Note: The following article by RAC Contest Managers Bart Ritchie, VE5CPU and Sam Ferris, VE5SF (shown in the above photo), is an extract from the RAC Canada Day Contest 2017 Results published on page 43 of the January-February 2018 issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine. Please see the complete PDF version provided below with the addition of the Contest Soapbox.
2017 saw the celebration of Canada’s 150th Birthday or Sesquicentennial and on July 1 we once again celebrated Canada Day with our usual summer Canadian contest. Falling on a Saturday this year provided greater opportunities for even casual contesters to spend some time exchanging QSOs with folks in Canada and around the world. With over 570 participants it was the best ever turnout in recent years despite the poor propagation conditions, a major challenge to those outside of North America. For those who persevered through the poor propagation, our thanks for your support!
Despite challenging conditions in terms of propagation, we should note that Radiosport Manitoba, using the VE4RAC call sign, set a new Canadian record for Multi Op, Single Transmitter, High Power (MOSTHP). Great job by Ed and the team in setting the new record.
As part of the Canada 150 Celebrations, Radio Amateurs of Canada secured permission for all Canadian Radio Amateurs to use special call sign prefixes beginning with CF, CG, CH and CI and those are reflected in the following results. In addition, RAC organized a special RAC Canada 150 Award Program and this raised the profile of the RAC call signs which are always a part of the RAC Canada Day Contests.
With that bit of introduction, on with the detailed results!
Note: For the Canada Day Contest Records and Soapbox please see the following PDF version.
PLAQUE WINNERS
Single Operator All Bands High Power
Sponsored by Radioworld
Victor Petcherkin, WQ5OO, with a score of 602,700
Single Operator All Bands Low Power
Sponsored by Contest Club Ontario
Gabor Horvath, VE7JH, with a score of 345,150
Single Operator All Bands – QRP
Sponsored by QRP Canada
Thomas J. Warren, K3TW, with a score of 65,912
Single Operator All Band Any Authorized Power – Phone
Sponsored by the Saskatchewan Contest Club
Percy Langerler, CF7FC, with a score of 112,104
Single Operator All Band Any Authorized Power – CW
Sponsored by the Maritime Contest Club
Robert Nash, VE3KZ, using the Contest Club of Ontario
CF3CCO call sign with a score of 152,720
Single Operator Single Band Any Authorized Power Level
Sponsored by Radioworld
Gary Caldwell, CF7RR, with a score of 163,438
Multi-Operator Single Transmitter High Power
Sponsored by Alfa Radio
Ed Richardson, VE4VT, using VE4RAC with a score of 645,732
Ops: VE4VT
Multi-Operator Single Transmitter Low Power
Tony Allsop, VE3FTA Memorial Plaque Sponsored by Mississauga ARC
Maritime Contest Club using VE9RAC with a score of 327,612
Ops: VE9ML and VE9BK
Multi-Operator Multi Transmitter Any Authorized Power Level
Sponsored by Radioworld
Tom Haavisto, VE3CX, using VA3RAC with a score of 1,002,092
Top Scoring Single Operator Foreign Entry
Larry Kayser, VA3LK Memorial Plaque sponsored by Alan Goodacre, VE3HX
Victor Petcherkin, WQ5OO, with a score of 602,700
SINGLE OP ALL BANDS HIGH POWER
Victor Petcherkin, WQ5OO wins the SOABHP plaque, sponsored by Radioworld, with a score of 602,700. Victor also wins the Larry Kayser VA3LK Memorial Plaque, sponsored by Alan Goodacre, VE3HX, for the Top Scoring Single Operator’s Foreign Entry – Any Authorized Power. Paul Newberry, N4PN, takes second place with a score of 401,244. In third place this year is Mitch Mason, K7RL, with a score of 384,060.
SINGLE OP ALL BANDS LOW POWER
Gabor Horvath, VE7JH, piloted his station to a first place finish in the SOABLP category and takes the plaque sponsored by Contest Club Ontario with a score of 345,150. Summer Hartzfeld, VE5SDH, using the VE5RAC call sign, takes second place this year with a score of 199,226. Third place goes to Jeffery Hartley, N8II, generating a score of 178,872.
SINGLE OP – QRP
For the fourth year in a row – a very rare run in our contest – Thomas J. Warren, K3TW takes the first place plaque in the SOABQRP category, sponsored by QRP Canada, with a score of 65,912. Second place goes to David Stephenson, VE3PGY, with a score of 18,576. Third place goes to David E Reid, VE6BIR/VE3, with a score of 16,250 points.
