Therefore, at the request of the VKV community, it was announced A classic QRP race – with the preservation of the original rules and only minimal modifications. A comparison of the result sheets shows that only a few individuals take part in the 24-hour race, while the majority compete in the shorter six-hour race and send a log in both. The decision to restore the shorter version turned out to be the right one.
I was quite saddened by the debate surrounding the race this year. There have been proposals to create an LP category as in Field Day, it is said that it is difficult to appeal with 10 watts. Somehow these colleagues did not understand that a different strategy should be chosen - it is not a matter of "thrashing" in all directions with full power and hoping that someone will catch on. Another wanted an 8-hour race, and when it was passed, he set off at the same time with 400 watts. It should be added that no one complained about him. However, the club station from Roztok was interfering - the radio was cracking loudly. Power 500 watts, what to add. I don't think such behavior can be considered decent. You can't ban it, but it's at least selfish. Karel OK2ZI wrote in the discussion that nothing can be done about it. I think he can. A "fatwa" could be issued against unscrupulous stations - and simply not connected to them in the next race. The 100-150 points in the log are negligible, but even 7000 points will do for such a station! And that hurts.
This year's edition pleased the participants. Beautiful warm weather, good propagation conditions - nothing was missing for an excellent experience. This was also reflected in the number of stations on the band, although it still does not reach the level of years ago.
The Italians were once again under the sign of the grouse with headphones. The Austrians were awakened by the sun after years of sleep and there were more of them on the range, partly reinforced by teams from OK settled in the Alps. In the southeast, signals from YU, 9A, S5, HA, T7 popped up. Stations from LZ were made only by brothers from OM. The French were driven uphill by their own race, so even the few who came forward had good signals - one even responded to our call. The Germans also appeared, but mainly for the people of Pilsen and western Bohemia.
Keďže zároveň prebiehal starý BBT contest, čakal som viac staníc z Bavorska, no žiadna sláva to nebola. PA a ON boli rovnako doménou západných Čechov, a ako čerešnička na torte – G0KPW. Perun slušne počkal na koniec preteku, trocha zagrmel, aby urýchlil balenie, a až potom spustil paľbu naplno.
This year there were questions about how to evaluate and solve different situations. I will explain briefly. If I get the log from the station, everything is clear:
[REG1TEST;1] TName= TDate=20090802;20090803 PCall=OM3EE PWWLo=JN88RF PExch= PAdr1=Senec PAdr2= PSect=Single PBand=144 MHz PClub= That's how I know the OM3EE was working from the JN88RF locator and anything else is wrong.
I don't have the OE8GVK/3 log, but it can be solved in another way:
OE8GVF/3 33x OE8GVK/3 OE8GVK/3P OE8GVK/P 7x OE8GVK/P3 OE8GWK/3 Statistics simply work here - 33× OE8GVK/3, 1× OE8GVF/3, OE8GWK/3, OE8GVK/P. The OE8GVK/3P mark is clearly a typo - fixed the mark but did not delete the old data. Seven stations believed the Austrian, who gave the brand ...portable three.
If there is too little data to make a decision:
IQ3ED/3 IQ3ED/P IQ3ED/P I try help on the web, in the DX cluster, or I send e-mails to questionable stations, for example last year:
Hello dear OM, regarding your doubt we confirm that during the Alpe Adria contest on the 3th August, we used only IQ3ED/P…
Thanks to Kurt IN3DOV, the brand is clear and a qualified decision can be made.
If I do not get a reliable answer, I will leave both variants as correct - as in the above case.
Aye unique I count the connections, but I try to verify them in any way:
090802 1041 OK1UU/P 59 17 59 1 JN69PE I simply called Honzo.
I proceed similarly with locators. With connection numbers, it's more difficult if I don't have logs from both stations. It is possible to reconstruct the log of the counter station, as nicely described by OK1IF on his site. In theory, the connection numbers should flow smoothly over time, without repetition.
If I get a sequence of numbers:
001
002
003
004
005
017
008
and I see that he made the 15th connection half an hour later, the error is with number 17.
I do not rule out that I can make a mistake, but I try to limit them as much as possible. At the same time, I invite all competitors from OM (and not only them) to the next edition of the Classic QRP race. The race is open - everyone who is interested, sends a diary and adheres to the propositions will be evaluated.
Mirek OK1DOM