Folks,

That was my first CC, and with 100w and an EFHW horizontally at 6m AGL I didn’t expect much, but I’m pretty happy with the list below. If I get 80 out of my 91 QSOs I’ll be happy.

10m – 5B,5Z,7Q,9Y,J3,C4,P3
15M – 3B8,5Z,7Q,9H,C4,GM,J3,P3,VA2,VK4,VK6,VO1,VO2,ZF
20M – 3B8,5Z,7Q,9H6,C4,CF3,G,GM,J3,P3,VA1,VA2,VA3,VE1,VE3,VE4,VE5,VE6,VE7,VE9,VJ3,VK2,VK3,VK6,VO1,VO2,VP9,VY2,ZF2,ZL4,ZS1
40M – 5Z,9H,CF3,C4,G,GB,GI,GM,GW,P3,VA3,VE3,VK6
80M – G,GB,GM,GW,P3

73, Ciemon

—

Ciemon Dunville G4BFG

Warminster, Wiltshire. UK

Enough has already been said about propagation but suffice it to say that after hours listening to watery signals at or near the noise, and/or endless looping auto-CQs overnight, my post contest breakfast porridge brewing on the hob probably resembled the state of my brain by then. Last year as GW4J I clocked 340 Qs without the benefit of UK contacts: this time as an HQ it was under 390 which says something about conditions. I hope the travelers didn’t feel disappointed but rest assured it would have been far worse without you!

The start was very slow but did pick up during the day and I was quite pleased with the way the log was ticking along albeit with frequent problems copying serials. 10m was a wash out with only 3 UK calls logged (M5DX, G3BJ and G4A predictably) though I did get a response from 5Z4VJ but couldn’t be sure of the serial so marked it as X-QSO. Despite calls in the bandmap my P3 panadapter remained resolutely flat on 10m for most of the contest. There was a slight up tick in VK/ZL activity around the dawn period but nothing on 80m, just 40 and 20m. The last 3 hours were extremely quiet. 

Finalising some repairs (feeder) to my Hexbeam was a last minute rush in the poor weather of the preceding week but just about managed to raise it to around 8 or 9 metres early Friday. I felt I was getting out better than I was hearing as I was aware at times of being called but with little or no chance of copying the call and serial and completing a QSO.

SH5 tells me that from 20 countries and 207 unique calls, 48.8% of my log is UK with 29.2% from Canada and 9.4% from VK/ZL. I worked 7 x VE7/VA7 on 20m and 3 on 40m. Just 3 x VE6 on 20m. 

With numbers of probably inaudible signals it’s difficult to judge activity levels but on a positive note I was pleased that the wider concept of ‘Commonwealth’ seems to be expanding with the recent governance tweaks. Raoul ZS1C has been creating some interest in South Africa and VU seems now to be more active – smalls steps but right direction?

K3S/amp @~ 650w with Hexbeam plus verticals and dipoles

Stew GW0ETF (op GW6XX)

Thanks for all the reports so far on the 2026 Commonwealth Contest. 

 

We only have 24 hours in the year for this (unlike the early events that lasted for a week) so we are at the mercy of the propagation gods over the period. This year we were affected by a solar flare or whatever. I can start a brief report with what I didn’t work this year:

 

10m no VEs, VKs, ZLs or Caribbean. 15m no VEs west of Ontario, only 2 ZLs (both in the last hour) and 5 VKs (one in the last hour). 80m no VEs west of Ontario, only 1 ZL and 2 VKs. Nothing in the Pacific. I might have found a few more had I been assisted.

 

On the other hand, what I did work was encouraging:

 

All five of the Nootka Sounders from VE7 on 20m and four of them on 40m, four VUs, five ZSs – thanks guys, please keep entering.

Other than UK HQs, the only five band QSOs were with P3X and Colin ZF2CA. I guess 3B8 also but Nigel on four bands and Ian on 80m (I am not too confident of the serial number from him).

Four band QSOs with 3B8XF 5B4AGN 5Z4VJ 9H1CG 9H6A CF3A GB5CC J38YI VA3RAC VE1RAC VE3EJ VE3JM VE3KI VE9DX VE9ML VK6T VO1HP VO2AC VP9I & ZS1C. Most of these were missed on 10m and a few on 80m, neither of which were in good shape.