SINGLE OP ALL BAND PHONE
Percy Langerler, CF7FC, takes first place with a score of 112,104 capturing the SOABCW plaque sponsored by the Maritime Contest Club. Second place goes to the Daniel Fiechter, VE7SO, with a score of 99,960. Stanley Fraley, VY2/WS5K, rounds out third place with a score of 84,456.
SINGLE OP ALL BAND CW
Robert Nash, VE3KZ, using the Contest Club of Ontario CF3CCO call sign, takes first place with a score of 152,720 capturing the SOABCW plaque sponsored by the Maritime Contest Club. Second place goes to Todd Bendtsen, VE5MX, with a score of 139,128. Stefan Bejusca, VA3AR, rounds out third place with a score of 136,320.
SINGLE OP SINGLE BAND
For several years in a row now, 20 metres continues to be the main band for those in the SOSB category and again produced the top three scores in this category. Gary Caldwell, CF7RR, takes first place, winning the SOSB plaque sponsored by Radioworld with a score of 163,438. Sylvan Katz, VE5ZF, takes second place with a score of 103,040 and our top three rounds out with a repeat performance by Bj Madsen, CG5FX, with a score of 47,400.
The complete listing further on in the article shows the band by band breakdown and power levels for those who like to keep track of that element of SOSB even though it is not an official part of the contest format.
MULTI-OPERATOR SINGLE-TRANSMITTER HIGH POWER
Ed Richardson, VE4VT, using the VE4RAC call sign, takes first place in the MOSTHP category and also sets a new RAC Canada Day Contest record for this category. He captures the Alfa Radio sponsored plague with a score of 645,732. Dave Tucker, KA6BIM and his team takes second place with a score of 405,000. Tony Osman, VE3RZ, takes third place this year with a score of 327,880. It should be noted that some entries in this class are for a single operator who is using one of the methods that make them assisted and hence they fall into the multi-operator category.
MULTI-OPERATOR SINGLE-TRANSMITTER LOW POWER
The Maritime Contest Club with Marcel LeBlanc, VE9ML and his team, using the VE9RAC call sign, takes first place this year with a score of 327,612 capturing the MOSTLP Tony Allsop VE3FTA Memorial Plaque.
Pete Pel, VE7CV, takes second place this year with a score of 122,844 and Greg Foster, VE3PJ, takes third place with a score of 56,990. As described earlier, some entries in this class are a single operator who is using one of the methods that make them assisted and hence they fall into the multi-operator category.
MULTI-OPERATOR MULTI-TRANSMITTER
Tom Haavisto, VE3CX, using the VA3RAC call sign, takes first place this year in the MOMT category with a score of 1,002,092, taking the plaque sponsored by Radioworld. The Contest Group du Quebec, using the VA2RAC call sign, take second place with a score of 977,856. Our third place finish goes to the Orca DX and Contest Club using the VE7RAC call sign with a score of 485,248.
TOP SCORING SINGLE OPERATOR – FOREIGN ENTRY
As noted in the SOABHP results, Victor Petcherkin, WQ5OO, wins the Larry Kayser, VA3LK Memorial Plaque sponsored by Alan Goodacre, VE3HX, for the Top Scoring Single Operator’s Foreign Entry – Any Authorized Power.
We appreciate all the Cabrillo formatted logs, but encourage you all to check to make sure all the pertinent information is correct in the Cabrillo headers. Not all of you are getting the correct entry classes entered in the header due to limitations in your software. Please make sure you are using the most current version available.
The RAC Contest Management Team continues to get the results out as quickly as possible with as much accuracy as we can. In the event we have let any errors in, please accept our apologies and be assured we will be happy to correct any problems that are identified and publish any updates on the RAC website at https://www.rac.ca/contesting-results/.
CANADA DAY CONTEST 2018
The Contest Managers are looking forward to next year’s event on Sunday, July 1, 2018 and hope to see increased participation. Please join us as it is a great way to spend part of the Canada Day holiday! The RAC website at https://www.rac.ca/contesting-results/ has all the contest rules and entry forms.
A Cabrillo-formatted electronic log submission really helps to manage the work to compile the contest results. Although we encourage electronic logs, we will continue to accept paper logs for small entries (less than 100 contacts). If you are not submitting a Cabrillo log, we ask that those entrants include a summary sheet providing the required information and, where possible, a breakdown of VE, RAC and DX contacts as well as the multiplier total. This will make compiling and checking of logs a bit easier and aids to a quicker turnaround of the results. As a reminder, when submitting email entries, please make the subject line meaningful. Our preference is “Call – Category – RAC Canada Day”. For example: VE5CPU – SOABHP – RAC Canada Day.
To everyone who helped make this year’s contest special, a big thanks! We hope you enjoyed the event! Good luck in the 2018 RAC contests.
– Bart Ritchie, VE5CPU and Sam Ferris, VE5SF