Hello Bob thank you for the stirring up.

As a long time 12 hour G participant in the contest with a less than optimum station I would like to comment on the HQ discussion.

I have found that even with good propagation there is a tendency to run out of stations to work towards the end of the contest and the HQ stations have provided a welcome lift to the proceedings. Especially welcome on 80m and I suspect that, when propagation is open on 10 and 15, 40m will also suffer. The number of stations as they stand seems fair enough and of course if we can get the rarer UK prefixes active so much the better.

My preference would be that to avoid confusion amongst the more casual participants UK HQ stations would have the HQ suffix and to try to encourage groups to initiate necomers into the contest. GB5CC should however continue as the RSGB super station which has reach to the far ends of the commonwealth working the little pistols as well as the top guns and should be set up as such.

I would remind some Gs that the contest is a way of bringing the commonwealth together as equals and not just for the benefit of UK. Also the skill of running a volume of stations, which is what VE and nearer commonwealth stations are in a position to do is also part of contesting thrills even if only a few G’s can manage that (apart from HQ stations).

In any event despite the miserable conditions in recent years the contest is always an enjoyable challenge and the only one for which I still upset the household regime here.

See you next year, old age permitting.

Ian G3KZR