I worked one SA station, 9Y4M who was on 10m in the SA contest but said hello. 

137 callsigns from 21 countries in my log.

 

I tried various CQs calls – “CQ CC M5DX”, “CQ CC M5DX M5DX” or “TEST CC M5DX”. I preferred the TEST one as it is slightly shorter and therefore better for alternating CQs on two bands, which I did some of the time – when you eventually get a caller, you think, which band did they call me on? It isn’t RSGB only who would prefer “CC” but the other Commonwealth country sponsors too. I see this as important if we want to encourage more VU and ZS participation.

 

Despite the conditions, I still get a thrill from hearing a caller with a remote prefix, for which this contest is brilliant. I hope Bob G3PJT would be pleased with the participation this year, bless him. The Commonwealth Contest might not have continued to 2026 but for his efforts in promoting it.

 

BAND QSO DUP BONUS HQ POINTS AVG

———————————

   80  38   0    22  7    345 9.1

   40  78   1    41 11    745 9.6

   20 111   5    54 14   1080 9.7

   15  45   0    33  8    420 9.3

   10  17   1    14  3    155 9.1

———————————

TOTAL 289   7   164 43   2745 9.5

=================================

        FINAL SCORE: 6 885

 

If you didn’t take part this year, please make sure the contest is in your diary for 2027 – it will be the 90th Commonwealth Contest. If you did, thanks for the QSOs.

 

73 Nick G4FAL (M5DX for the Commonwealth)

I have held for some time that this contest is significantly more fun from outside the UK than from the UK, and have had reasonable success in the past from 9G, VP9 and C5. This year I decided on 5X, having been there four times in the past two years so knowing the situation quite well, and having a licence that was still valid (having renewed it last year for CQWW CW). C5 is a much better location propagation-wise but my licence has expired and Dom M1KTA was planning to be there in any case (and, as it turns out, he failed to get his licence renewed in time which could have been my fate too).

My plan was to operate from an apartment block in Kampala where both Alan G3XAQ and I had stayed previously. Top floor apartment and a flat roof but not huge. So I decided, for simplicity, to put up a doublet which I would tune with my KAT500 tuner.

The plan was high power as 5X is a long way from the main centres of BERU activity (VP9 was spot on in that respect). Sadly, my KPA500 died on me the day after I got here – hopefully nothing serious but nothing I could solve while ‘in the field’. So it was a case of 100W and, as it turns out, lousy propagation.

And, as Don G3BJ mentioned, I seemed not to be hearing too well – my doublet was definitely a compromise antenna – lesson learned for the future. I worked most of the African stations although Andy 5Z4VJ was too close for 10 and 15m – easy on 40. 7Q9JM was by far the strongest on several bands – perfect distance I guess. Nigel was, of course, reliable from 3B8. But the UK proved tough and several stations I was hearing called CQ in my face, sadly including my good friend Bob operating GB5CC. The GM stations seemed to be loudest here – GM6XX, GM4YXI, etc. 40 was odd – I recall listening to Andy 5Z4VJ running the UK on 40 while I could hear very little, but there were two or three VE stations that were in for several hours on the band – CF3A in particular.

Anyway, the long and short was 70 QSOs, fortunately the bulk of them multipliers, so it’s a 12 hour, low power, unassisted entry and not a lot of use to the Team World Travellers, who I think had bagged me as a team member. Maybe I’ll get that promised bonus for being near the equator (I read something in the rules but have no idea how it works!).

Oh well, there’s always another year.

IC-7300, Winkey, KAT500, DX Log.

73 Don G3XTT / 5X1DF   

Hello all

Firstly, thanks to all UK ops, DX travellers and HQ ops for the QSOs.  In recent years I have activated GB5CC, but this year was pleased to pass that callsign to RSGB President Bob GU4YOX, in memory of long-time BERU / CC supporter Bob G3PJT SK.

As I have said before, being so far North on the UK mainland has the advantage that I can work UK stations on all 5 HF contest bands, but the disadvantage is that any auroral activity can severely impact my ability to make DX QSOs. This was the case on Saturday afternoon, although to my surprise the auroral oval reduced in size instead of increasing, so I was able to continue making QSOs.

I installed a 40mm diameter aluminium 80m vertical especially for the contest, but the weather had other ideas – an unexpected strong gale last week overcame my 16 guys and the vertical broke in two. I happened to be looking out of the window as this happened – luckily nothing was damaged apart from the 3-layer internal joining sleeve which I though would have been strong enough -wrong. I re-erected this vertical the following day.

Overall the propagation made the contest as bit of a ‘slog’, but being able to work UK stations means you are a lot busier than other UK entrants who can only work DX and the UK bonus stations.

Contest         : RSGB Commonwealth Contest
Callsign        : GM6XX
Mode            : CW
Category        : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay         : Headquarters
Band(s)         : All bands (AB)
Class           : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/…  : 
Locator         : IO77WS
BAND   QSO DUP DXC  HQ  POINTS BONUS   AVG 
——————————————–
   80    81   1  11   6     110   420  6.54 
   40   103   2  19   5     185   660  8.20 
   20   148   0  29  11     430  1220 11.15 
   15    70   1  18   4     140   560 10.00 
   10    38   0   6   1      45   180  5.92 
——————————————–
TOTAL   440   4  83  27     910  3040  8.98 
=========================
            TOTAL SCORE : 3 950

GM6XX 2026 made 206 QSOs with DX stations and 238 QSOs with UK stations.

One indicator of good conditions is backscatter on UK signals on the higher bands – I did not hear any of that this year, Signals from ZL were very good on Sunday morning.  Overall I thought the contest/participation was reasonably ‘healthy’, but unlucky with propagation this year.

73     Chris    GM3WOJ / GM6XX

Big decision! What to put in the F1 macro, CQ CC or CQ BERU? RSGB encourages the use of CC, but there are still plenty of stations using BERU and for me I find BERU more recognisable when tuning around.

 

The propagation story has already been told. I spent a lot of time scratching around in the noise, so many thanks to those who persevered and sent the report several times, I think there was only station, Tony, ZL2AGY, where we gave up and then we worked 20 minutes later. However I’m confident there will be many busts in the log. An extra 4db gain from a small beam would have made a significant difference.

 

The plan was to just take a 60 minute rest around 3AM Sunday morning, but at 1:30 with 208 QSOs in the log and none in the previous 30 minutes I set the alarm for 5AM and crawled under the quilt on the shack sofa. 

 

Sunrise at 0615 didn’t give the usual boost in QSOs on 80 and 40m – what happened to the S9 signals form VE3 on 80m and abundance of ZLs on 40m.

 

Only a further 15 QSOs before the end, mainly on 20m and like Dave (BUO) the last hour was looking stark until I caught ZD7BG on 10 and 15m and then a big signal from Bob 5B4AGN on 15m.  The final count of QSOs and points was about 65% of my 2025 total.

 

BAND QSO DUP BONUS HQ POINTS 

———————————

   80  28   0    16  8    245 

   40  49   2    33  8    460 

   20  98   0    52 15    945 

   15  33   0    27  6    305 

   10  13   0    11  2    120 

———————————

TOTAL 221   2   139 39   2075 

========================

        FINAL SCORE: 5 635

 

Equipment: FTdx101D with ACOM 1k at 500W out. Dipoles at 12m for 40/20/15/10m and 45m end fed wire at 80m at 12m. DXLog for logging.

 

As always I need to thank the travellers and operators of the HQ stations, they are a significant part of the success of this contest, but thanks to all for the QSOs.

 

Thanks & 73

Mike /G3WPH/G3P

 

After my adventure in New Zealand last year it was back to the home station. I don’t have a permanent tower at the moment so the tribander was put up field-day style with ‘gin pole’ (falling derrick) and block-and-tackle. The high K index and consequential poor conditions made me wonder if it was worth it, but ‘Beru’ has always been special and yes I enjoyed it.

An unavoidable family visit late on Saturday afternoon lost me two hours and, I suspect, many VEs. I felt their numbers were down overall, no doubt put off by the conditions. Got 75 minutes’ sleep overnight and in the end I spent about 20 hours in the chair. It was looking like I’d have a last hour with no QSOs at all just endless CQing and searching, but ZD7BG saved the day by calling me on 10m with four minutes to go. We then promptly went to 15m, unfortunately the onward move to 20m didn’t work out but it was a nice way to finish.

 BAND   QSO DUP DXC  HQ  POINTS BONUS  AVG
——————————————–
   80    25   0  10   7     125   400 21.00
   40    52   0  20   7     260   800 20.38
   20    91   1  27  12     455  1180 17.97
   15    37   1  18   8     185   680 23.38
   10    13   0   9   2      65   260 25.00
——————————————–
TOTAL   218   2  84  36    1090  3320 20.23
============================================
            TOTAL SCORE : 4 410

K3+Acom 2000A
K2+KPA500
Tet tribander up 40ft
15m loop
20m loop
40m elevated vertical
80m tee up 33ft
Beverage on Ground
Win-Test

73 Dave G4BUO

Well that was an experience not to be repeated, I hope.  Conditions the wrong side of awful, and perhaps as a result, I sense lower activity from some parts of the world. The K index was between 4 and 6, slowly dropping during the contest. A was high and a number of VE’s (and G’s !) had a distinct auroral ring. 

 

It all started quite well, but then the number of stations began to dry up, and by the time we were in the early hours, sleep beckoned (I took a one hour micro-nap to relieve the monotony). The long haul routes were quite hard work – 3D2 was ESP with me – and LF did not really deliver. For me, no ZL on 80m and no VE7, although a few VK2 and 6 stations.  Nigel and Ian in 3B8 were very active, as was Andy in 5Z4, all with good signals.  Don in 5X did not seem to be hearing particularly well, but the Caribbean gang were all very good signals.  

 

Score seems to be 80% of last year, and QSO count is  75% of last year, all subject to checking.  Not sure that the scoring is correct (last year my logger calculated a score some 20% below the correct one!), but this is what WT shows:

 

BAND   QSO DUP DXC  HQ  POINTS BONUS   AVG 

——————————————–

   80    41   0  14   9     375   620 24.27 

   40    87   3  25  12     835  1260 24.08 

   20   114   2  32  15    1105  1480 22.68 

   15    48   1  23  10     440   920 28.33 

   10    17   0  10   4     140   320 27.06 

——————————————–

TOTAL   307   6 104  50    2895  4600 24.41 

============================================

            TOTAL SCORE : 7 495

 

Thanks for all the Q’s and a special thanks to all the travellers who make the contest such great fun.  Let’s hope the sun gods give us a better deal next year.

 

Usual station – SO2R with twin FTDX 101s/linears, three yagis and LF vertical, beverages and K9AY

 

73, Don

 

Don Beattie G3BJ / G5W

Wel, that was definitely not easy!  I had managed to rig roughly 60 ft of wire from our oak tree to an upstairs bedroom, fed straight out of the K3S against mains earth. This involved killing all light and power circuits other than the one I was actually using, to get rid of the worst of the local noise.  Even so, my elderly laptop, despite being festooned with suppressors, produced so much QRN that I was reduced to paper logging, with post entry into SD.

The start was terrible, taking half an hour for the first QSO, but things improved gradually and after 12 hours I had reached 100. Pretty knackered by then, so decided on a 12 hour Restricted unassisted entry.  Sorry, no idea of score at  this point, but I did make it with Nigel on 2 bands and thanks also to V51YJ, who responded to my call off the side. 

Many thanks to all who picked me out.

73 Peter G3LET

Conditions were very poor from the outset with the K index at 6. Worked some African stations on 10m in the first few hours, but later 10m was dead. Looking at Ionosondes, the MUF didn’t even get above 21MHz until early evening, and then I found VEs were largely absent. So I spent more time on 20m than usual. VEs on 20m were sounding auroral even early afternoon. Based on the poor conditions, I decided to only do 12 hours to avoid dead horses and flogging. I did the first 12 hours and didn’t save time and get up before sunrise – probably not the best tactically. I did the same last year, but this year QSOs were down 23% because of the poor conditions.

 BAND QSO DUP BONUS HQ POINTS  AVG
———————————-
   80   2   0     0  2     10  5.0
   40  42   1    28  8    385  9.2
   20 110   1    54 13   1065  9.7
   15  39   0    30  5    355  9.1
   10   9   0     9  0     90 10.0
———————————-
TOTAL 202   2   121 28   1905  9.4
==================================
        FINAL SCORE: 4 885

Best regards,
David M0DHO